Before Lisbon In January 2018, the
Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation (CyBC) announced the Cypriot entry for the
Eurovision Song Contest 2018 to be internally selected. Prior to this, the broadcaster planned to hold audition rounds and a national final to select their entry but cancelled the selection process with no official statement. Foureira with "" was confirmed as the nation's representative by the broadcaster on 1 February 2018. Following the announcement, the singer declared that she would promise to perform to the best of her ability in Lisbon, saying: "I would like to say a big thank you to CyBC and all the Cypriot people for giving me this opportunity. It is a great honour for me to represent this wonderful country, which has supported me so much for all of these years." Given her Albanian origin, Foureira's announcement as the nation's representative sparked a divisive debate in Cyprus and Greece on racism and discrimination. She was one of three ethnic
Albanian participants in the contest, with each of them representing different countries.
In Lisbon performing "" during a rehearsal for the
first semi-final of the
Eurovision Song Contest 2018. The 63rd edition of the
Eurovision Song Contest took place at
Altice Arena in Lisbon, Portugal, and consisted of two semi-finals on 8 and 10 May and the final on 12 May 2018. According to the
Eurovision rules, each participating country, except the host country and the "
Big Five", consisting of , , , and the , were required to qualify from one of two semi-finals to compete for the grand final, although, the top 10 countries from the respective semi-final progress to the grand final. In March 2018, it was announced that "" would be performed in the second half of the
first semi-final of the contest at 19th position, succeeding . In the first-semi-final, Cyprus was one of the 10 nations to be announced as having qualified for the final, ranking 2nd with 262 points. Subsequently, the nation was placed to perform at 25th position, succeeding Ireland and preceding . In the
final, Cyprus finished in second place at the end of the voting, receiving a total of 436 points and having received 12 from the televoters and juries, including from , , , and . This stood as the nation's best result in its participation history in the contest. Foureira's performance of "" for the Eurovision Song Contest was directed by Swedish artistic director
Sacha Jean-Baptiste. On stage, the singer was accompanied by a backing vocalist, namely Teddy Sky, and four female backing dancers, including Celia Caap, Keisha von Arnold, Lovisa Bengtsson and Marlene Lindahl. Foureira wore a glittery bodysuit with a transparent piece around her stomach and leather sleeves as well as high-heel boots, designed by Greek fashion designer Vrettos Vrettakos. The performance began with the front and centre of Foureira's silhouette against a light tunnel illuminated blue created by lasers. Upon walking through the tunnel, the lights began to change from blue to red with the backing dancers entering the performance. In writing for
Billboard, Adams wrote that "[Foureira] whipped her hair with Shakira precision and Beyoncé abandon". For
The Week, the editor elaborated, "given the title, the live performance [of ''] is guaranteed to include spectacular pyrotechnics, green-screen flames and some red-hot dance moves." == Track listing ==