Cyprus’ Eurovision Song Contest entrant Eleni Foureira believes she has a great chance of winning the competition because she sings in English and Spanish on ‘Fuego’.
Following the first round of semi-finals on Tuesday night (08.05.18), Eleni has become the favourite to be the recipient of the 2018 prize, with her odds slashed from 66/1 to 5/2 by bookmakers for the Grand Final at Lisbon’s Altice Arena.
The 31-year-old Greek/Albanian singer – who began her career in girl group Mystique – was thrilled to qualify for the final and she is confident she can go all the way because the Latin-inspired pop track appeals to many of the competition’s countries because she sings in two languages.
Speaking exclusively to BANG Showbiz, Eleni said: "I’m singing in Spanish and in English people will love it, I hope! The Cyprus people, they love it. The Cypriots are so open minded, they are wonderful."
Cyprus were among 10 countries to qualify for the Grand Final in the first semi-final with nine representatives not making the cut.
The other qualifying nations are Albania, Austria, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Ireland, Israel and Lithuania.
It is the first time in five years that Ireland have made the final and their representative Ryan O’Shaughnessy is hopeful his track ‘Together’ can go all the way.
The video and choreography for the acoustic ballad features a same-sex homosexual couple dancing together but rather than be "controversial", Ryan hopes that people will just be able to relate to the romantic story being told.
The musician – who first shot to fame on the 2012 series of ‘Britain’s Got Talent’ – said: "I think it’s silly to say there is any controversy because there are just two dancers on stage. I think it’s just a nice artistic thing for the show and I think people will be able to relate to it and absorb it.
"I’m just so happy to be here and I’m proud to be part of it and I hope I win it and then Eurovision will be in Ireland next year!"
The Grand Final takes place this Saturday (12.05.18) and will feature 26 participants, including host nation Portugal, the five automatically qualifying countries – Germany, Spain, France, Italy and the UK, which is represented by SuRie – and then the 20 qualifiers from the two semi-finals.
It airs on BBC One from 8pm.
Eleni Foureira confident Fuego can win Eurovision
