The Greek ESC bandwagon has slowed a little lately, although the wheels are by no means falling off. Following a clutch of podium positions in the previous decade, culminating in Helena Paparizou’s victory with My Number One, two of the last three Greek entries have failed to reach the top 15 on the scoreboard – an unthinkable situation a decade ago – and the 20th-place finish recorded by last year’s candidate, Rise Up by Freaky Fortune, represented the Hellenic nation’s lowest absolute position since 1998. Regardless, though, the Greeks’ impressive 100% qualification record for the grand final remains firmly intact.

This year, the country will be represented by the Greek-Cypriot singer Maria Elena Kyriakou. A 31-year-old mother of three with a degree in literature and humanities, she came to fame in 2014 by winning The Voice Of Greece under the mentorship of Despina Vandi, a lady who has been rumoured as the Greek ESC representative almost as frequently as a vegetarian is offered lamb on an Aegean holiday. Kyriakou has co-written her own song, which was the favourite of the televoters and the jury alike at the Greek final in early March.

One Last Breath is its title, and as might be expected, drama is on the cards here. Starting out as a brooding ballad, the song delivers a passionate chorus before accelerating and evolving into something of a mid-tempo rocker by the end of its three minutes. It’s a confusing structure and not one that I think particularly benefits the song, particularly since it seems to hit its climax – money note and all – around the 2:30 mark, only to carry on for another 30 seconds. That said, even in a ballad-heavy year like 2015, there isn’t too much like it in the first semi-final so it should fill a certain niche among the voters.

My verdict is that there’s a certain degree of wishful thinking among fans when it comes to Greece. 2015 wouldn’t be the first time that the country has been treated as a potential shock non-qualifier, yet it never seems to happen. And the same applies here, I think: Maria Elena’s capable vocal and stage presence should be enough to prevent her from still singing “what happened wasn’t fair” when she gets into bed on the Tuesday night, even if the disjointed drama of the song has absolutely no appeal to me personally (hence my sad face below!). It’s difficult to imagine One Last Breath making anyone gasp at the grand final, though, and if this gets drawn into the first half then I can easily see the producers using it as a pawn sacrifice at the start of the running order – helping it to become three out of four relative failures by Greece’s very high scoreboard standards.

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