Ante Gia

"Ante Gia" (Greek: Άντε Γειά; English: Goodbye) is an EP maxi single by Greek singer Despina Vandi released on December 19, 2002 by Heaven Music. The entire EP was written and produced by Phoebus in promotion of the reissue of Vandi's 5× Platinum album Gia, which was reissued as Gia + Ante Gia and as a box set as Gia + Ante Gia: Collector's Edition. The EP contains all new material, with the title track being a response to the single "Gia" (Hello), inspired by that song but in a negative lyrical context. The remix of the songs "Spania" and "Giatriko" is licensed by Vandi's former label Minos EMI.

Singles
The first single from the EP was "Simera", a dance-pop song that was later rewritten in English as "C'est La Vie" for the international release of the album in 2003. The music video was directed by Kostas Kapetanidis and features Vandi in five different scenes dressed up in different costumes, in front of solid color backgrounds, doing things such as writing on the walls and playing electric guitar. Towards the end her four personas meet in one scene, with the video ending showing speeding cars on a highway.
 * "Simera"

The second single was "I Melodia Tis Monaxias". The music video was once again directed by Kapetanidis. In it, Vandi is involved in a car accident and presumably killed. She wanders around, having in an out-of-body experience, before finally being revived at the end.
 * "I Melodia Tis Monaxias"

Chart performance
Ante Gia peaked at number one on the Greek Singles Chart (where EPs chart in Greece). The EP was certified double platinum, recognizing shipments of at least 40,000 units.

Credits and personnel

 * Personnel
 * Demos Beke - background vocals, second vocals
 * Antonis Gounaris - guitars (electrics, acoustics, twelve-strings), orchestration, programming, keyboards
 * Panagiotis Haramis - bass
 * Roland Hoffman - flamenco guitar
 * Katerina Kiriakou - background vocals
 * Vaggelis Konstantinidis - lyrics
 * Tony Kontaxakis - remix, orchestration
 * Ioanna Kolokotroni - background vocals
 * Trifon Koutsourelis - orchestration, programming, keyboards, extra programming
 * Alex Leon - orchestration, programming, keyboards
 * Lilian - background vocals
 * Eleana Papaioannou - background vocals
 * Grigoris Petrakos - background vocals
 * Phoebus - music, lyrics, orchestration, programming, keyboards
 * Vasilis Tassopoulos - percussion
 * Aspa Tsina - background vocals
 * Fotini Tsitsigkou - background vocals
 * Despina Vandi - vocals


 * Production
 * Vaggelis Siapatis - sound, computer editing
 * Giorgos Stampolis - sound, computer editing
 * Nikos Stavropoulos - sound engineer
 * Manolis Vlahos - sound, mixing


 * Design
 * C. Coutayar - cover photo
 * Panos Kallitsis - make up, hair
 * Dimitris Panoulis - photo show

Credits adapted from the album's liner notes.

Official remixes

 * 2003: Thimisou (Remix by Nikos Halkousis - G. Koutsouflakis)
 * 2007: Thimisou (Soumka Mix)
 * 2007: I Melodia Tis Monaxias (Soumka Loneliness Mix)

Cover versions

 * 2004: Despina Vandi - C'est La Vie (Simera) (Σήμερα)
 * 2006: Cristina Rus - Viaţa Mea (Σήμερα; My life) (Romania)
 * 2006: Lana Jurčević - Odlaziš (Σήμερα) (Croatia)