"El Diablo" is a song recorded by Greek singer

Elena Tsagrinou Elena Tsagrinou ( el, Έλενα Τσαγκρινού; born November 16, 1994) is a Greek singer. Tsagrinou began her career as the lead singer of the Greek band OtherView, until beginning a solo career in 2018. She represented Cyprus in the Eu ...

, released as a single on 28 February 2021 for her album with the same name. It was written and composed by Jimmy "Joker" Thörnfeldt,

Laurell Barker Laurell Barker (born April 20, 1979), also known mononymously as Laurell, is a Canadian singer and songwriter currently residing in Malmö, Sweden. She has co-written songs with numerous artists, including Twice, Eleni Foureira and Oh My Girl. S ...

, Oxa and Thomas Stengaard. The song represented Cyprus in the

Eurovision Song Contest 2021 The Eurovision Song Contest 2021 was the 65th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Rotterdam, Netherlands, following the country's win at the with the song "Arcade" by Duncan Laurence. The Netherlands was set to host the , ...

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...

, the Netherlands, after being internally selected by the

Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation ( gr, Ραδιοφωνικό Ίδρυμα Κύπρου , tr, Kıbrıs Radyo Yayın Kurumu), or CyBC (ΡΙΚ, KRYK), is Cyprus' public broadcasting service. It transmits island-wide on four radio and two domestic ...

(CyBC).

Background and composition

"El Diablo" was written and composed by Jimmy "Joker" Thörnfeldt, Laurell Barker, Oxa and Thomas Stengaard. The song's meaning was described as about "falling in love with someone as bad as the devil", used as a metaphor for

Stockholm Syndrome Stockholm syndrome is a condition in which hostages develop a psychological bond with their captors. It is supposed to result from a rather specific set of circumstances, namely the power imbalances contained in hostage-taking, kidnapping, an ...

. The song's title was revealed on 25 November along with Tsagrinou's announcement that she would represent

Cyprus in the Eurovision Song Contest 2021 Cyprus participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2021 in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. The Cypriot broadcaster Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation (CyBC) internally selected Elena Tsagrinou as its representative with the song "". "" was written and co ...

in Rotterdam. The song was released on 28 February 2021.

Release and promotion

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

for "El Diablo" was filmed in

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

. A preview of "El Diablo" was presented to the public on 24 February 2021 during the

RIK 1 RIK 1 (Greek language, Greek: ΡΙΚ 1) is a Cyprus, Cypriot television channel owned and operated by Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation. It was launched in 1957. External links

* Television channels in Cyprus Television channels and stations ...

programme ''Happy Hour'', hosted by Andreas Giortsios. The official preview video for the song, directed by George Benioudakis was also available on the Panik Records mobile app and website. The music video was hosted on the website until 27 February; the following day, the song and full-length music video were officially released to the public.

Controversy and criticism

Upon the song's release, the

received numerous threatening phone calls. Just over 20,000 people signed on

Avaaz Avaaz is a U.S.-based nonprofit organization launched in January 2007 that promotes global activism on issues such as climate change, human rights, animal rights, corruption, poverty, and conflict. In 2012, ''The Guardian'' referred to Avaaz as ...

to urge for the cancellation of the country's Eurovision participation. The track received criticism from some members of the public, as well as a few public figures on the island for the inclusion of the lyrics "I fell in love/ I fell in love/ I gave my heart to El Diablo". The

Church of Cyprus The Church of Cyprus ( el, Ἐκκλησία τῆς Κύπρου, translit=Ekklisia tis Kyprou; tr, Kıbrıs Kilisesi) is one of the autocephalous Greek Orthodox churches that together with other Eastern Orthodox churches form the communio ...

felt that the song was offensive, disrespectful and unrepresentative, and demanded that the state broadcaster CyBC withdraw Cyprus' Eurovision entry. However, the song had the full support by the government, the CyBC and the majority of the public in Cyprus. The government has since publicly rejected the reactions from religious and conservative groups, claiming it respects both spiritual rights but also the freedom of artistic expression. In February 2021, Orthodox Christians in Cyprus launched an online petition to ask the withdrawal from the Eurovision Song Contest.

Eurovision Song Contest

Internal selection

In November 2020, the

(CyBC) announced Greek singer

as the Cypriot representative for the

with the song "El Diablo". Prior to her selection, Tsagrinou called Eurovision an institution that she'd been following for many years. She added that if the right song was found, it would be her pleasure and honour to compete.

In Rotterdam

The 65th edition of the

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), sometimes abbreviated to ESC and often known simply as Eurovision, is an international songwriting competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), featuring participants representing pr ...

took place in

, the Netherlands and consisted of two semi-finals on 18 May and 20 May 2021, and the grand final on 22 May 2021. According to the Eurovision rules, each participating country, except the host country and the " Big Five", consisting of , , , and the , are required to qualify from one of two semi-finals to compete for the final. On 17 November 2020, it was announced that Cyprus would be performing in the second half of the first semi-final of the contest. During this second semi-final, Cyprus performed as 8th act and ended in 6th place with 170 points, qualifying the country for the final. In the final, Cyprus performed as 1st act and ended in 16th place with 94 points.

Charts

Certifications

Release history

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Diablo 2021 songs 2021 singles Eurovision songs of 2021 Eurovision songs of Cyprus Songs written by Laurell (singer) Songs written by Jimmy Thörnfeldt Religious controversies in music 2021 controversies