Cyprus: Tamta – Replay

Martin: Humour at Eurovision is tricky to get right, but you’ve got to hand it to the Cypriots for essentially rewriting “Fuego” and being self-aware enough to call the song “Replay”. (And, in turn, to the ESC producers for sticking it on first in the running order.)

Describing it as a complete clone would be unfair – “Replay” is distinctive enough, punchy and hard-edged where “Fuego” was slinky and seductive. But it does share a number of traits, from the use of an instrumental drop in place of a real chorus, to some curious lyrical choices – last year’s pelican is this year’s 808. The end result is something that feels generic, but not necessarily in a bad way. It’s a fine line to be treading, though.

Tamta is a few years older than the song probably wants her to be, so they’ll have to be careful to let her be herself and not style her as mutton dressed as lamb. Assuming they get that right, well, it may not be a replay of last year’s podium finish, but Cyprus should be in the mix for the left-hand side of the scoreboard again.

Felix: It took me two months to warm up to “Fuego”, but this one – while indeed distinctive enough – doesn’t trigger any positive emotion in me. I doubt I can be friends with people who like this kind of thing. Horrible!

Shi: I liked “Fuego” immediately. I liked this one immediately, and more than I liked “Fuego”. It’s not going to do as well, because for all of Tamta’s professionalism, she is not the camera magnet that Foureira is – but assuming the performance is not a “Fuego” replay, Cyprus should get another top 10 result.

video and title image source: eurovision.tv