Ladies and gentlemen! Following the announcement of Srbuk as the Armenian representative in Tel Aviv, the Eurovision 2019 season is now well and truly underway! Now we now can unveil one more artist that will fight for the 64th Eurovision trophy, as Cyprus has decided: it will be the Greek pop star Tamta that will fly the Mediterrenean island’s flag in Israel!

It seems that Cyprus is setting the bar high for Eurovision once again, as right after the 2018 edition, the national broadcaster CyBC became one of the first to confirm their participation in Eurovision 2019, set to be held in Tel Aviv.

CyBC announces:

Let’s… Replay!

The rumour mill regarding potential Eurovision representatives that could bring the country one more high placing and potentially the coveted victory, had been in overdrive since early this year.

From the very beginning, it was highly tipped that Tamta had been approached by the broadcaster in order to take over the Cypriot representation at the 64th Eurovision Song Contest, despite being initially rumoured to represent Greece in Israel. However, as Tamta herself also declared last Monday, she was offered nothing but to be the Cypriot hopeful in Tel Aviv.

Tamta’s approach had also been confirmed by her manager, as well as that the pop artist would consider the proposal seriously, in case she liked the song. As it all seems, the proposed track finally met her standards and she will take it in her luggage to Israel!

Furthermore, apart from the rumours about who will take to the stage in Tel Aviv, there was intense speculation that Alex Papaconstantinou, the highly-acclaimed composer would be involved in the Cypriot Eurovision entry for the third time, after composing Ivi Adamou’s La la love in 2012 and of course Eleni Foureira’s Fuego, which ended up 2nd in Lisbon.

These rumors were confirmed two weeks ago, through a series of quizzes that began on the official page of CyBC on Facebook, but also with the post of Alex Papaconstantinou’s picture with the general director of CyBC Michalis Maratheftis and the country’s Head of Delegation Evi Papamichael. The rest members of the composing team were also confirmed by the broadcaster, and these are Teddy Sky, Albin Nedler, Kristofer Fogelmark and Viktor Svensson.

CyBC’s comment:

Shiny happy people, delighted to be working together again… #eurovisioncy #esc19

CyBC had hinted and later confirmed the song’s title, through a new cover picture on Facebook. Thus, Replay becomes the first revealed song title of the Eurovision Song Contest 2019. It’s remarkable that CyBC didn’t stay there, as some of the track’s lyrics are also out, such as:

You need my love on replay

Replay, replay, replay, yeah…

About Tamta

Early years and career

Tamta Goduadze is a Greek pop singer of Georgian origin. She was born in Tbilisi in 1981, where she lived until the age of 22, when she finally moved to Athens, Greece. Her involvement in music started off with her participation in the Greek reality show Super Idol in 2004, where she placed 2nd. On that show’s occasion, she released her first song To allo mou miso, a duet with her co-competitor and winner of the show, Stavros Konstantinou.

Since then, Tamta pursued a very successful career in the Greek music industry and is currently one of the most well-known singers in both Greece and Cyprus. During her 14-year course in music, she has collaborated with many acclaimed artists and former Eurovision entrants, such as Sakis Rouvas, Helena Paparizou and Evridiki.

She has released 4 complete albums, as well as more than 30 both Greek and English singles, including Den telionei etsi i agapi, Kita me, Fotia, Niose tin kardia, Gennithika gia sena, Ilious kai thalasses and Tag you in my sky.

Here’s Tamta’s latest single Na me paris makria (Take me away), penned by the Greek boyband Melisses and official soundtrack of Bachelor 3 movie:

Tamta and Eurovision

Tamta’s involvement in Eurovision is nothing new, as it started back in 2007, when she took part in the Greek national final with the ballad song With love. However, she didn’t fly to Helsinki that year, as she came 3rd in the show.

8 years later, in 2015, it was reported that the successful pop singer intended to try again to represent the Balkan country with a song penned by Alex Papaconstantinou again. However, then it was all about a bad timing issue, as she missed ERT’s deadlines to submit her proposed entry Unloved, which later became a big radio hit in Greece and Cyprus.

Cyprus at Eurovision 2018

Last January, the popular Greek artist Eleni Foureira was internally selected by the Cypriot broadcaster CyBC to represent the nation at the Eurovision Song Contest 2018 in Lisbon, with the dance pop song Fuego, penned by the highly-acclaimed Swedish-Greek composer Alex Papaconstantinou and his team, consisting of Geraldo Sandell, Viktor Svensson, Anderz Wrethov and Didrick.

Following the rehearsals’ beginning in Lisbon, Eleni had been highly tipped as the hot favourite for the victory at the Grand Final, bringing Cyprus closer than ever to their first Eurovision trophy. Eventually, after progessing to the final, she came 2nd with a total of 436 points. This is the best result for the island of Aphrodite in the contest, since their debut in 1981.

The 64th Eurovision Song Contest will be taking place on 14, 16 and 18 May at the EXPO Convention Center in Tel Aviv, Israel. The event will be organized and presented by the Israeli national broadcaster KAN and the EBU.