Album cover of single

Turkey performed fourth on the night in May and received an explosive reception afterwards. The song had been re-written slightly to include some high notes and a belly dancing routine was added. Erener sang counter to the rhythm in places and the backing vocals were synthesised with Turkish stringed instruments. The voting on the night saw Russia, Turkey and Belgium switch places at the top a number of times before Slovenia eventually gave Turkey the victory by just two points.

Eurovision Victory and Worldwide Success

The track was released all over Europe after the win, shooting to the top of the charts in Turkey, Greece and Eastern Europe, holding the #1 position in Sweden for three weeks, breaking the top ten in Belgium, The Netherlands, Spain and Austria and charting in the top twenty in Germany and Switzerland. The song climbed to a high of #17 on the Airplay World Official Top 100 - and to date it is one of the most successful Eurovision winners of the 21st century commercially.

Significantly for the Eurovision Song Contest itself, Everyway That I Can became a firm favourite of fans across Europe. This was important after a number of years of decline in the competition - partially due to forgettable songs which relied more on their raunchy dance routines, like that of Marie N the year previously, than on song quality. The Turkish victory reversed this trend, suiting the performance to the song rather than the other way round. The victories of Ruslana and Helena Paparizou in later years were to mirror that of Erener's, remembered for their strong tracks as well as impressive routines.

The video of the release sees Erener in an Ottoman style castle, its rose gardens, imperial harem (living quarters) and hamam (bathroom). Roses carry a major symbolism throughout the video. Erener is dressed in traditional Turkish styles, and Turkish female dancers are also present.

Remixes of the song were also released, including a Turkish version, a club remix, and a European dance remix. A live version was brought out and also included on the original single CD, along with two Galleon club remixes. The track was included on the official Eurovision 2003 CD as the original version, however.

After the Eurovision

Erener performed the single as a medley at the Contest in Istanbul a year later, and included it in her first English album No Boundaries. It was also entered at the 50th Anniversary Congratulations (Eurovision) as one of the fourteen best ever Eurovision entrants, and finished ninth, beating popular artists such as Celine Dion's "Ne Partez Pas Sans Moi", Johnny Logan and Dana International in the process. Erener herself appeared onstage to perform the final verse of the song on the night.

In 2006 it was entered in Best of Eurovision, a German version of the above, and beat off stiff competition from ABBA's Waterloo and eleven others to finish second. Ruslana's Wild Dances, the Ukrainian 2004 winning entry, was first.

The song was also included in a compilation of Sertab Erener's national and international hits released in 2007.

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