Victor Vernikos will represent Greece in the Eurovision 2023 music contest.
He is the youngest contestant that Greece has ever sent to Eurovision, as Victor is only 16 years old, while his song «What They Say» is his own composition. The revelation was made on ERT's main broadcast and when asked «if he expected it», he replied that he thought his song would do well.
The song is an «emotional but also a festival ballad», Victor Vernikos said, revealing that he wrote it when he was 14, in April 2021, in a stressful, as he said, situation.
Victor Vernicos, as his stage name is, was born in Athens, Greece, started piano lessons at the age of four, vocal lessons at eight and guitar lessons at ten. At eleven he started writing his first songs, and for the last two years he has been supervising the production of his own music, attending music technology courses.
Also in the final three were the song «Liar» by Melissa Mantzouki and «Shout out» by the duo Antonia Kaouri and Maria Maragou.
The song of Greece was chosen by a combined vote, with a weighting factor of 50,6% in the Public Committee's vote, compared to 49,4% in the ERT Committee's vote.
The seven-member ERT Committee, chaired by Dimitris Papadimitriou, is composed of Petros Adam, Leonidas Antonopoulos, Fotis Apergi, Maria Kozakou, Konstantinos Bourounis and Yannis Petridis.
For the first time this year, the final decision was made by two committees, just as the winning song in the Eurovision 2023 final will be, following the recent change in voting rules.
The seventy members of the Audience Committee were selected by a lottery and a procedure that ensures the impartiality and age representativeness of the Eurovision audience. 25 members were selected in the 18-24 age category, 20 members in the 25-34 age category, 15 members in the 35-44 age category and 10 members in the 45+ age category.
The 67th Eurovision Song Contest will take place in Liverpool on 9, 11 and 13 May 2023.
