Armenia: Athena Manoukian wins Depi Evratesil 2020 and is off to Rotterdam

Armenia: Athena Manoukian wins Depi Evratesil 2020 and is off to Rotterdam
Saturday, 15 February 2020

  • The Armenian national final of  Depi Evratesil 2020, was completed just a while ago crowning as winner Athena Manoukian with her entry Chains on you , and will be the act to represent Armenia in the next Eurovision Song Contest in Rotterdam next May.

    Tonight we saw a total of 12 acts compete in the national final and battle for the golden ticket to Rotterdam:

    1. Agop – Butterflies
    2. Karina EVN – Why?
    3. Hayk Music – What Is To Be In Love
    4. ERNA – Life Faces
    5. EVA Rida – No Love
    6. Athena Manoukian – Chains On You
    7. Gabriel Jeeg – It’s Your Turn
    8. Sergey & Nikolay Harutyunov – Ha, Take a Step
    9. Miriam Baghdasaryan – Run Away
    10. Vladimir Arzumanyan – What’s Going On Mama
    11. Arthur Aleq – Heaven
    12. TOKIONINE – Save Me

    The result was determined by a combination of televoting and the votes by a nine member jury consisted of  Anita Hakhverdyan, Lilia NikoyanRuben BabayanVardan HakobyanTigran DanielyanDavid TserunyanKaren Tataryan, Anush Ter-Ghukasyan , and additionally by an international jury voting.

    Here are the overall results from all three categories of voting:

    Running orderActSongInternational juryArmenian juryTelevoteOverallPosition
    6 Athena Manoukian “Chains On You” 60 58   50 168 1
    4 ERNA “Life Faces” 34 31   55 120 2
    10 Vladimir Arzumanyan “What’s Going On Mama” 27 31   60 118 3
    9 Miriam Baghdasaryan “Run Away” 33 40   35 108 4
    7 Gabriel Jeeg “It’s Your Turn” 39 20   40 99 5
    12 TOKIONINE “Save Me” 28 38   30 96 6
    8 Sergey & Nikolay Harutyunov “Ha, Take a Step” 15 36   45 96 7
    5 EVA Rida “No Love” 40 39   5 84 8
    2 Karina EVN “Why?” 30 29   25 84 9
    1 Agop “Butterflies” 27 33   15 75 10
    11 Arthur Aleq “Heaven” 30 15   20 65 11
    3 Hayk Music “What It Is To Be In Love” 27 20   10 57 12

    A few words for Athena

    Manoukian’s first experience in the music industry was in 2007, when she participated in and won first prize at a talent contest called “This Is What’s Missing”, an international TV show production of Alpha Television Network Greece.

    A year later, in 2008, she participated in the Greek national selection for the 2008 Junior Eurovision Song Contest with the song “To Fili Tis Aphroditis” where she placed seventh .

    In 2011, Manoukian released her first single named “Party Like A Freak”, which became one of the biggest hit singles in Greece and has over a million views on YouTube. Following the success of “Party Like A Freak”, which was nominated twice for winning an award at the Video Music Awards, in 2012 she released a follow-up single “I Surrender” which instantly became the summer hit of year. She added a new song to her music discography a few months later named “Na Les Pos M’ agapas”.

    Manoukian also received a Gold Disc for “Party Like A Freak”, “I Surrender” and Na Les Pos M’agapas.

    In 2014, Manoukian released the single “XO”, published by Warner/Chappell and Max Music Scandinavia. The track was recorded in Sweden, Stockholm, and its music video was shot in Sydney, Australia with a successful music video and had great success in Europe, Asia, Australia and America. The collaboration of a team behind the likes of Celine Dion, Madonna, Selena Gomez, Ace of Base, Ashley Tisdale, Enrique Iglesias, Ola Svensson, Jennifer Lopez, GLEE and several others involved in the making of this production couldn’t have been better. She also reached number 1 in charts and won the Armenian Pulse Awards competition for Best Song In English. She also won the European Song Contest in Armenia with 122 votes.

    In 2017, Manoukian broke into the music industry as a songwriter and wrote the music and lyrics for “Palia Mou Agapi”, performed by Helena Paparizou, the winner of Eurovision Song Contest 2005. Manoukian got a Platinum Disc, as the song reached over a thousand sales.

    Behind her Eurovision entry “Chains on you” is herself and  DJ Paco.