Stefania will fly the Greek flag in Rotterdam with the song ‘SUPERG!RL’
After ruling Eurovision for years, having success after success from 2004 until 2013, Greece has not been doing as well in the contest ever since. In the years that followed, they missed qualification for the final twice and did not finish any higher than a 19th position. The Greek broadcaster hopes that Dutch-born half Greek pop singer Stefania will bring them back to the left side of the final scoreboard in 2020 with the track ‘SUPERG!RL’.
17-year-old Stefania Liberakakis has a Greek family, but grew up in the Netherlands and even represented the hosting country of Eurovision 2020 in Junior Eurovision before. Her ‘SUPERG!RL’ was created by a team of Eurovision veterans. It was produced by Arcade and co-written by Dimitris Kontopoulos (who co-wrote top 3 Eurovision entries for Russia, Azerbaijan and Ukraine) and Sharon Vaughn (who worked on multiple Swedish Melodifestivalen tunes, a Russian top 3 entry and this year’s Estonian song).
It is not hard to hear that this was created by experienced Eurovision writers. ‘SUPERG!RL’ is definitely a Eurovision uptempo tune by the numbers. There is a Greek folk touch in the instrumentation of the chorus drop and a pre-chorus that was designed to settle in your mind instantly. The production is contemporary enough and the build-up to the last chorus is there, but it all fails to make a big impression on me. You would think those experienced writers could have come up with some better, less cringey lyrics though. There has definitely been better entries over the past years in exactly this genre and there might be more coming this year too.
Judging by the official music video, the Greek delegation is actually putting in an effort with this entry and with the Disney channel high school series vibe, they are definitely aiming at the teenage demographic. Stefania looks like a star though and she will need this for the big stage in Rotterdam too. ‘SUPERG!RL’ needs a big show and solid choreography to stand out, but if Greece delivers in the visual department, Stefania should be able to reach the final. A proper return to form in terms of results seems unlikely though.
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