London-born Cypriot Erika Soteri is through to the live semi-final on The Voice franchise in Greece.
The show which aired its first live episode last Friday showed Erika advancing to the semi-finals, after her performance of the song “Ain’t Nobody”.
Erika was supported by her mum and dad in the studio audience with a huge Erika Soteri banner.
Erika is one of the ace picks in Helena Paparizou’s Team and her parents are from Larnaca, Cyprus.
She advanced to the live shows after wowing her coach Helena Paparizou with a spectacular rendition of ‘Daddy Lessons’ during the ‘Battles’ round. This was the third phase of the contest where the four mentors Eleonora Zouganelli, Panos Mouzourakis, Helena Paparizou and Sakis Rouvas, put two of their own team members against each other. They then sing the same song at the same time in front of a studio audience before they each select one to advance.
During the blind auditions, Erika, who graduated with a First-Class Honours in the “ACM Guildford’s Musician Route Vocals Degree”, sang ‘Crazy’, making all four judges spin their chairs almost immediately.
On last month’s debut show, she only required one judge to “turn around” in order to make it through to the next stage of the competition, but Panos Mouzourakis, Sakis Rouvas, Eleonora Zouganelli, and Helena Paparizou all turned around!
Mr Rouvas ‘blocked’ Mr Mouzourakis during the voting process, which favoured the other judges’ odds.
The mentors pulled out all the stops. Helena with, ‘I Believe I Can Fly’ and Sakis, with ‘Amazing Grace’ sang acapella covers to woo Erika.
Helena in her reaction to Erika’s performance said, [Translated] “You stand on the stage like a star, you’re sparkling. You have an exceptional voice. I admire that female interpretation of ‘Crazy’ which I’ve never heard been done like that before. I need to answer with a heart, it’s not a simple heart, its fast-moving; it’s explosive!”
Helena was also quite emphatic to Erika, continuing, [Translated] “If you join my team, not only will you reach the final, we will win the final!”
Sakis Rouvas added, [Translated] “When I first heard you, your voice was impressive. Now that I’ve seen, I don’t want to lose you. It shows that you have a background of studied music, a calm maturity that exceeds your young age, and this shows in your personality. This will help you as you move forward. You can decide to choose the right team, which I hope will be mine.”
Eleonora Zouganelli said to Erika, [Translated] “You are very good, the truth is that your positive calmness was followed by your voice. You have a long journey whichever team you ultimately choose. I would like you to join my team.”
Writing on her Facebook page, Erika said, [Translated] “The words cannot express the feelings I have in that moment when I stood on the stage. I experienced a lot of nervousness and the opponent was very strong. I’d like to say a very big thank you from the bottom of my heart and soul for your support and love that you have shown me. I used to have a dream that I’d find myself in the place where I am now, in my career and in my life, and I wouldn’t be able to achieve it without the love of Helena Paparizou and her team. Thank you for voting!”
Tune in and vote for Erika every Friday at 8pm on Greek channel SKAI.
London Greek Radio wishes Erika the best of luck in the show.
