On Tuesday May 14th, the first semi final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2019 will take place. Read the article below for a sneak preview of how all the performances in that show are going to look!
ESCDaily is live in Tel Aviv. With a team of journalists we follow all the rehearsals to analyze how every country will stage their song. When even the slightest detail changes, we will update this article for you, so keep refreshing this throughout the upcoming weeks to get -the latest information!
01. Cyprus – Tamta – Replay
The song opens with very quick flashing camera shots of Tamta in the dark. She is on stage with blond wetlook hair and has four dancers in black outfits and black cowboy hats to accompany her on stage. Lots of camera angle changes, in a purple, black and white scenery. In the close-ups Tamta is flirting with the camera a lot.
Perhaps the act is overly sexual? The dancers strip her black and silver outfit halfway the song down to silver only. There are six vertical lighted beams on stage as pillars, which sometimes have full white, or blue/white colours. Full focus is on Tamta, you never get to see the faces of the dancers, but the dance choreography is quite slick.
In theme with the song title they replay some dance routines in slowmotion near the end. All dancers drop to the floor on the closing shot.
02. Montenegro – D Mol – Heaven
The song starts with three D Mol members sitting on the staircase of the bridge, before we go to one of the girls on the catwalk, as we move on to one of the guys alone on the stage. The whole group – dressed in white suits with some red scarfs – joins him, as the camera spins around the group. During the instrumental break, we get to see a shot from the ceiling down and a long wide shot of the full arena. The group is not synchronized, as there is no common dance routine. They playfully dance with each other in the end, but it comes across a bit forced.
03. Finland – Darude feat. Sebastian Rejman – Look Away
The song starts with Sebastian on the catwalk and Darude in his DJ booth the background. Vocals are slightly off. We see a girl in a green dress dancing on top of a round white block. She jumps of the block ‘in the water’ and we see a greenish projection of the woman’s face under water, hologrammed all over te backdrop. As Sebastian kneels known on the catwalk, he brings her back on the block with a hand movement. In the closing shots we see the the northern light, as we see a yellow sunrise.
04. Poland – Tulia – Pali Sie
The four women of Tulia are on a rotating square, we see a total shot of them. They are all in big red dresses, their faces covered with a veil, which they take of to reveal their golden head-dresses. In the LED backdrop we see precorded shots of their faces, pictured quite large one by one.
We hear good vocal harmonies, though judging their singing style remains reliable of personal taste. Most movement is coming from the variation of camera shots and not from the girls of Tulia, who are static. They leave the spinning square and finish the last minute of the song standing still, clapping and waving their hands.
05. Slovenia – Zala Kralj & Gasper Santl – Sebi
‘Sebi’ is being filmed in a very static way, as the duo never move their spot for the full three minutes. In an intergalactic backdrop we get to see Zala and Gasper dressed in spotless white clothing; Zala wearing a turtleneck and Gasper just a T-shirt.
Some variation in the camera shots, as we see Zala being filmed over the shoulder of Gasper. The camera then goes round the duo, similar to the filming of the Common Linnets back in 2014. This is being repeated for the full amount of the song, together with some wide shots.
06. Czech Republic – Lake Malawi – Friend Of A Friend
The lively act is in style with their modern and fresh video clip. Yellow sweatered singer Albert, red sweater bass player and the drummer are shown in steel frames used as smartphones in splitscreens. Halfway Albert has some interaction with the guitarist and the steel frame is used as a frontdoor, while Albert winks the viewer to follow him to the front of the stage. The drummer stays out of sight mostly. At the end of the act all European language versions of the word friend are being projected in yellow on a black backdrop.
07. Hungary – Joci Pápai – Az Én Apám
Full focus on Papai Joci for the full three minutes, as he is alone on stage. Expect to see a lot of close-ups of him. The song starts with a dark stage, Joci sits in the middle. Some yellow sparks appear behind him and they grow into more and more yellow lighting. Long arena shot to the stage for the first chorus, we see faces of old people on the backdrop. Joci walks barefoot on a yellow road on the LED on the floor. As we get a golden lit stage for the final 30 seconds of the song.
08. Belarus – Zena – Like It
Belarus brings a multicoloured act, with heaps of flashing lights, lightbeams and smoke. There are equipment boxes on stage, which gives the performance a modern MTV vibe and a matching teenage dance routine. In the first minute we see a large open head, with a bird flying out of it, in the backdrop.
Zena is joined by two male dancers who also vocally support. In the end two additional female dancers also appear on stage and close off the song together with Zena. The slick MTV performance could speak to the young televote generation. While it could still vocally impressive for the jury.
09. Serbia – Nevena Bozovic – Kruna
On a blue ice cracking LED-floor Nevena wears the same black outfit as in the national final. The camera work is exactly the same, switching between wide shots and close-ups where Nevena connects to camera very well.
Nevena makes an arm movement for the instrumental break, and we get a blue in-screen projection of a blue whirlwind. The starry backdrop changes to a subtle golden swirl. It comes across very strong. Vocals are on pitch and we see some pyrotechnics in the end, supported by yellow sparkles on the floor.
10. Belgium – Eliot – Wake Up
Dark stage, with red lighting for Eliot. We immediately see drums (like Ryan Dolan’s) on stage, which the backing dancers are drumming on. The singer in a sort of Japanese black/orange clothing is looking a bit uncomfortable and the vocals are a bit weak and thin. While singing ‘fight over you’ Eliot raises his fist and throughout the song he regularly reaches to the camera. He gets choreographical support by the girl and boy who drum.
There is not much going on during the three minutes other than the regular switching between wide shots, a few close-ups and a spin around the singer towards the end.
11. Georgia – Oto Nemsadze – Keep On Going
Dark shadows walking in a blue backdrop behind Oto, as ‘Keep on going’ starts. He is walking over a bridge on LED floor, mountains behind it. The camera is spinning round Oto as the stage turns red and blue. Backings standing behind him as the spinning camera round Oto continues to move again. Strong camera connection, despite have a terrifying look in his eyes.
Near the final we see a lot of fire and flames in the backdrop. Visually strong entry, raw vocals and much impact for the final seconds of the song. Lightning and flashes, smoke and pyrotechnics are used to upgrade the visuals. There is a windmachine blowing Oto’s black clothing. The closing shot is a pictured handshake in the backdrop.
12. Australia – Kate Miller-Heidke – Zero Gravity
Close opening of Kate in a white princesses dress. Wider shot with two other females in dark blue dress. All three sitting on a pole, as we see a globe of planet Earth beneath them (visual on-screen projection). An intergalactic clouds of stars is used as backdrop.
All three woman are swinged from left to right, as if there literally is zero gravity. A visual stunning performance, though the vocals sometimes suffer a bit from all the requirement movements.
13. Iceland – Hatari – Hatrid Mud Sigra
There is a cage on stage, with someone with a sledgehammer on top of it. All performers are dressed in BDSM clothing. We see red chains in the backdrop, sometimes a few flames, and a lot of flickering camera shots to increase the visible impact of this song. The opening shot is a body laying backwards bent over a bridge as if slaughtered. Sometimes the falsetto singer Clemens is off key.
End pose: Matthias putting his foot on Clemens (lying on the ground) and holding a backing singer who’s head is bent down in the neck.
14. Estonia – Victor Crone – Storm
Performance starts with a shot of Crone, in a black leather jacket, from behind. Yellow clouds as a backdrop when we see his face. Vocals are off-key way at the start of the first chords, way up to the end of the song, which is very troubling.
Shots of the crowd behind him for the second refrain, and then the camera spins around him. In the end we see a lot of thunder and clouds projected behind Crone, who turns around in slowmotion, when we find out it was a hologram, because he re-appears with a guitar to finish of the song.
15. Portugal – Conan Osiris – Telemoveis
Opening up close with Conan in green, wearing a black mouth piece instead of his golden. Then the shot gets a bit wider as well see a big red rose in the backdrop. Wide shot when we see Conan dancing alone and the other guy looking at him from a small black staircase. The dancers joins him after a minute. Same dance routine as in the Festival da Cancao final. So the dancer drops to the floor, right before the close-up closing shot of Conan.
16. Greece – Katerine Duska – Better Love
Greece goes pastel colours lila and yellow and we get to see a lot of blossoming flowers. There is not much lighting, making the performance a bit dark and intimate. Katerine and her 5 dancers/backings are standing with their back against what looks like a big decorated chapel.
Three dancers have pastel yellow shoulder-skirts which make them look like little chickens when they raise their arms. The other two left over dancers wear sabels to do some fencing sport. A girl comes walking in with a huge ball and throws in the audience.
The chapel is turned around and is filled with flowers. Vocals are good, although some added squeeks are not really adding value to the song.
17. San Marino – Serhat – Say Na Na Na
All persons on stage are dressed in white and dance on a disco square in pink lights. Serhat has his hand in his pocket and stands in a white suit on a podium with a rectangle arch. Two male dancers in white shorts, t-shirts and jacket join him there.
On the backdrop we see the lyrics of the song, pretty large letters. Colours are white, pink and yellow. Backings grap traffic pillons to use them as megaphones. Other than in his studio recording Serhat now counts to three in Turkish (Bir Iki üc) before the chorus. A big happy pill at the end of quite a serious semi-final. Visually fine, vocally poor.
She stands on what has remained of last years Russia Yulia melting iceberg.?