18-year-old Nicole Paparistodemou will be one of the ten acts to compete in the Cypriot national final for the 2010 Eurovision Song Contest. The singer will perform the song written by Mike Connaris called Like a woman.
Nicole Paparistodemou has been singing in public since the age of eight and she competed in the Cypriot national finals for the Junior Eurovision Song Contest twice. She also sings in a band, has made several TV appearances and has recently been accepted as a student at Berklee College of Music in Boston, USA. She is very happy that she might get the chance to represent Cyprus in the Eurovision Song Contest: "Singing is my world and it would mean everything to me to win the Eurovision Song Contest. It would be such a great honour to bring this award home for the first time to Cyprus."
Composer Mike Connaris has already written the Cyprio entry in 2004 and Stronger every minute finished fifth in the final performed by Lisa Andreas. He commented on the choice of Nicole Paparistodemou: "Cyprus deserves to win Eurovision in 2010. There is such a wealth of talent in Cyprus and I want to do everything I can to see this recognised on the world stage. In Nicole, I believe I have found a singer with an extraordinary talent and if she can win the national final, she can not only reach the Eurovision final for Cyprus, but actually go on to win it".
The Cypriot national final will be held on 7th February 2010. You can find the current line-up here. Other performers for the national final have been rumoured but are awaiting an official confirmation from the broadcaster. In 2009, the country was represented by Christina Metaxa, who finished 14th in the second semi final with Firefly. The last time Cyprus appeared in the final of the contest was in 2005.
