Cyprus 'fired up' ahead of Eurovision final

Cyprus is going for the big prize in the Eurovision song contest final, after Eleni Foureira put up a fiery performance Tuesday night during the first semi final and quickly became a top favourite.

The Albanian-born Greek pop star is representing the Republic of Cyprus in the 2018 Eurovision song contest in Lisbon, with her song “Fuego” - a collaborative work by Alex Papakonstantinou, Geraldo Sandell, Viktor Svensson, Anderz Wrethov and Didric.

Foureira dominated the stage from the very beginning with a confident style, a sexy one-piece suit and backup female dancers, singing and dancing to a very catchy beat that combined latin pop and dance music.

“What you see is what you get,” Foureira sang in one part of the song, which was exactly what happened as the crowd was showing love for the famous singer who amazed with her fiery performance and very positive showmanship.

As the final drop in the song was picking up, flames and lights shot high up in the background giving a powerful, almost trance-like feeling to the audience, with Foureira ending her performance out of breath and saying “efharisto” (thank you) in Greek.

A total of 43 countries are competing in the contest and the second semi final will take place on Thursday, with the grand final set for Saturday, May 12. 

The cost of winning

Many people in Cyprus took to social media to praise the results but also wonder whether there was a venue big enough on the island to host the event next year, in case Foureira wins the song contest, becoming the first performer to put the Republic of Cyprus at the very top.

The cost of hosting the Eurovision contest could be in the tens of millions based on previous years, with some economists remaining unsure how the numbers might look in the end. But many agree that international publicity is a huge benefit for a city that can host the Eurovision, adding thousands of visitors and hundreds of new jobs.

The 10 countries that qualified Tuesday night for the May 12 final are:

• Austria: Nobody But You by Cesár Sampson
• Estonia: La Forza by Elina Nechayeva
• Cyprus: Fuego by Eleni Foureira    
• Lithuania: When We’re Old by Ieva Zasimauskaitė
• Israel: TOY by Netta
• Czech Republic: Lie To Me by Mikolas Josef
• Bulgaria: Bones by EQUINOX
• Albania: Mall by Eugent Bushpepa
• Finland: Monsters by Saara Aalto
• Ireland: Together by Ryan O'Shaughnessy

Additionally, the UK, France and Germany are among a handful of countries who have been automatically added to the final. Greece's Yianna Terzi with the song Oniro mou (My Dream) did not make the cut.