We met Nikolas Metaxas for the first time last year when he competed for the honour to represent Cyprus in the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest finishing four points behind the winning song by Evdokia Kadi. In this exclusive interview with esctoday.com, Nikolas talks about his entry this year, his inspiration, his views about the new voting system in the final and he also sings exclusively for our readers.
We met with Nikolas Metaxas at the set of the Greek version of the X-Factor where he is currently one of the six remaining contestants and one of the serious contenders for the title. Nikolas is in his early twenties, an artist all about his music: "I am really passionate about music", he smiles, "it's the only thing that fulfills me and it's the only thing I have been devoted to for the past fifteen years out of the twenty of my life. And it's what I wanna do….for ever!", he confesses.
This year he is competing in the Cypriot final not as a performer but as the composer of the song Firefly which will be sung by Christina Metaxa, his sixteen year old sister. Firefly is a happy pop rock song, "It starts slow and builds up dynamics as it goes to the end", Nikolas tells us, "there is a very happy feeling in the end, everybody sings together". Inspired by his own sister, Nikolas has a message in his song for young people: "Follow your dreams, take the risks, don't be scared, take that leap of faith!" he says.
We asked Nikolas his opinion about the new voting system, with the re introduction of the jury vote at a 50-50 split: "It is a very good change, because what the people vote for sometimes is not hat is musically the best piece, or performance wise the best piece but what appeals to the people the most. And I think a 50% decision from a professional jury will make the decision more fair, in terms of what music is and what a good performance is" , he told us.
Nikolas Metaxas interview
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdXUQVZRQvw
Nikolas Metaxas sings Lonely exclusively for the readers of esctoday.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_PFRxxkYJI
Stay tuned to esctoday.com for more interviews with the Cypriot finalists.
