Swapping Love Island for Eurovision: Antigoni's pride at representing Cyprus

Swapping Love Island for Eurovision: Antigoni's pride at representing Cyprus10 minutes agoShareSaveAdd as preferred on GooglePete AllisonandIan Murphy,BBC NewsbeatGetty ImagesAntigoni hopes her dance-pop anthem Jalla will get her to Saturday's Eurovision finalTune into Eurovision and it's becoming more and more common to spot someone you recognise - even if you aren't the biggest fan of the song contest.San Marino in particular love a guest star, from Boy George's blink-and-you'll-miss-it appearance this year to US rapper Flo Rida helping the country make the final in 2021.But fans of Love Island might be surprised when they see who's performing in the second semi-final later.Antigoni Buxton, who appeared in series eight of the reality show in 2022, will be representing Cyprus with her dancefloor banger Jalla.But the singer-songwriter tells BBC Newsbeat that people shouldn't be shocked."If anything doing Love Island was random," she says."I've been wanting to be a singer, that has been my dream since I was as young as I can remember."And I had an obsession with Eurovision ever since I saw Helena Paparizou win for Greece [in 2005]."Love Island was a great moment because it gave me the chance to introduce myself to a lot of people and now I'm on that path I always wanted to be on."Getty ImagesHer Eurovision entry Jalla references the popular Greek belly dance TsifteteliAntigoni was born in London but has Greek-Cypriot roots and says she's proud to be representing Cyprus, the third-largest Mediterranean island."I was born and raised in London but spent six to eight weeks every summer in Cyprus and grew up feeling very Cypriot," she says.Her entry uses traditional Greek instruments and references the popular belly dance Tsifteteli.And she says the title, Jalla, Cypriot-Greek slang which roughly translates as "more" or "again", has a "special" sign...