The song received mixed to positive reviews. Daily Mirror entertainment writer Carl Greenwood gave the song 1 star out of 5 and said, "Rise Up is the sort of song that gets stuck in your head."[2] Jess Denham of The Independent, "Rise Up" has a definite holiday vibe to it, just in time for the start of summer."[3]
On 11 March 2014 Freaky Fortune and Riskykidd participated in the Greek national final for the Eurovision Song Contest 2014. After performing second in Eurosong 2014, "Rise Up" topped the 29% of the jury vote and 45% of the televote, 37% of available votes, winning the right to represent Greece at in Copenhagen, Denmark.[4]
"Rise Up" was performed 13th in the second semi-final on 8 May 2014. At the end of the broadcast Freaky Fortune and Riskykidd were revealed as one of the 10 qualifiers, earning Greece a spot in the grand final. It was later announced by the EBU that "Rise Up" revieved 74 points, placing 7th in the second semi-final. The international juries ranked the song 9th with 52 points, while the international televote ranked it 5th, giving 91 points.[7]
On 10 May 2014, "Rise Up" was placed 10th in the grand final running order.[8] During the voting sequence, "Rise Up" received a total of 35 points from all, placing 20th out of 26 songs.[9] The song ranked 14th in the public televote and 19th with the international juries.[10]