Tonight Greece compete in the Second Semi-Final of Eurovision which airs at 8pm BST.
18-year-old Stefania Liberakakis takes to the Ahoy Arena in Rotterdam in her country of birth. She was born in Utrecht in the Netherlands to Greek parents from Sofiko Evrou in Greece.
She is a fresh, very talented young lady and ‘Last Dance’ is a really good 80’s retro up-tempo song. The radio-friendly hit, current, mainstream, which has entered London Greek Radio playlists.
It a progressive well-built song, atmospheric and up-tempo on top of swirling hooks. Stefania dramatically drips over a cocktail of bass lines, scintillating strings and a “Ooh oh oh” refrain drives the up-beat vibes. She is a very good vocalist and in rehearsals Stefania nails a big note at the end of this song.
She is likeable, amenable, telegenic, even gives a cheeky wink to camera, all in all, a lovely pop-package.
LGR’s Tony Neophytou said, “Last Dance is actually a pretty song, very melodic. It’s catchy and very captivating as a Eurovision song requires.”
The Eurovision veteran Dimitris Kontopoulos and music production ARCADE, composed and produced the tune, with lyrics by Sharon Vaughn. Teaming up with creative director Fokas Evangelinos has certainly proved fruitful, and with his reputation as the innovative stage creator, Greece has an ace up their sleeve.
The staging is immensely creative, with its hi-tech, green screen wizardry. The digital invisible dancers with hoodies or other bodily parts are fun elements, which look really cool. At one point Stefania climbs invisible steps, and there’s a bit Stefania and her dancers come together as song progresses.
It’s 80’s aesthetics with blues/purple neon and a city skyscraper, which works with the retro feel to this song.
The four dancers, confirmed as Giorgos Papadopoulos, Marcos Giakoumoglou, Nikos Koukakis and Kostas Pavlopoulos.
It is visually arresting, very different and unique than anything else in this year’s Eurovision line-up.
The Eurovision odds favouring Greece as 10th or so in winning outright, and 4th as a semi-final favourite to advance through to Saturday night.
It has been 8 years since Greece was a Top 10 in the finals, 2013’s, still-great ‘Alcohol is Free’. The team have pulled out all the stops to qualify and to conquer the left-side scoreboard.
In Mr Neophytou’s view, “The stage act is a very slick, professional, and the creativity is really good. It’s a catchy Eurovision song and enjoyable, let’s hope the public has the appetite to lap this up!”
Greek fashion designer Vrettos Vrettakos, fits Stefania into a violet glitter outfit, she’s got real teen pop star looks. The team consists too, of Giannis Mourikis, as the set designer. George Segredakis, who’s designed the costumes of the dancers. Asterman Company, who’s undertook the creation of graphics.
In 2016, Stefania represented The Netherlands at Junior Eurovision in Malta, as part of the three-piece girl group Kisses. Their upbeat song ‘Kisses and Dancin’ placed eighth in the contest.
The Top 10 qualifying countries are through to Saturday night’s sing-off.
Stefania performs in the running order of 17 at slot number #4.
London Greek Radio wishes Stefania and Greece the best of luck in the competition.
