This Is Our Night

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"The 'our' in 'This Is Our Night' represents everyone, people in all the corners of the world. Especially those who believe in positive energy, passion and the energy of love. This song has no boundary, no ethnicity. I want to make everyone stand with rhythm, energy and optimism." [4]

Selection

On 21 October 2008, the Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (ERT) announced that it had internally selected Sakis Rouvas as its performer for the 54th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. [5]

"This Is Our Night" was one of the three songs composed specifically for the occasion by Kontopoulos. It was presented as the last performance of the press conference held on 12 February 2009 where they were revealed. On 18 February 2009, Rouvas performed them at the Greek National Final. "This Is Our Night" placed first over "Right on Time" and "Out of Control", winning the competition and becoming the Greek entrant for Eurovision. [6]

Music video and promotion

The music video for "This Is Our Night" was filmed over two days over a total duration of 24 hours, finally wrapping up on 24 February, while it was also reported that it would take around three days afterward for the final processing to be completed. The video was directed by Katya Tsaryk, a young but well-known Ukrainian director who also created the video for the 2008 Ukrainian entry "Shady Lady" for singer Ani Lorak, being choreographed by Fokas Evangelinos. [7] The shooting took place in Athens, at two main locations: the first was at the STARZ club where Rouvas is performing along with the Maggira Sisters for the winter season, set in front of a huge screen and many flashing lights; while the second was at the King George suite hotel, where the morning shooting took place. The rest of the video was shot around the city life of Athens, some shot solely by the cameramen while other filming was taking place, and other scenes featuring Rouvas. During the filming at STARZ, the doors were opened at 23:00 where reporters were allowed to enter, while Evangelinos, and the song's composer, Kontopoulos, as well as Rouvas' entire entourage and some ERT staff were also present. [7]

MAD TV reported that the video features the strong beat of the song in combination with bright flashing lights in a dark setting that give an intense erotic sensation, also stating that the general concept of the video is of people in love surrounding Rouvas who wanders the city to showcase its most impressive sights. [7] ERT stated that their production gave their best for the creation of the video, which features impressive Athenian scenery, beautiful landscapes, a lot of color, and scenes of people having fun and performing energetic choreography and the use of elaborate lighting that underpin the video clip along with a strong combination of Athenian culture. The director, Tsaryk, expressed how impressed she was with Rouvas' professionalism and capabilities. [8]

Upon wrapping up filming, ERT released two backstage videos, and also stated that it would soon be released all over Europe as part of the promotion, while MAD TV also released a special photo report. On 10 March, ERT released a special preview, while the video officially premiered exclusively on 12 March on the official Eurovision/ert.gr site as well as on television on ERT-NET and ERT World for international audiences. [8]

Eurovision

Rouvas at a Eurovision press conference in Moscow, during which the running order for the semi-final was revealed. Sakis Rouvas Raising Greek Flag.jpg
Rouvas at a Eurovision press conference in Moscow, during which the running order for the semi-final was revealed.

On 14 May 2009, the second semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest was held in the Olimpiysky Arena in Moscow hosted by Channel One (C1R) and broadcast live throughout the continent. Rouvas performed "This Is Our Night" thirteenth on the evening and qualifying for the grand final. [9]

On 16 May 2004, the grand final for the Eurovision Song Contest was held. Rouvas performed "This Is Our Night" again eighth on the evening. [10]

The Eurovision performance staged by Fokas Evangelinos had extremely complex choreography, with BBC News announcing that "Greece's Sakis Rouvas had one of the more ambitious dance routines". [11] Rouvas performed on a rotating podium which transported him from left to right across the stage, was part of his group dance routine with four other performers and, in the end, was responsible for lifting him high into the air. In the same moment, a Greek flag is displayed on the floor, only visible to the television viewers. The final part of the performance was completed by silver fireworks in two separate parts. The official Eurovision website states that with this performance, Greece had made "high-tech advancements" in the contest's standards. [12]

At the end of voting, "This Is Our Night" finished in seventh place with a total of 120 points, receiving maximum 12 points from Albania, Bulgaria and Cyprus. The song therefore carried on Greece's Eurovision success by finishing within the top-ten for the sixth consecutive year, thus making the country the second most successful entrant of the past decade, despite not having even participated in 2000. The event was watched by 86% of the Greek television audience. [13]

Whilst Rouvas was disappointed with his seventh-place finish, announcing to Greek media "I am so sorry, I wanted us to win", there was still unanimous support towards the artist himself in the country. "Seventh in Europe, first in our hearts" many journalists reported on Greek television. The media and public pronounced their support for Rouvas, the general consensus being that the artist gave it his best even though this did not translate in enough votes in the contest. All criticism in Greece focused on the selection of the song itself, rather than the artist's performance. Rouvas stated that, overall, it has all been a wonderful experience for him: "some win, some lose, personally, I gave everything I had. But it was a wonderful experience". [14]

Some critics, including those from London Greek Radio , suggested the reason why Greece failed to achieve a higher placing was due to a lack of an ethnic-sounding song. He notes the way in which all of Greece's top-three placings, including Rouvas' performance of "Shake It" in 2004, had an ethnic bouzouki sound, as did the 2009 Azerbaijani and Turkish entries which finished in third and fourth place respectively. [13]

Aftermath

A month after Eurovision, Rouvas released the song with Greek lyrics by Viki Gerothodorou as "Πιο Δυνατά" (Pio Dinata). [15]

Track listing

  1. "Right on Time" – 3:05
  2. "This Is Our Night" – 2:59
  3. "Out of Control" – 3:01
  1. "This Is Our Night" – 2:59
  2. "Right on Time" – 3:05
  3. "Out of Control" – 3:01

Release history

"This Is Our Night"
RouvasThisIsOurNightcover.jpg
Single by Sakis Rouvas
from the album This Is Our Night
B-side
  • "Right on Time"
  • "Out of Control"
Released12 February 2009 (2009-02-12)
Genre
Length2:59
Label Minos EMI
Composer(s) Dimitris Kontopoulos
Lyricist(s)
Producer(s) Dimitris Kontopoulos
Sakis Rouvas singles chronology
"Zise Ti Zoi"
(2007)		"This Is Our Night"
(2009)		"Spase To Hrono"
(2009)
Music video
"This Is Our Night" on YouTube
RegionDateLabelFormat
Greece12 February 2009 Minos EMI Radio single
25 February 2009Minos EMI Digital download
Cyprus12 February 2009Minos EMIRadio single
Belgium23 March 2009Minos EMIRadio single
23 March 2009Minos EMIDigital download

Charts

Weekly charts

Chart (2009)Peak
position
CIS (TopHit) [16] 265
Greek Singles Chart [17] 1
Sweden (Sverigetopplistan) [18] 30

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References

  1. ↑ Jones, John (2008-07-15). "Greece decided, Sakis for Moscow". Oikotimes. Retrieved 2008-07-15.
  2. ↑ Kalimeris, Aris (2008-07-15). "Greece: Sakis Rouvas to Moscow!". ESCToday. Retrieved 2008-07-15.
  3. ↑ Floras, Stella (2009-02-10). "Greece: Three songs for Sakis Rouvas". ESCToday. Retrieved 2009-02-28.
  4. ↑ Çevikoğlu, Gevher Ebru (2009-04-18). "'Hadise is simply genius, I want to duet with her' says Sakis". Oikotimes. Retrieved 2009-05-01.
  5. ↑ Bakker, Sietse (18 July 2008). "Sakis Rouvas to represent Greece!". Eurovision Song Contest . Retrieved 10 December 2021.
  6. ↑ Konstantaras, Lambros (2009-02-18). "Με το "This is our night" στην 54η Eurovision!". ERT. Archived from the original on February 20, 2009. Retrieved 2009-02-18.
  7. 1 2 3 Staff (2009-02-24). "Photo Report: 24 ώρες γύρισμα με τον Sakis!" (in Greek). MAD TV . Retrieved 2009-03-02.
  8. 1 2 Konstantaras, Lambros (2009-02-24). "Ολοκληρώθηκαν τα γυρίσματα του "This is our night"! Δείτε αποκλειστικό backstage!" (in Greek). Archived from the original on March 13, 2009. Retrieved 2009-03-02.
  9. ↑ "Eurovision Song Contest 2009 - second semi-final". Eurovision Song Contest. 14 May 2009. C1R / EBU.
  10. ↑ "Eurovision Song Contest 2009 - final". Eurovision Song Contest. 16 May 2009. C1R / EBU.
  11. ↑ "Norwegians celebrate in Moscow", BBC News , May 17, 2009
  12. ↑ "High-tech advancements for Greece", Eurovision' official website, May 9, 2009
  13. 1 2 "Greece go top 7 in Eurovision", London Greek Radio , May 17, 2009
  14. ↑ "Support for the artist in Greece", esctoday, May 17, 2009
  15. ↑ "Πιο Δυνατά" on YouTube
  16. ↑ Sakis Rouvas — This Is Our Night. TopHit. Retrieved 13 October 2020.
  17. ↑ IFPI Greece Singles Chart
  18. ↑ "Sakis Rouvas – This Is Our Night". Singles Top 100. Retrieved 13 October 2020.
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