Elena Tsagrinou

Elena Tsagrinou is a Greek singer. Tsagrinou began her career as the lead singer of the Greek band OtherView, until beginning a solo career in 2018. She represented Cyprus in the Eurovision Song Contest 2021 with the song "El Diablo". Upon the song's release, the Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation received numerous threatening phone calls. Just over 20,000 people signed on Avaaz to urge for the cancellation of the country's Eurovision participation. The track received criticism from some members of the public, as well as a few public figures on the island for the inclusion of the lyrics "I fell in love/ I fell in love/ I gave my heart to El diablo". The Church of Cyprus felt that the song was offensive, disrespectful and unrepresentative, and demanded that the state broadcaster CyBC withdraw Cyprus' Eurovision entry. However, the song had the full support by the government, the CyBC and the majority of the public in Cyprus. Several journalists compared Tsagrinou with American singer Lady Gaga, and "El Diablo" to Gaga's 2009 hit "Bad Romance", some going so far as to accuse her of plagiarism. She qualified for the finals and ended up on the 16th place.