Eurovision 2019 spotlight: Cyprus' Tamta with "Replay"...

I'm continuing with my spotlight on the entries into the Eurovision Song Contest this year which is being held in May in Tel Aviv, Israel. 41 countries are competing for the prize, which also portends where the program will be held the following year. They will all be here under the Eurovision Spotlight 2019 tag, and I'll be covering all the songs, my feelings towards them, their chances of winning, and their countries' history in the contest...

Cyprus - "Replay" by Tamta

After coming in second last year with the Jennifer Lopez-ish dance jam "Fuego", Cyprus is placing their bets that lightning will strike twice with this xerox copy. Singer Tamta Goduadze was born in Tblisi, the capital of the former Soviet Republic of Georgia, and moved to join her family who had immigrated to Greece already after she was left a single mother needing a job. But instead of being a housekeeper like her mother, she got her "green card" equivalent by being on the Greek version of American Idol. She tried out for Eurovision back in 2007 for Greece, with the song "With Love". She didn't make it, but the track became a top ten hit nonetheless. Ten years later, she returned to the top ten in Greece with "Ilious Ke Thalasses" ("More Than A Summer Love"). She's been floating around being a judge for the X Factor shows in Georgia and Greece.

In 2018, Tamta was tapped by Cyprus to go to Eurovision to perform "Fuego", but she couldn't commit the time, so Elena Foureira went. Now, Tamta brings a song that's written by the same team of Alex Papaconstantinou, Geraldo Sandell, and Viktor Svensson along with Albin Nedler and Kristoffer Fogelmark, and sounds so similar to "Fuego" that you could probably lay one on top of the other with no issue. And it's freaking called "Replay". Now that they've tasted success though, they went overboard in the costuming budget for the music video, since Cyprus picks its own entries without a national public contest (same as Greece). As for the result, you've got the heavy tropical house vibe with a vocal that stumbles through the lyric until you get to the one-word hook replacing a chorus...

Now with the Ukraine gone from the competition with Maruv's "Siren Song", which had the same blocky synth hook but done ten times better, this one has gotten plenty of attention as a favorite to win. But like "Fuego", which didn't catch many eyes until the rehearsals in Portugal last year, the success of this has all to do with the performance, not the song. And the heavily autotuned studio version makes it all the more unsure. You can't simply repeat "Fuego"'s fiery staging, which created such a dynamic last year. On the other hand, Tamta is a captivating visual performer already, with roots and Greece and Georgia that will generate points in this first semi, so it's pretty much a given unless her performance crashes that she will make the final, despite what the juries say (they have half the points). But once in that final, all bets are off, and as pleasant as the song is (I admit it bops in the car) it's too same-same to warrant topping "Fuego". (Rating 5/10)

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The Mediterranean island country of Cyprus has been competing in Eurovision since 1981, with three years they didn't take part. Their best showing was last year's "Fuego" from Eleni Foureira, which was the runner up...

"Fuego" remains a favorite of mine, but my personal pick from the country over the years was Lisa Andreas' "Stronger Every Minute", which came in at 5th place in 2004...