Tamta has arrived in Israel to shoot her Eurovision 2019 postcard — the tantalising tidbit that airs before she performs her song live, and which gives viewers a flavour of the singer and of a beautiful Israeli landscape.

While in the country she took the time to speak with broadcaster KAN about her birth country — the Republic of Georgia — and also her journey to Greece, expectations for Eurovision and her song “Replay”, along with the endless comparisons to “Fuego”.

Cyprus confirmed Tamta as its Eurovision 2019 act in February, and her song “Replay” dropped on March 5 — unleashing a wave of positive feelings among her fans. Her enthusiasm and joy over the entire experience was manifest during her interview.

She is happy to be competing in Eurovision: “I’m really excited, because Eurovision has been around me, or around my name actually, for so many years. To be honest, I have no expectations. Because I know how Eurovision is, I’m just happy to be part of it.”

What does she make of all the comparisons to “Fuego” — the Cypriot song from the 2018 edition which finished second?

“As a melody, as a song, I think it has nothing to do with ‘Fuego’. But even if it had something to do with it, I think it’s a great song, so I’m fine with that”.

We should point out that virtually every dance song in the 2019 competition has been compared to “Fuego” — so much so that fans have started making hilarious memes of songs that “sound like ‘Fuego’.”

I really don't know what are you hearing…

THIS IS THE ULTIMATE RIPOFF OF FUEGO! #Eurovision pic.twitter.com/d9kkiEZRIJ — Rui Gonçalves (@ruisgoncalves) March 14, 2019

Tamta comes from a mixed background and hopes for some votes from Georgia and Greece.

“I was born and raised in Georgia. I moved to Greece when I was 21. Greece and Cyprus, to me, are the same. I hope that Greece and Georgia are going to support me. As people, I can tell Cypriots are close to Georgian and Greek people. All of us are warm people and LOUD. I love loud people.”

We’re gonna get along great!

And what of shooting her postcard? “We went for the shooting to Elat. We just visited a couple of places. One was an aquarium. It was really interesting, being there with the sharks! I saw beautiful rocky mountains. I feel like home, don’t know why exactly yet. I’ll find out next time I come here, but it feels like home really.”