Greece's entrant into the Eurovision Song Contest 2014, was definitely a fan favourite, but clearly didn't quite do it on the night, only managing to place at number 20, with 35 points. This catchy track will become one of the great Eurovision songs that never won, or even came close, and yet I will not stop playing it at the parties I host. Freaky Fortune and RiskyKidd team up for this simple performance-based music video for "Rise Up", not quite rising anywhere though.
Freaky Fortune are a Greek duo consisting of Nikolas Raptakis and Theofilos Pouzbouris. The former has gone on to start a solo career, releasing a few singles here and there. Whether the duo is still together, is a question we may not be able to answer, but having already won a Perez Hilton competition early in their career, it suggests we need this duo to return. Featuring on the track is RiskyKidd, real name Shane Schuller, has continued on with his career since this track and is actively releasing singles. Collaborating on this track together, they competed in Eurosong 2014 - a MAD show, Greece's national selection show for the Eurovision Song Contest 2014, which they won. The song was written by Freaky Fortune and RiskyKidd.
Direction by Alex Grammatopoulos, the music video is extremely simplistic. Freaky Fortune fails to entertain as they sing the song in this video.
Close ups of Theofilos Pouzbouris producing the track is the most advancement of the music video we get. Otherwise we have a lot of jumping from RiskyKidd and Nikolas Raptakis where they really aren't rising up to anything.
Clearly the budget was blown on the stage production of the song, which didn't even help the acts get a high placing on the leader board of the Grand Final. Trampolines used in the stage performance are no where in sight of this music video, unfortunately.
With little else to comment on, because there is literally nothing going on in this music video, the stars fail to give performance vibes for this song, and although their vocals are on point, the video just doesn't do a thing.
Another collaboration for my Eurovision Special. I forgot about Greece's entry when I reviewed Nodi Tatishvili & Sophie Gelovani's song "Waterfall".
Koza Mostra is the band, they are a six piece consisting of Elias Kozas, Stelios Siomos, Christos Kalaitzopoulos, Dimitris Christonis, Vasilis Nalbantis and Alexis Archontis. They are known as mixing genres up, hence why their songs are popular because it draws in a multitude of different fans of certain types of music. They did very well in Eurovision. I wouldn't be surprised if they become more known in the future. The collaborator is Agathon Iakovidis. He seems like a famous old man such as Engelbert Humperdinck. He adds a different flavour to the track, along with a comedic performance in this quirky video.
"Alcohol Is Free" was written by Elias Kozas and Stathis Paxidis. The song is sung in Greek and I have no clue what they are singing, apart from the chorus, which is in English and is a repetition of the song title. It is very catchy, hence why they did so well in the competition this year. They are apparently singing about the Greek government-debt crisis as well as the feeling of suffering because of it. It has hit a few charts but it's biggest impact, clearly, was on the Eurovision Song Contest.
Greece came 6th out of 26 countries, and Koza Mostra Featuring Agathon Iakovidis got 152 points. Finland gave 1 point, Belgium gave 2 points, Belarus gave 6 points, Malta gave 4 points, Russia gave 10 points, Germany gave 6 points, Armenia gave 8 points, the Netherlands gave 1 point, Romania gave 7 points, the UK gave 8 points, Hungary gave 1 point, Denmark gave 6 points, Azerbaijan gave 4 points, Italy gave 7 points, Norway gave 5 points, Austria gave 7 points, Croatia gave 5 points, Montenegro gave 8 points, Cyprus gave 12 points, Latvia gave 1 point, San Marino gave 12 points, Macedonia gave 4 points, Bulgaria gave 7 points, Israel gave 2 points, Albania gave 10 points and Switzerland gave 8 points.
The music video is very entertaining, and in some ways could be connected to the song. The narrative definitely. But let's start off with the performance side.
Koza Mostra is known for wearing kilts in their performance pieces, in which it is sometimes known as a Fustanella. They have so much energy, and it goes perfectly with the song. They were a big hit on the stage at Eurovision, and I reckon they will fill any gig with a lot of fun. I kind of want to see them live, just to see if they can keep up that bouncy energy for hours.
The narrative, as I stated before, could link in with the song because of Agathon Iakovidis being multiple stall sellers, as well as being a chef and in various other places Koza Mostra walks about. Koza Mostra ignores him and tries to get away from him, but he pops up everywhere, he's become their groupie and soon enough they kidnap him and makes him join them up on stage.
Overall a very catchy song, and a hilarious accompanying music video, that had me in giggles all the way through, but at the end I was like: what have I just watched? It's amazing, it's fun, it's weird in a good way and I can't help but enjoy watching it. The video is as good as the song, meaning if you don't like the song you may not like the video, and vice versa. Hence my rating.
