With one of the strongest songs this year, and the biggest potential for staging, Romania has set the bar high this year. The first broadcasted run through of Amnesia was shaky to say the least. Vocally, Roxen fails to deliver. She gives a confident delivery, but each note is as shaky as the last. The backing vocals assist, but not nearly enough.
Roxen is sporting the most casual Eurovision outfit with a trackies and hoodie combo. She can’t say she is uncomfortable on stage, at least in that aspect. It will be interesting to see if that is actually the final outfit, but it wouldn’t surprise me given the song.
The staging has a lot of similarities with the music video which was to be expected. Roxen is joined on stage with dancers who mimic a lot of the choreography we see in the music video. The ‘trapped’ feeling is accentuated with the backing screens, which show shadows reaching out as if they are trapped behind glass. In the final run through, we are seeing smoke billowing across stage. For the most part, this really adds to the stage performance, although at certain times there was way too much smoke which limits what the camera can see. There is a part of the choreography where Roxen is being dragged on the stage by the dancers, but that moment was completely missed because there was smoke covering it. I would hope they review this for the next rehearsal.
Overall, I hate to say it, but this is in the danger zone. Roxen’s vocals are questionable at best, and she is very audibly running out of breath at every moment. This needs major improvements.