Cyprus in the Eurovision Song Contest 2021

Prior to the 2021 contest, Cyprus had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest thirty-six times since the island country made its debut in the 1981 contest.[2] Its best placing was at the 2018 contest where Eleni Foureira placed second with "Fuego". Before that, Cyprus's best result was fifth, which it achieved three times: in the 1982 competition with the song "Mono I Agapi" performed by Anna Vissi, in the 1997 edition with "Mana Mou" performed by Hara and Andreas Constantinou, and the 2004 contest with "Stronger Every Minute" performed by Lisa Andreas. Cyprus' least successful result was in the 1986 contest when it placed last with the song "Tora Zo" by Elpida, receiving only four points in total. However, its worst finish in terms of points received was when it placed second to last in the 1999 contest with "Tha'nai Erotas" by Marlain Angelidou, receiving only two points.[3] After returning to the contest in 2015 following their one-year absence from the 2014 edition due to the 2012–13 Cypriot financial crisis and the broadcaster's budget restrictions,[4] Cyprus has qualified for the final of all the contests in which it has participated.[3]

The Cypriot national broadcaster, CyBC, broadcasts the contest within Cyprus and organises the selection process for the nation's entry. Cyprus has used various methods to select its entry in the past, such as internal selections and televised national finals to choose the performer, song or both to compete at Eurovision. In 2015, the broadcaster organised the national final Eurovision Song Project, which featured 54 songs competing in a nine-week-long process resulting in the selection of the Cypriot entry through the combination of public televoting and the votes from an expert jury. Since 2016, however, the broadcaster has opted to select the entry internally without input from the public.[5]

The Eurovision Song Contest 2021 is scheduled to take place at Rotterdam Ahoy in Rotterdam, Netherlands, and will consist of two semi-finals held on 18 and 20 May, and the grand final on 22 May 2021.[8] According to the Eurovision rules, each participating country, except the host country and the "Big 5", consisting of France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom, are required to qualify from one of two semi-finals to compete for the final.[9] The top ten countries from each semi-final progress to the grand final.[9] On 17 November 2020, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) confirmed that the semi-final allocation draw for the 2021 contest would not be held.[10] Instead, the semi-finals would feature the same line-up of countries as determined by the draw for the cancelled 2020 contest's semifinals, which was held on 28 January 2020 at the Rotterdam City Hall. Cyprus would therefore participate in the second half of the first semi-final.[10] Marvin Dietmann was announced as the artistic director for the entry, responsible for the country's stage performance.[6]