Released April 2006 Recorded 2006 - Bi Kay Studios | Format CD Single Genre Pop rock | |
Length 3:00 (Original Version) Label Sony BMG Greece/Columbia | ||
"Everything" was the song chosen by Greece as its entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 in Athens.
Contents
At Eurovision
It finished in 9th position with 128 points. The song is an anthemic ballad sung in English by Anna Vissi, who is an established performer in Greece and her home country, Cyprus, and who has represented both countries previously in the Contest; first with "Autostop" for Greece in The Hague in 1980, finishing 13th, and the second time for Cyprus in Harrogate in 1982 with "Mono I Agapi", one of three Cypriot entries to finish 5th, their best result in the Contest to date.
"Everything" was performed sixteenth on the night (following the United Kingdom's Daz Sampson with "Teenage Life" and preceding Finland's Lordi with "Hard Rock Hallelujah"). Unusually, particularly in comparison to other contest entries, it was performed solo by Vissi, without the presence of backing singers or dancers. Lyrically, the song deals with Vissi's conflicted emotions on ending a relationship. She sings that she is "still in love with everything I hate".
Voting
22 countries voted for Greece:
After Eurovision
The song has had a successful commercial release in Greece and in Cyprus, becoming a number 1 hit in both countries and achieving Gold status in Greece. It has also achieved success in Sweden, reaching number 26 at top 60 during the week of 10 August 2006. The video for Everything has a 'heartbreak' theme in keeping with the tone of the song and features the artist discovering her partner's infidelity and suffering a series of misfortunes before being reconciled with him.
Track listing
- "Everything" (Original Version)
- "Everything" (Valentino Remix)
Music video and criticism
The video clip's protagonist, played by the singer, discovers that her boyfriend is cheating on her. She leaves the hotel, kicks parked cars and leaves. Her purse is stolen out of her convertible by a thief on a motorbike, and she leaves a gas station without paying to chase after him. She is then pursued by the police and arrested, but escapes and hitchhikes a lorry the driver of which feels her leg.
Resembling a road movie, the clip was criticized for displaying negativity with regards to Greece. Greek politician Georgios Karatzaferis criticized the video clip as "defamatory to Greece" in a speech in the European Parliament. More specifically, Karatzaferis argued that the video harmed the country's reputation in the eyes of future tourists, and that was reason enough for the European Parliament to hold an inquiry into the matter. No such inquiry was planned or ever undertaken.