We’re up to Day 3 here in the press centre for this year’s Eurovision Song Contest, and over the last two days we’ve seen all 19 competing acts in the first semi-final take to the stage for their first rehearsals. Today, we’ve got the first half of the second semi-final, starting with Norway and ending in Australia! Follow the action here with us at Eurovision Union!
Norway
He’s already won Eurovision back in 2009, but yet he’s now back to give it another go with a completely different style of song. It was a hit in Norway’s national selection, but will That’s How You Write A Song impact the international audience?
Visuals:
This is a great way to start the second semi-final, with an energetic and playful stage performance. Essentially, we’ve got the national final staging on a bigger scale, with similar projections during the song. It opens with Rybak playing various instruments, or at least the projections of the instruments, and for first time viewers this will be incredibly charming.
As the song progresses, we get the four backing dancers who are also backing singers who join Rybak for an incredibly streamlined choreography. Camera angles really suite the performance, and they also create the diversion for Rybak to get his violin, of which he proceeds to very confidently perform.
The stage colours are once again blue and purple, which look good on camera. The only concerns for me is regarding the beginning of the song, where he isn’t really connecting with the camera, and I think that’s a big downfall, since his charm is a big part of the performance.
We’ve also got pyro in the performance during the violin solo, where we see fireworks shoot up from behind him.
Costuming:
It’s fairly casual for this performance too, with Rybak wearing something similar to his national final performance. He has a black shirt and pants, with a blue jacket. His backing artists are in cigarette style pants with a stripe down the side, and cropped shirts. The male performers have casual button up shirts in a maroon red colour. It’s quite casual but it’s purposefully casual.
Vocals:
It’s what we’d expect from Alexander. He’s a confident performer with confident vocals. At the beginning of the second run through he seemed a bit relaxed, and it was clear he wasn’t giving it the full 100%, but as the song continues he really shines. He hits all the notes he needs to hit, and the backing artists really back him up confidently.
