Ivi Adamou
Ivi Adamou is a Greek Cypriot singer. Born and raised in Agia Napa, she rose to recognition in Greece and Cyprus following her participation in the second season of the Greek version of The X Factor, where she was under the mentorship of Giorgos Theofanous. Right after her elimination from the X Factor, Adamou secured a recording contract with Sony Music Greece. She gained further recognition from her participation in the Eurovision Song Contest 2012, where she represented Cyprus with the song "La La Love".
Her debut extended play Kalokairi Stin Kardia was released shortly after her contract with Sony. The same year, she collaborated with the Spiros Lambrou Choir and released the holiday extended play Christougenna Me Tin Ivi Adamou and was released as Christmas with Ivi Adamou abroad. Her debut studio album San Ena Oniro was released in July 2011 and included the hit singles "Krata Ta Matia Sou Klista", "Kano Mia Efhi" and "Voltes St Asteria". A new album, Eho Ourano, was scheduled to be released in summer of 2013 but was never released. Her second studio album Diko Mou will be released on 28 November 2022. Adamou has also released songs for movies such as Barbie in A Mermaid Tale and Barbie: A Fashion Fairytale. In 2015, she made her theatrical debut when she starred in the original musical Barbarella: the 80's Musical.
Influenced by Beyoncé, Whitney Houston and Helena Paparizou, Adamou was often described as the "Pop Queen" or the "Teen Idol" in Greece and was since her participation in The X Factor called as the "Next Big Thing". Her first extended play was certified gold for selling over 60,000 copies in Greece while the second holiday extended play was certified platinum for selling over 15,000 copies in Portugal. Since 2010, Adamou had several nominations in both the MAD Video Music Awards and the Madame Figaro Awards. She was named the best Cypriot female performer in 2010 and 2012. She was also awarded as the best singer in Cyprus in 2012 which was the first time that the award was given. Adamou has also participated in several charities such as "Everything I Can", the campaign for the prevention of cervical cancer, and she was also appointed as the Young Ambassador for the rights of the children by the HFC-UNCRC Policy Center.
Biography and career
Early life
Ivi Adamou was born on 24 November 1993 in Paralimni, Famagusta, to a Greek Cypriot father and a Bulgarian mother. She is one of the three children of her family; she has two sisters, one older and one younger. At the age of 9, she got on the stage for first time and participated in a music competition where she competed with the song "Kaka Paidia" by Anna Vissi and managed to win the competition. Since that competition, she started music theory, vocal lessons, and piano which allowed her to acquire the suitable skills to win prizes in several local song competitions.At the age of 15 and during her second year at the lyceum, Adamou auditioned for The X Factor and as she managed to make it through the live shows, she had to be travelling from Cyprus to Greece. Following her participation in the second series of the Greek version of the X Factor, she signed a contract with Sony Music Greece. Even though she had started a musical career, she decided to study sociology at the Panteion University. She graduated and received her diploma in 2015.
2009–10: ''The X Factor''
Between 2009 and 2010, Adamou took part in the second series of the Greek version of The X Factor, ending in sixth place. During her time on the show, she listed Beyoncé as her biggest influence, as well as Christina Aguilera and Whitney Houston. Nearly all the songs she performed during the show were in the English language with only one of them being in the Greek language.Adamou sang "Just Dance" on the first live show and she received positive reviews by the judges. In the second and third live show, she sang P!nk's "Just Like A Pill" and Kelly's "Because of You" respectively and she once again received positive reviews with the latter one being honoured as one of the best performances in the show until then. However, with her performance of "Papa Don't Preach" by Madonna in the fourth live show she received negative reviews, with Nikos Mouratidis stating that the song didn't suit to her voice. For the next three live shows, she performed "When I Grow Up", "Hurt" and "Halo" and despite her unsuccessful performance in the fourth live show, they were positively reviewed by the judges. On the eighth live she performed her first Greek song, "Hristougenna" along with "All I Want For Christmas Is You".
On the ninth live show Adamou performed "Celebration", making it the second song of Madonna that she performed. She also had a duet with her teammate, Nini; the two performed Anna Vissi's "Dodeka". On the tenth live show she performed "I Love Rock 'n' Roll" and even though she received mostly positive reviews, Mouratidis had negative opinion on the performance just like he did on her previous performance. On the eleventh live show, she performed another song from the Pussycat Dolls, "Hush Hush". For first time, Adamou was in bottom two with Hovig but she was saved by the judges. In the final showdown, she chose to perform "I Have Nothing", the song she sang in the bootcamp.
On the twelfth live show, she performed for second time, a song from Christina Aguilera. Even though she was one of the favourites to win, she was eliminated during the twelfth week, where she came at bottom two against her teammate Nini Shermandini. She was voted to stay in by George Levendis and Nikos Mouratidis and Nini was voted by Katerina Gagaki and George Theofanous. Even though it was tied, Theofanous' vote counted twice and therefore Adamou was eliminated. After her elimination, a feud started between Adamou's label Sony and Theofanous; the record label wanted Adamou to return because of the fake results, as stated by the media.
2010–11: ''Kalokairi Stin Kardia'', ''San Ena Oniro'' and tours
While Adamou was not a finalist in The X Factor with her sixth-place finish, she managed to obtain a record deal with Sony Music Greece, an affiliate of the show. Her elimination from the show was the source of a dispute between representatives of Sony Music Greece and George Theofanous, Adamou's mentor on the show. Her first single, "A*G*A*P*I" was released just a few days after her elimination from the show. She performed the song for first time at Aksizei Na To Deis, a show of ANT1. Its music video was released on 22 March 2010. She also performed the song as a guest performer during the final of The X Factor. Following her debut single, Adamou released the Greek version of the Barbie in A Mermaid Tale soundtrack.On 13 April 2010, Adamou's first collaboration was released through the MAD TV; she was featured on Stavento's song "San Erthi I Mera" which became a summer hit in Greece and Cyprus. In less than three months, the song got more than 3 million views in the original video which was later taken down which made it one of the most viewed Greek music videos at that time. The song stayed in the top five of the Greek Airplay Chart for 20 weeks, and sold 60 thousand legal downloads. Her second single, "Sose Me", was released on 27 April 2010 with its video clip premiering on 5 May 2010. A few days later, teasers for Adamou's debut extended play were revealed. Meanwhile, Adamou started touring in Greece and Cyprus along with Stavento. On 14 June 2010, Adamou performed at the 2010 MAD Video Music Awards with the band OtherView, a cover of the song "Last Kiss", originally by Ishtar.
Adamou's debut extended play, Kalokairi Stin Kardia, was released in June 2010 and included her first two singles, "A*G*A*P*I" and "Sose Me". Adamou recorded, for second time, the Greek version for a Barbie soundtrack; Barbie: A Fashion Fairy Tale. On 29 July 2010, a contest started through the official website to select the third single of the album; either "To Mistiko Mou Na Vris" or "Gelaei" would be the third single. Apart from select the next single, the voters had the chance to watch the shooting of the video clip. "To Mistiko Mou Na Vris" was announced on 30 August 2010 as the third single and the shooting for the video started in September, while the video premiered on 13 October 2010.
Adamou's first EP was certified gold for shipments of more than six thousand units. She received her gold album from Sakis Rouvas right after her performance of "To Mistiko Mou Na Vris" in the second live show of the third season of The X Factor. On 28 October 2010, it was announced that Adamou would release a Christmas EP which would include covers of "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town", "Last Christmas", "White Christmas" and a medley of "Agia Nihta" and "We Wish You a Merry Christmas". Christougenna me tin Ivi Adamou was released on 22 November 2010. The EP peaked at the first place of the Greek iTunes while it was certified double platinum in Portugal for selling more than fifty thousands units.
In early 2011, Adamou admitted that she got proposition from ERT to represent Greece in the 2011 Eurovision Song Contest which she turned down stating that even if she's interested in participating, she wants to finish school. In March 2011, she started working on her first studio album. In April 2011, Adamou collaborated with Melisses in the song written by the band, "Krata Ta Matia Sou Klista". Both the song and the music video premiered on 23 April 2013. In May 2011, it was announced that Adamou would release a song named "Murderous" which caused tension between Adamou's and Paparizou's fans as the song was previously announced as Paparizou's song. The song was later included in Adamou's first studio album as a Greek-language song titled "Tis Agapis Ta Thimata".
On 14 June 2011, Adamou attended the 2011 MAD Video Music Awards and performed with Midenistis a remix of the song "Gonna Make You Sweat ". That year, she received her first nominations at the MAD Video Music Awards; she was nominated for the Best New Artist and Best Female Artist. She was also nominated for the Best Hip Hop/Urban, Best Duet and Best Video Clip for the song with Stavento, "San Erthi I Mera". She won the award for the Best Hip Hop/Urban song.
In June 2011, a video teasing the new album entitled San Ena Oniro was shared through Adamou's channel. The first single from the album was "Kano Mia Efhi" written and produced by Meth. The shooting for the music video started in July and premiered on 29 July 2011. Her first studio album, San Ena Oniro, was released on 25 July 2011 and included ten songs. "Voltes St Asteria" was announced as the second single of the album on 25 August 2011. A teaser of its music video was revealed on 5 October 2011 and premiered on 11 October 2011. In August 2011, she joined Panos Kiamos and Kostas Martakis at their residency concert in the Posidonio Music Hall.