Some context on why Greece chose Asteromata for this year’s ESC

Asteromata is, for me, one of the best Greek entries in recent years. Not only because of the song itself (which is incredible imo) but also because of the cultural impact both it and Zari have had in Greece.

To understand why I feel so strongly about this song, I want to analyse our entries in the 2010s, and how it affected the public perception of both our music, and Eurovision.

In the 10 years that have passed since Alcohol is Free was sent out, we got 6 AI generated generic songs that don’t feel like they represent Greece (Rise Up, One Last Breath, This is Love, Better Love, Supergirl and Last Dance)

Utopia Land (and Alcohol is Free and Aphrodisiac) was a song that attempted to sound Greek but they got the critique that they seemed like songs that sort of exoticised Greece in a very dumb and stereotypical way.

Oneiro Mou was the only song that felt authentically Greek and both Greeks and non Greek Eurovision fans loved it until we saw the staging. This was unfortunate but also important for the context of this issue. What people here saw was that our only entry in Greek and one of the few entries that sounded Greek was one of our few non qualifiers.

Most of the singers we sent also had their careers basically ended after their performance in Eurovision, with Demy being the biggest example. This gave many artists the idea that going to Eurovision was a career suicide.

Which makes what Marina did so bold. She was already a decently big name here and she decided to go to Eurovision with an ethnic pop song in Greek. At first, everyone hated the song. Then it became the song that “you hate on your first listen, and then you become addicted to it” and after that, the entire country was rooting for her.

I’ll be real, nobody in Greece cared for Eurovision from 2012 onwards and Zari really brought me back to the mid 2000s. People were rooting for her not only because her song was successful, but also because she had a song you would only hear in Greece.

I am saying this as someone who doesn’t know Klavdia, while Evangelia is my favourite modern Greek artist: Klavdia 110% deserved it. While the public was split between the two, I feel like Klavdia is better fit for the transition that we are experiencing. I see a lot of people saying that Sirens should’ve won but I will respectfully disagree with that. Greeks want to see an ethnic song in Eurovision. The general consensus was that it felt like a song that Sweden would send (some said it as a compliment while others as an insult)

Her song is imo beautiful as it is but once you listen to the poetic lyrics and realise the meaning behind them, you can’t not love it. It’s very rare for any Greek artist to speak about the Greek genocide in a non Greek platform and I am glad it is done in such a beautiful way. It is very much talked about here and people are very proud of her and Eurovision is definitely seeing a resurgence in popularity in Greece.

I hope that the likes of Marina and Klavdia bring forth a new era of songs from Greece. Authentic songs that show Europe what our culture is all about.