Cyprus 2017: Who the Heck is Hovig?

"Cyprus kicked off Eurovision selection season for 2017 by internally selecting Hovig. We don't know his song yet, so let's learn more about him.

Who the heck is Hovig?

Hovig Demirjian is a 28-year-old singer who will be representing Cyprus at the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest.((This post is going live on Hovig's birthday. Happy birthday!))

How did Hovig become a known quantity?

Hovig first gained notoriety in 2009 when he competed on the second series of Greece's version of The X Factor. He made it to week 11 of the live shows, finishing in seventh place. He was knocked out of the competition by Ivi Adamou, who went on to represent Cyprus at Eurovision in 2012.

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Does Hovig have any previous Eurovision connections?

Along with Ivi Adamou, Eleftheria Eleftheriou (Greece 2012) also competed on the same season of The X Factor.

After competing in Greece, Hovig entered Cyprus' national selection for the 2010 Eurovision Song Contest. While his entry "Goodbye" received a middling score from the jury, it ranked second in the public vote.

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In 2015, Cyprus held the contest Eurovision Song Project to find its representative. Hovig was one of six finalists with the song "Stone in a River." Though he finished in fourth place, he follows Minus One as an also-ran internally selected to represent Cyprus.

Most recently, Hovig performed at the finale of Armenia's Depi Evratesil. His choice of a Bruno Mars track as one of his songs may be an indication of what style we might expect from Hovig in Kiev. A few of his YouTube videos include covers of "Uptown Funk." Acts that have a Bruno Mars vibe have been doing well at Eurovision the last few years.

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Where can I follow Hovig online?

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