Representing Greece in Eurovision is not an easy gig. With a 100% qualification record and having finished out of the top ten only once in the last decade, no Greek artist wants to be the first one to break the spell. They had a momentary glitch when Eleftheria Eleftheriou finished 17th in 2012, but they bounced back last year, when Koza Mostra and their free alcohol finished 6th overall.

It has been a tough year for Greek public broadcasting. ERT, the public channel which has been in charge of Eurovision so far, closed down during 2013, and it was up to the interim broadcaster that has been appointed until the launch of the new public broadcaster to figure out its Eurovision situation. But as last year’s method proved successful, a decision was made to keep the same selection format: two record labels provided two artists each to the line-up and the evening was produced by the music channel MAD, with the channel and the labels picking up all the costs.

The standout name in the lineup was Kostas Martakis, who ditched his usual pop style in favor of an ethnic rock track written by Ilias Kozas, lead singer of Koza Mostra. Unfortunately for Martakis, the reason the track didn’t make it to the band’s album is probably because it lacks anything resembling a hook. Another familiar name was Krystallia, who performed a classic but complex Greek pop ballad which sounded more like Greece 1994 than Greece 2014. And then there were the youngsters and their dance tracks: Josephine, who provided vocals for a track written by a leading Greek dance producer, and is most probably still looking for her key, or any key, and the male pop duo Freaky Fortune in a self-penned track featuring British rapper Riskykidd.

And it was the fresh-faced trio of Freaky Fortune and Riskykidd and their contemporary, summery dance track, Rise Up, who surprised the audience – and, seemingly, themselves – by winning the ticket to Copenhagen.

Three cute boys? Check. A song that sounds like it was actually written in 2014? Check. Something that will get the audience going? Check, check, check.

But while Rise Up proved to be very popular among fans, it is not without its faults. It starts with a great 30-second brass intro and some rapping courtesy of Riskykidd but then transforms into two and a half minutes in which they attempt to make use of as few musical notes as possible. I find this particularly disappointing as Nikos Raptakis, the lead singer, usually excels in songs with strong melodies and a wide range, and this song fails to take advantage of his vocal abilities.

And then there’s that little repetition repetition repetition thing. The phrases “rise” or “rise up” appear roughly 50 times in the span of 3 minutes, averaging an appearance once every 3.6 seconds. The effect of this is very, well, repetitive. Mix that with a two-and-a-half-note range and the entire thing, while perfectly enjoyable to bounce around to in a club, sounds monotone and gets – no other way to put it – repetitive very quickly. The fake ending with 20 seconds to go also doesn’t do the repetition impact any favors.

The Greeks usually get the most out of their songs, and a great presentation can go a long way. Yet, this is a difficult song to stage, and its national final performance was mostly two of the three guys running around. If they don’t get the visual side of things right, this has the potential to end up as three very messy noisy minutes.

How the jury will treat this is also a mystery. They haven’t been particularly friendly to other contemporary-but-slightly-drilling songs in recent years (ask Austria and Montenegro), but unlike those, Rise Up is in English, and will probably won’t have strippers and astronauts on stage.

My verdict? Performing late in the first semi should see them sailing through to the final, even with the wrong staging, but the final is a different ball game. While it will benefit from the charisma and energy of the guys on stage and the atmosphere it is bound to create in the hall, I suspect that both the juries and the televoters will find enough songs that are either more visually, melodically or vocally appealing to keep it away from a top 10 finish. But at least they won’t be the first Greeks to fail to qualify.

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