JOY Eurovision

30 Apr 2018

From the 2018 Press Bubble: Day 1

It’s happening again for another year. JOY is at Eurovision!

It all kicked off today (after morning rain, a broken accreditation scanning system, little signage to the areas in the bubble and confusion about the interview rooms) with the first rehearsals for the songs in the first half of Semi 1.

What did you miss?

Azerbaijan

Aisel starts the show from Altice Arena with something you’ve hearing in Melbourne’s most uplifting music mix. We love the song. Yes, it makes no sense but it’s Eurovision – we can handle that. What we can’t handle though is seeing Aisel’s intimates.

https://twitter.com/JOY_Eurovision/status/990519090161897472

https://www.instagram.com/p/BiJmqwyFpnc

Other than that, we didn’t quite mind it. As long as Aisel calms the shaky voice and her backup troupe keep looking good, she’ll be good to go. You’ll also be good to go if taking part in a drinking competition. There’s so much white that you’ll be racing down to the bottleshop before the end of this one.

Iceland

Dear Ari, we love you. You’re pretty. In fact, your smile can melt the iciest of hearts (pun not intended). But even with that smile, your ode-to-Tron suit and well-fitting pants, the song’s just not hitting the mark.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BiJsoCglpZA

We want you to do well, we do. But our choice of song would be something much different… and in this Semi, you really need to have made the best choices you can.

Albania

Our Hikaru loves the Bushpepa and from today’s rehearsal, we can see why. The first run was a little bit Jimmy-Barnes-screamy, but by the third go, Eugent had it under control. He may be a rock man, but there’s enough Euro-glamour in him to make a scene on the stage this year.

https://twitter.com/JOY_Eurovision/status/990537090680152065

This one has the potential to do well in a Semi that is looking more like a bloodbath every minute. If you’re a lover of Aussie rock, you’d be well-placed to give this one a go.

Belgium

After a couple of years of big achievements for Belgium, Sennek has the heavy hopes of a nation on her shoulders. We reckon this girl could do the soundtrack to the next Bond movie with this particular effort, but today’s rehearsal didn’t quite hit the mark.

Sennek’s get-up wasn’t all that popular. It honestly looks like she went to work one day, strolled down the lamp cover aisle and took the one that would fit best. No one actually understands what’s happening with the skirt. At all.

Dramatic lighting makes Sennek's first rehearsal really powerful #ESC2018 #AllAboard pic.twitter.com/DmFRRJOHel

— Eurovision Song Contest (@Eurovision) April 29, 2018

Plus her slit of light at the beginning of the song was aimed everywhere except for her eyes (where it should have been).

However, the Belgians are comparing her in rehearsals to Blanche last year. They just want you to leave her alone, ok?

like last year all these mean comments about Blanche broke my heart but now the same thing is happening with Sennek
Can't you just give our belgian girls some rest???? #Eurovision pic.twitter.com/ZuWiCzdAB0

— cé (@celyaah_) April 29, 2018

We’ll see.

Czech Republic

From darkness in Belgium to colour and movement in Czechia. And boy, we were pleased. Mikolas Josef got leaping and flipping in a rainbow blur of fun and excitement.

The fans were happy.

It is only day 1 of #ESC2018 rehearsals
and Mikolas Josef has just done THIS
Boy knows the #Eurovision fanbase well pic.twitter.com/w5d632cllz

— Mr Adam R (@MrAdamR) April 29, 2018

His dancers had quite the funky clothes to boot, with one jacket in particular being the most colourful thing on stage so far in the rehearsals.

https://twitter.com/JOY_Eurovision/status/990580886369374209

We just want to know what’s in the backpack.

Lithuania

Apparently this was so good that it was the Press Centre’s favourite of the day and it made half the place cry.

I’m still to be convinced.

Yes, there’s ‘augmented reality’ (in order to bypass the six-person rule) and she kisses her boyfriend. Yes, there are images of families. But sheesh, do you want 😢 or 🤢?

Lithuania 1st rehearsal. The on-screen family clips make the song's meaning very clear but draw a bit attention away from Ieva's dreamy emotional performance. #Eurovision

— Chris (@EsckazChris) April 29, 2018

Right now, I’m leaning towards the latter.

Israel

The big favourite had the Press Centre wanting something big.

It wasn’t as big as they were hoping.

First run of Israel leaves a lot to be desired… Kind of works, but needs a lot of work. Of course that's the whole point of this rehearsal, but left me a bit cold… #eurovision

— Rodders (@rodras29) April 29, 2018

Let’s be clear – the first rehearsals for all the acts will definitely be full of mistakes. It’s the first time they’ve performed on stage. They should never be used as the solo judge of the final act. But we were still expecting this one to be pretty spot on.

Netta loves K-pop and decided to use lucky cats on stage. There are a lot of them. But they weren’t all set off at once.

https://twitter.com/JOY_Eurovision/status/990595430676418560

Can this one redeem itself? Yes. Will it still be the favourite? Yes. Is it a shoe-in to win? No. This one may go the way of Italy in 2017.

Belarus

https://twitter.com/SchlagerKaty/status/990640984236191744

Sometimes countries surprise you. Belarus has hit this one out of the park.

I was on the ESCXTRA live stream while we saw this play out in the Press Centre and it was a surreal experience.

Alekseev gave a rose as a sacrifice to a camera god, which then did a 360 and gave it to a dancer. She did her thing (very well too), lifted a bow (as in, with arrow) and shot the rose towards Alekseev.

Yes.

And yes, it got him right through the hand, complete with blood.

Totally normal for a family show, right?

https://twitter.com/KatsJonouchi/status/990610033997242368

It’s all light-hearted though, according to Alekseev.

https://twitter.com/JOY_Eurovision/status/990645678631280640

Estonia

Thank you Estonian businesses for allowing Elina the chance to be projected on this year. This one looked amazing on screen, with some new projections that really take this song to a new level. The colour, textures, excitement certainly help the viewer to understand what’s going on in this operatic number.

https://twitter.com/JOY_Eurovision/status/990621270202077186

It’s not popera. It’s not plain old opera. This song is now considered oppopera. And it’s as close to opera that you’ll get at Eurovision.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BiKSRvhFbuC

Elina’s hitting all the right notes and isn’t holding back in these technical rehearsals. It’s only bound to get better and we’re hoping that it gets to Saturday’s show.

Bulgaria

Wrapping up today’s rehearsals is the forced fivesome from Bulgaria. We were worried that the five wouldn’t have chemistry on stage, but they don’t need it. This one seems a little slap-dashed together. There are angles, transitions, moody lights, changes on the stage, and all while standing on some boxes. Being coherent isn’t exactly a strong point here.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BiKV7ZbFz5S

Vocally, they’re pretty spot on, though Johnny Manuel seems to be the strongest out of Equinox in this rehearsal.

People are lapping this one up, so we might just be missing something, but it needs something else to be able to get through.