At #15, we have another 2020 internally selected artist returning as the 2021 internally selected artist. Stefania (full name Stefania Liberakakis) is a Dutch-Greek singer who was actually born and brought up in the host country The Netherlands, but whose family come from Greece. Both her 2020 song, “SUPERG!RL” and this year’s entry, “Last Dance” were written produced by “Dream Team” members Dimitris Kontopolous and Sharon Vaughan plus Greek production team Arcade.

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She may still only be 18 but Stefania is no stranger to Eurovision. She actually competed in the 2016 Junior Eurovision Contest as part of girl band Kisses, though it was not Greece she represented then, but her birth country and home – The Netherlands. Indeed, most of her music career to date has been within the host country, having entered a couple of TV music contests for children on Dutch television, and more recently has acted in a couple of Dutch TV programmes and movies. But it will be for her family’s original country of Greece that she will have the chance to perform at the main Eurovision Song Contest, and as a solo singer.

Alongside Georgia, and a country yet to come in the countdown, “Last Dance” sees one of the biggest improvements to placings compared to where I placed the country in last year’s entry. While “SUPERG!RL” had that impressive songwriting and production team, and incorporated those distinct Greek pop sounds I like, the song (and music video), did still feel very Junior Eurovision. In “Last Dance” though, we’ve got an enjoyable uptempo dance number with a strong 80s influence. Many fans were sad to lose Raylee’s “Hero” in the Norwegian national selection, but I think this fills that gap rather well.

We’ve been promised something rather special for Greece’s staging this year though that is yet to be revealed at the time of writing. If the hype is real, then that would certainly be a boost to Stefania’s qualification chances, and this does feel like it will be a qualifier. Greece don’t always qualify, but they mostly do, strong Greek diaspora voting, neighbour voting and generally wide support across voting all help. I don’t yet know how far juries will get behind this (may depend on Stefania’s live vocals on the night) but I do think we can expect to see Greece in the grand final.

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Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest