The OGAE Greece fan club is reporting a change in Cyprus’ plans for Eurovision 2023, after the trailer of the alleged Cypriot national final makes no reference to the Eurovision Song Contest!

Since September 2021, we have known that the Cypriot entry for Eurovision 2023 was meant to be the winner of a “talent show” organized by Panik Records – the same group that has signed artists like Eleni Foureria (Cyprus 2018), Anna Vissi (Greece 2006), Demy (Greece 2017), Ivi Adamou (Cyprus 2012), Evridiki (Cyprus 1992, 1994, 2007), and Elena Tsagrinou (Cyprus 2021), just to name a few.

The return of the talent show ‘All Together Now‘ was confirmed shortly after Eurovision in May 2022 to be the talent show that would choose the 2023 Cypriot Eurovision artist. However, this week’s release of the trailer for the show due to premiere in October, gives no mention of Eurovision. For more information on how the show will choose a winner, check out our previous article from May.

Sources close to OGAE Greece confirm that All Together Now will instead choose Cyprus’ entry for the 2024 Eurovision Song Contest. This gives the show’s organizers and Cypriot state broadcaster CyBC more time to prepare. The show is set to be very similar to the BBC show that originated the series, which was won by UK Eurovision representative Michael Rice in its inaugural season!

With no national final, CyBC is preparing for Eurovision 2023 to involve the “direct assignment to an artist of Cypriot origin”. In other words, Cyprus will once again choose its artist internally for next year.

The island nation has had success in recent years with internal selections, until 2022, every artist sent to represent Cyprus had qualified for the Eurovision Grand Final. This includes Minus One in 2016, Hovig in 2017, Eleni Foureira in 2018, Tamta in 2019, and Elena Tsagrinou in 2021.

Unfortunately, Andromache was unable to qualify in Turin, ending up in 12th place in the Second Semi Final and breaking Cyprus’ qualification streak. The last time Cyprus held a national final to choose its artist, John Karayiannis came 22nd overall in the Grand Final in Vienna back in 2015 with “One Thing I Should Have Done”.

Additionally, Cyprus has now competed at Eurovision a total of 37 times since 1981, and that is the highest number of participations among countries that have never won the Contest.

Are you looking forward to seeing Cyprus’ choice for 2023? Can they get back to the Grand Final? Let us know your thoughts about today’s news below or at our social media @escbubble !