Today we head to the Land of the Gods, namely Greece, as we are travelling south to the Hellenic shores in our series of the 2014 Eurovision ESCToday Interviews. Our next stop takes us to Athens where we meet up with the young and debonair Nikolaos and Teo – Freaky Fortune and Shane, RiskyKidd. We chatted with the 2014 Greek representatives who spoke about their forthcoming Eurovision participation, themselves and their music.

You guys won the 2014 Greek national final last month. How has life changed for you since then?

The experience of the Greek national final was an amazing experience! Though, to be honest… we only realized what happened a couple of days after the final… Our life has changed in many ways! A lot more people smile to us on the streets and we love that! Moreover, a very busy schedule with vocal couching, choreography classes, gym and promotional activities awaits us every day. It is a heavy schedule we got to admit… but we enjoy every moment and we can not wait to travel to Copenhagen for the Eurovision Song Contest

Has it hit you, you will be representing Greece at the forthcoming Eurovision Song Contest?

We realize it more and more day by day… Of course surprises and enthusiasm kick in more often than before but as a team we are focused, down to earth, hard workers and ready to enjoy the great experience called Eurovision Song Contest.

Could you tell us the story behind is your Eurovision entry Rise Up? What message would you like to convey to Europe and to the audience when you take the stage in Copenhagen?

To us it is not just a dance song… it is a movement! The urge to rise up above difficulties inspired us to compose Rise Up. We… the young people of Europe are especially and in a way mostly influenced by the financial crisis and in some cases by political imbalances. Are we going to surrender to all those things that put us down?

We rise up by looking to the world through the prism of youth, the angle of creativity and optimism and we want the whole Europe with us… We hope that this message will dance-on Europe and become the soundtrack of what we currently perceive as one of the most uplifting movements … the “Rise Up” movement!

How did the collaboration between RiskyKidd and Freaky Fortune kick off? Was it specially for Eurovision?

No, actually that was not just a Eurovision thing… “Rise Up” was our new single and we planned to have a rap part! Our record label Panik records proposed RiskyKidd to feature and we accepted with pleasure.

What made you decide to compete in the 2014 Greek national final? How did you opt for Rise Up as your song? How was the song born?

Well, as we previously mentioned ‘Rise Up’ was meant to be our new single. When we finished working on it our record label liked the result so much that proposed we participate in the Greek national final… the rest you know!

Seeing the current financial crisis afflicting Grece currently and affecting many young people, do you see yourselves giving HOPE and POSITIVITY to your young fans through your song?

That is exactly our goal! We want to urge young people to #RiseUp from what keeps them down… #RiseUp by being positive, by being creative, by smiling… #RiseUp though music!!! We hope this message will dance-on Europe until we all fly above the ground with our hopes and dreams for a better tomorrow!

Your song is a happy uptempo dance beat! It will surely set the teenagers on fire and get them to dance! How have the youngsgters in Greece received your entry? How do you plan to mesmerize Europe with it?

To our surprise, in only just a week, the first video of “Rise Up“ that we uploaded had more than a half million views in youtube. This number is continuously rising reaching around 830.000 views as we speak! Additionally, the song is really high on the Greek airplay charts and that makes us believe that it is not only the youngsters but also older people that like it as well! As far as Europe is concerned… we will just be ourselves and we hope that we will “infect” Europe and the countries beyond with our positive energy and make you all #RiseUp!!!

How do you plan to promote your entry in Europe? Are you planning to tour Europe?

We travelled to Amsterdam and performed to “Eurovision in Concert” few weeks ago and to London too.  We are also trying to promote our entry creatively through social media. Among others, we created a video with a medley of winning Eurovision songs from 2004 untill 2013 and it seemed that Eurovision fans are loving it

Additionally, we have prepared some remixes that you will listen really soon!

How are you planning to stage your entry in Copenhagen? Shall we expect something expectacular? Will Fokas Evangelinos produce the staging and add his Midas touch?

We will try to do something very demanding… The only thing we could reveal is that we will try to visualize ‘Rise Up’.

How are you guys in real life- ie behind the scenes? What are your hobbies?

Not a lot of things chance behind the scenes! Our hobbies are… music, music and music!!!! We also love to hang out with friends in beautiful spots in Athens, we enjoy nightlife and we love travelling to the Greek islands during the summer!

Have you spoken to any former Greek Eurovision representatives? Have they given you any advice?

Yes, “Kalomoira”, “Helena Paparizou”, and an older Eurovision Song Contest participant “Elpida” gave us wonderful advices! They told us to be focused on the performance and be ourselves and that authenticity will be our best weapon.

Have you heard any of the other Eurovision songs this year? What are your favourites?

We have heard them all… Some of our favorites for different reasons each and with random order are: France, Norway, UK, Portugal, San Marino, Malta and Azerbaijan.

Greece has an excellent record in the Eurovision Song Contest in the last decade, having won in 2005 and placing in the top 10, 9 out of 10 times since 2004. Does this put more preassure on you in order to achieve a good result?

We will give 200% of what we can and be our selves! All the rest is up to the people of Europe and beyond. We hope Greece will #RiseUp once more!

What are your plans for the future? What shall we await after Eurovision?

A lot of English dance music from Freaky Fortune and rap music from RiskyKidd, international releases and a lot of concerts all around the world.

Do you have a message for your European fans and Esctoday readers?

A very simply but real one… #JoinUs and  #RiseUp.

ESCToday.com would like to thank Freaky Fortune, RiskyKidd, their management, DT for this interview. We would like to wish Freaky Fortune and RiskyKidd the best of luck at the forthcoming Eurovision Song Contest.