John Karayiannis is the first act to represent Cyprus since they took the 2014 contest off. Is "One Thing I Should Have Done" something Cyprus will regret?
Country: Cyprus
Song Title: "One Thing I Should Have Done"
Artist: John Karayiannis
Semi-Final: Second, Position 15
Last year's entry: Did Not Participate
Hey, Cyprus is back in the competition! After taking 2014 off, it's nice to see them sending an entry again. It's easy to see just why they took a breather - in the past 7 years of the competition, they've only made the finals twice, once with Ivi Adamou's rousing "La La Love", and the other with the more singer-songwritery "Life Looks Better In Spring". Cyprus seems to rotate through those two modes a lot with their entries, so it's not surprising to see them return to that well with this year's entry, John Karayiannis' "One Thing I Should Have Done".
When Ryan took a look at this song after it first came out, he liked the music, but was a little let down by the emotional buildup the lyrics manage to squander after a good first half. I'd have to agree there - the instrumentation and general mood of the song are a little bland for my taste, but it's a nice little number that could be a little more powerful if the lyrics went through one more draft. Alas, it doesn't seem the Cypriots got our notes, and nothing's really changed since the debut of the song a little over a month ago.
This song feels like it's on the bubble. While it falls far outside of my top 10, not everyone here at WEIO felt the same way. That said, the second semifinal is full of songs that feel fresher and more dynamic, and I wouldn't be surprised if Cyprus falls through the cracks, especially buried after performances from Sweden and Switzerland that feel more likely to be visually dynamic. That's not to say flash wins over the content of a song, but "One Thing" isn't quite as memorable as it needs to be to beat out some of the more visually expansive performances.
I don't see this one making the finals in Vienna, but it may be closer to the edge than one would initially think. It's all down to song vs. performance.