THE ALLURE of fame, public support and celebratory status is at our doorstep again as Mega Channel prepares for auditions for their new show, Popstars, to be aired in 2003. The show is a mirror of the UK Popstars, which churned out the short-lived but much-hyped pop group Hear’Say.
Makers of the show will audition pop star wannabes having a song and dance. A selected group will then go to Athens for the final round of auditions. The aim is to assemble six women over the age of 18 and transform them into a real pop group. Using a similar format to the UK version, viewers will be able to follow the entire process of creating the group from initial auditions through to rehearsals, concerts and recordings.
Mega, Freemantle Productions and Warner Music, along with the obligatory star-making kit-pack of voice-trainers, designers and choreographers, aspire to give the girls international fame.
In recent months, Greece has aspired, like the rest of the world, to give everyone the opportunity to clock in their 15 minutes of fame. The Greek version of Popstars comes on the trail of reality shows like Bar, Fame Story, The Farm, Gym Show and Couple of the Year.
Britain’s Popstars produced pop band Hear’Say in a storm of public hysteria two years ago. The band sold 1.2 million copies of its first single, ‘Pure and Simple’, breaking chart records and going on to sell over 1 million albums. The hype began to simmer after one band member pulled out, followed by group infighting, which made more headlines then their singing. Eventually, the break-up was announced last month to an indifferent public already glued on the exploits of young stars Gareth Gates and Will Young from the latest manufacturing showpiece, Pop Idols.
Mega is bringing over representatives of Warner Music in Greece to judge the auditions, which will take place on December 7 at the Hilton Hotel in Nicosia, starting at midday. Mega representative, Costas Valanides, told the Cyprus Mail yesterday that any girl over the age of 18 who wishes to sing a song in any language is welcome to turn up on the day and audition. This is the second time that judges from Greece are coming to Cyprus as auditions were held last month where 10 girls were chosen for the finals in Greece.
The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.
