Cyprus 2024: Silia Kapsis with ‘Liar’
As anyone who followed selection season in any amount of depth last year, this was in the running to be Greece's entry last year with another name attached. Following that mess, 'Liar' has since been wrenched back and revamped by regular Eurovision writer Dimitris Kontopoulos (of the 'dream team') and handed to Silia Kapsis to fly the Cypriot flag.
To Kontopoulos' credit, with a couple of exceptions, his offerings and production have mostly kept pace with the contest and the music scene in general but what is lacking is the standout factor and it’s been a while since we were genuinely excited about one of his submissions.
'Liar' is a fine radio song but like many of the dream team's recent efforts is not really notable in a contest setting. It’s also a repetetive song but there is a good hook here. Despite that, there's nothing particularly in studio to propel this to the top of juror's scorecards or televoter's minds. Silia herself looks a promising artist but lacks experience relative to the likes of Eleni Foureira, Tamta and Elena Tsagrinou who have brought Cyprus success with similar entries. I’m expecting her to play her part very well but to give a Foureira, Chanel or Noa Kirel esque elevation to this will be difficult.
Staging from Cyprus has been a bit downhill the last two years but I’d assume a good job will be done from the team onboard this year; we should get something competent at the absolute worst and I expect this to be played as a straight pop presentation and attempts at a deeper message feel a bit strange.
Cyprus have a wretched draw in the first half of semi one and will be hoping to lean on Silia's Australian credentials for some guaranteed points. There are some strong televote entries in here that could swallow a lot of points and a few countries (including somewhat comparable Poland) with more in the bank. This could come down to a straight shootout with Luxembourg over which of the two progresses. Cyprus have a pretty good record and those Aussie points, Luxembourg have a later draw and return bounce factor, with potentially some pro Israeli backing which may come into play. It's a tight one here and eyes will also be cast towards what Azerbaijan are preparing, which may also join that battle. Would be very unfortunate to miss out but shaping up as borderline in my opinion given the competition.
If this does qualify Cyprus should then secure what is a pretty regular position somewhere in midtable with them unlikely to reach extreme highs or lows. Perhaps there’ll be enough consensus between juries and televoters to get this to the left hand side if everything fell favourably. I feel this is going to be on the more negative side of previews but I just find it unlikely this takes flight in a year of so many narratives being tossed around. The contest needs this type of song, but I do expect it to end up as filler.
Personal Rating: 5/10
Competitve Rating: 6/10
Early Prediction: Semi 1 8th-12th, 15th-19th if in the final.