This year Victor Vernicos will represent Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest in Liverpool, UK. His song is called “What They Say” and it was composed by 16-year-old Victor himself.
The Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (ERT) selected Victor through an internal selection process, which started back in August 2022 when ERT opened a submission period for artists and composers to submit their work for consideration until October 2022. A total of 106 songs were received, after which 7 of them were shortlisted by an internal artistic committee and were announced in December 2022.
These 7 acts were later evaluated by a 70-member public committee, selected randomly out of 2,982 applications that were sent in to ERT, and in January 2023 ERT shortlisted 3 final songs as voted by the public committee and evaluated by the artistic committee. The final three were announced publicly on an ERT show, called “Proian se eidon tin mesimvrian”. The two other shortlisted songs and artists were: “Liar” by Melissa Mantzoukis, and “Shout Out!” By Antonia Kaouri and Maria Maragkou.
Based on the combination of votes from the public committee and the artistic committee the Greek-Danish singer Victor Vernicos was announced as the Greek representative on 30 January 2023, and a music video, directed by Yiannis Georgioudakis, to promote the song was released on 12 March 2023.
Throughout the video we see Victor expressing his angst, anger and frustration. He sings about pain, loss, ache, panic, hurt and similar overwhelming emotions. We see him in a relatively dark environment on a sofa, surrounded with water, and as it starts raining he is anxiously gesturing, shaking, jumping and kicking the water surrounding him. As the song builds continuously with pulsating electronic rhythms there is an undertone of optimism but overall Victor is struggling to work through his feelings, and the song ends in a cliffhanger.
You cannot help but wonder if he is simply projecting the age-old and universal teenage angst or is he channeling something darker with the all the ongoing catastrophes surrounding us in these worrisome times.
Either way it is raw and heartfelt. Wishing Victor good luck in Liverpool!