For ESC fans of a certain age, Cyprus probably still feels like one of the “newer” participating countries, having made its debut as late as 1981. However, this year’s 60th edition of the Eurovision Song contest will feature the 32nd entry from the island in the Eastern Mediterranean, so they’re not newbies any more. Despite this long service, Cyprus has yet to land higher than 5th on the Eurovision scoreboard, and indeed even withdrew from the 2014 contest in Copenhagen before deciding to return this year.

John Karayiannis, as his name now appears to be definitively styled, was born in 1995 and previously dabbled with the Cypriot preselections for Junior Eurovision before graduating to the adult event this year, when his song One Thing I Should Have Done triumphed despite being the favourite of neither the televoters nor the expert jury.

One Thing… is written by Mike Connaris, the man behind one of the aforementioned 5th-placers (Stronger Every Minute by Lisa Andreas), and it finds itself in similar musical territory in many ways. Perhaps not so much stylistically, but certainly in the way it strips back a lot of the Eurovision-esque excess in search of a simpler and more straightforward impact. The 2010 Belgian entry by Tom Dice is an obvious point of comparison, while real-world listeners may find themselves reminded of the early-1990s smash hit More Than Words by Extreme – neither of which are bad things to take as your model.

My verdict is that this is a very decent return to the contest for Cyprus. But then I probably would say that. Thing is, I know I’m susceptible to this kind of song. My favourites in the last two ESCs were ByeAlex and the Common Linnets, after all, so anything acoustic and stripped-down is likely to appeal to me. Quality-wise, One Thing I Should Have Done is not in the same league as those two, but I do think there’s an audience for this and it can stand out even in a ballad-heavy year – certainly enough to reach the grand final, anyway. John’s hipster geek styling is a knowing choice and one that will probably put off as many people as it attracts, but I’m giving this a cautious yellow light for the top 10 all the same: this isn’t Tom Dice, but it’s not too far away, and there could be jury and televoter mileage in that.

The only sticking point is the recordings that have emerged since the Cypriot final, as it looks like we’re going to hear a more orchestrated and fussily arranged version of the song at ESC itself. Mike Connaris is a clever songwriter in a Eurovision context, able to make simple ideas outperform their potential, and my worry is that he’s over-egging the pudding and trying to be too clever here. One Thing… was effective precisely because it was so straightforward – here’s hoping it hasn’t been overcomplicated.

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