Who is Andrew Lambrou? Get to Know the Eurovision 2023 representative from Cyprus

In October, it was announced that Andrew Lambrou would be Cyprus’ representative at the upcoming Eurovision Song Contest in Liverpool. Lambrou was one of the first confirmed artists for the current edition of the competition, although the song was not revealed until months later. As the Mediterranean country has accustomed us, the Australian was chosen internally.

In the same month of this announcement, Lambrou signed with the Greek record label Panik Records, the leading label in both Greece and Cyprus, with whom the Cypriot public television CyBC has an agreement for participation in the Eurovision Song Contest and for future releases.

On March 2, we were able to hear the song he will perform on stage, “Break a broken heart,” through the video published on Panik Records’ official channel. Recently, thanks to the BBC, he was able to travel to Cyprus for the first time, the country of his origin, to record the video that will introduce him in Liverpool.

Get to know Andrew Lambrou

Andrew Lambrou is a 22-year-old Australian singer of Greek-Cypriot descent with roots in the island of Lemnos (Greece) and Cyprus, with one of his grandparents being from Pafos. He currently resides in Sydney. From a very young age, he showed a passion for music. At the age of 5, Lambrou came in first place in a festival organized by his school, singing “Do-Re-Mi” from The Sound of Music. The same year, his mother enrolled him in a music school where he could attend piano classes and discovered his musical inclination.

In 2015, Lambrou, at the age of 17, participated in the seventh season of the Australian version of The X Factor. He was eliminated after the visits to the judges’ houses, just before the live shows, placing him among the top 20.

Thanks to the song covers he posted on his YouTube channel and Instagram profile, he built a constantly growing fan base (he has almost half a million followers on Instagram). Some of his videos, such as the cover of “Dusk Till Dawn” by Zayn ft. Sia, posted in 2017, have received more than 2 million views on YouTube.

Due to these viral covers, Sony ATV took notice of Andrew Lambrou and he signed with Maree Hamblion in 2017. This allowed Andrew to develop his musical ability, discover his own style and collaborate with different artists and composers who opened many doors for him in the Australian music scene. During this time, he traveled to Los Angeles where he carried out an arduous composition process that lasted 3 months.

Upon returning to Australia in early 2021, he signed with the Sydney-based record label City Pop Records. This allowed him to release his first single “Throne”, which was described as “a dark and compelling debut in which the young singer-songwriter marks his arrival as a promising pop heavyweight.”

In July 2021, Lambrou released his second single “Lemonade” and on September 24 of that same year, he released the third one, called “Confidence”. Despite having released several singles, he has not yet managed to release his debut album.

In 2022, he was one of the artists in Australia Decides, the national final where it is decided which candidacy will represent Australia in Eurovision. He himself was one of the composers of his proposal “Electrify” along with Joseph de la Hoyde, Nick de la Hoyde and Tim de la Hoyde. He managed to finish in seventh place, with Sheldon Riley being the chosen representative with “Not the same”.

“Break a Broken Heart”, his song for Liverpool

The song is composed by Jimmy Jansson, Jimmy “Joker” Thornfeldt, Marcus Winther-John and Thomas Stengaard, whom Eurovision’s most loyal followers will recognize for their various contributions to Melodifestivalen. It should be noted that Mattias Bylund, who worked on the arrangement of the song, is known for winning a Grammy for his work on Taylor Swift’s album “1989“.

The song talks about the power of resilience and overcoming toxic relationships. It illustrates a person who has been hurt by someone they loved but resists and refuses to let the pain destroy them, despite the constant mistreatment they receive. However, the affected party is motivated to overcome this low point in their life and rise even stronger than before.

Regarding the song, Andrew said: “It’s a song about relationships that end with a broken heart, but that could push us to rise from the ashes, even stronger”.

«Break a broken heart» Lyrics

Chipre in the Eurovision Song Contest

Cyprus debuted in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1981 with Island and their song “Monika”, with which they achieved a great sixth place. In total, the small island nation has participated 37 times in Eurovision, with absences in 1988, 2001 and 2014.

Since the introduction of the semifinals in the contest, Cyprus has managed to qualify for the grand final in eight of the fourteen editions. Their best result was thanks to Eleni Foureira and her song “Fuego”, with which Cyprus came close to victory in 2018 with a second place and a total of 436 points.

Andromache was the Cypriot flag bearer in the last Eurovision Song Contest with the Hellenic ballad “Ela”. Unfortunately, she did not manage to advance to the final, finishing in twelfth place in her semifinal. This was the first time since their return in 2015 that they did not make it to the final.