Who is Victor Vernicos? Meet Greece’s Eurovision 2023 representative

The Greek public broadcaster, ERT, selected their representative in Liverpool through a multi-stage internal election process, which included a demoscopic sample of 70 people who scored the last finalist songs of the process. On January 30, 2023, it was announced that 16-year-old Greco-Danish singer Victor Vernicos won with the ballad “What they say”.

The 16-year-old emerged victorious ahead of Melissa Mantzoukis and Maria Maragou-Antonia Kaouri, who were finalists alongside him in the last round of selection. Two committees evaluated the proposals: one composed of 70 members of the Greek public and a jury from ERT.

Get to know Victor Vernicos

Victor Vernicos was born in October 2006 in Athens, to a Danish father and a Greek mother. He started taking piano lessons at the age of four, singing lessons at eight, and guitar lessons at ten. Additionally, he started writing his own songs at the age of eleven and has been producing his own music since 2021 when he released his first song that was written and produced entirely by himself.

The past two years have been very productive for the young Greek artist as he is studying Music Technology and continues to produce his own music.

In 2022, Vernicos announced that he had submitted a song to the Greek public broadcaster ERT to be considered as a potential entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2023. On December 28, 2022, it was revealed that his song “What They Say” was among the seven pre-selected entries. He later advanced to the final three candidates and on January 30, 2023, ERT announced that Vernicos had been selected to represent Greece at the Eurovision Song Contest 2023. He was the youngest artist to represent Greece in the competition thus far.

“What they say”, his song for Liverpool

“What They Say” is a mid-tempo ballad produced by Victor himself. It is an intimate and powerful song that may remind us of a proposal from some Scandinavian country’s pre-selection, which would not be surprising, as the performer has Danish roots.

Lyrics of “What they say”

Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest

Since their debut in 1974, Greece has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 42 times, with only six absences (1975, 1982, 1984, 1986, 1999, and 2000). In 2005, Helena Paparizou led Greece to their first victory with “My Number One”. The Greek national broadcaster, Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (ERT), broadcasts the event each year and organizes the selection of Greece’s representative song. It is worth noting that Greece has never finished last in the contest.

During the 20th century, Greece achieved only two top-five results, obtaining fifth place with Paschalis, Marianna, Robert, and Bessy in 1977, and again with Cleopatra in 1992. However, during the early years of the 21st century, Greece became one of the most successful countries in the contest, achieving ten out of thirteen top-ten results between 2001 and 2013, including third place for Antique in 2001 (with the lead singer of the 2005 winner, Helena Paparizou), Sakis Rouvas in 2004, and Kalomira in 2008.

Between 2014 and 2019, Greece failed to make the top ten, even failing to qualify twice from the semi-final to the final (2016 and 2018). However, in 2021, Stefania managed to bring Greece back into the top ten after an eight-year absence, achieving tenth place with “Last Dance”. In 2022, Amanda Tenfjord placed eighth with her song “Die Together”.