Eurovision 2022 Rehearsals: Semi-final 2

Will qualifyThat is quite a choice for the first shot of The Rasmus' performance. The vocalist appears holding a yellow ballon while singing the first verse. It is peculiar and can remind one of the iconic movie IT (you choose if you'd find that scary or funny). We've to confess that the vocals are quite shaky and out of key for the first part of the song. It gets better during the chorus when he runs around the center of the stage and is joined by the band and, of course, helped by backvocals. As soon as the first chorus finishes, Lauri (vocals) starts going through the ballons that make up for the most of the stage. There are big yellow and black balloons that occupy a big part of it and make the black structure go unnoticed (until the end where the wide angles showcase it). During the bridge of the song, the vocalist undresses the coat and smoke appears. The final "JEZEBEL" before the final chorus is meant for the audience to sing as the vocalist points the microphone to the audience.

May qualifyIs this Beyoncé? No! It's Michael Ben David from Israel. Expect a heavily choreographed performance that needs no pyro... Or at least not so far. The Israeli delegation brought their own structure and completely covered the black structure. The performance starts acapella with a Michael closeup. The angles switch as soon as every beat drops which makes it quite appealing. Michael is in full white, as well as the four dancers he has on stage. The majority of the LEDs are also in that colour but mixed with both red and blue. The floor LEDs are also used to create a better dynamic to the performance and one can read the song title a few times in it. Besides the obvious Beyoncé influences, this is a very queer performance.

Will qualifySerbia is not changing a lot from what we've seen in their national selection performance. Konstrakta is in her white jumpsuit with some flowers and, what seems to be a cross, in the pocket. She's sitting and surrounded by five people and shortly after the beginning of the song, there she is washing her hands. The main differences from the national performance are the inclusion of subtitles in specific parts of the song: "What is the secret to a healthy body?" one can read right at the beginning or "the heart beats by itself" or "god gives us health" or even towards the end "a sick mind in a healthy body". The LEDs change constantly from clapping hands to flowers to washing hands. In the song's bridge, the lighting turns red.

Will qualifyAzerbaijan would never not invest in a good staging. Therefore it's no surprise that Nadir's performance is quite dramatic, teathrical and big. A play between focus in and focus out in his face is how it all starts. He's sitting on stairs, a structure the delegation brought to Turin. During the pre-chorus of the song, a split screen is showed: Nadir's whole figure on the half below while you can only see his eyes on the half above. When the chorus kicks in, that's when the big choreography starts. Nadir is joined by a male dancer who is there to represent the "dark side". Every move Nadir does, the "shadow" follows closely up until the bridge of the song when the stair breaks into two and Nadir is now breaking away from his dark side. In the end, the light wins and the darkness dies.

Will not qualifyCircus Mircus have a quite alternative song in hands and made sure that the staging would follow the same vibe. The LEDs are a main part of this staging as it constantly changes from a man, dressed as a clown, lipsyncing to the song, to lips lipsyncing to it, to eyes, to overall weird figures and so on. The staging feels surrealist and a lot of abstract figures and images build it as well. Each band member holds an instrument but it's safe to say that the box is what catches your interest... Especially before the second verse of the song, when it opens and shows small figures of the band members. Throughout the performance there's little movement from the band members up until the very last part of the song when the vocalist starts jumping and moving around.

May qualifyAs per usual the Maltese delegation tries to feature the most amount of props, vocal runs, camera angles and fireworks within just three minutes. Emma starts her performance at the piano surrounded by smoke, a very similar environment to what she did in the Maltese national selection (but with another song). She quickly leaves it and stands above it for the first chorus. As for the second chorus, Emma leaves the piano and joins her dancers on the stage B for the bridge. She asks the audience to put their hands together and delivers full choreography in her shiny dress. In the final chorus, there's an explosion of fireworks. It's a solid Pop performance!

Will not qualifyAchille Lauro wraps up the second round of rehearsals of the day with a hell of a performance. The usage of "hell" is on purpose... There's a lot of red, fire and horns. Achille starts the performance behind a red structure that opens right after the first verse. The staging is filled with smoke. He walks to the center of the stage where he is then joined by the guitarist. They engage with each other and even blow a kiss towards the beginning of the second chorus. Needless to say that there's a lot of sexuality going on in this performance. It's also in this specific part that the fire show starts. As the end of the song approaches, Achille rides a mechanical bull whereas his guitarist is on stage B. The fire show is insane and complimented by a lot of fireworks.

Will qualifySheldon Riley starts this new day of rehearsals. He is all in white (which seems to be a very popular colour for this year's edition) and standing in the middle of stairs. His outfit is enormous... There are diamonds, there are feathers and a lot of layers. He is wearing long white nails as well and, of course, his diamond veil. The LEDs are decorated with smoke effects as well as the stage that starts producing smoke right from the beginning. Sheldon leaves the center of the stage once the bridge starts and climbs them from the right side (TV view). Once the song breaks down for its most vulnerable part, Sheldon removes his veil and finishes the song with his face showing and with very strong vocals. It's worth mentioning that open angles for this performance do hurt it due to the black structure in the middle that features no lights and is just that: a black structure.

May qualifyCyprus surely knows how to Eurovision and they've brought an enormous seashell to the stage that completely covers the black structure. This performance is filled with elegance and beauty shots. It is worth mentioning that the stage fountain does give a lot to this performance. Andromache looks like a Greek Goddess in the center of the stage while she delivers some arm choreography with the two female dancers that join her eventually. The performance does not feature a lot of movement which can damage how the general audience may perceive it. In other words, it is a beautiful, breathtaking performance but there lacks movement. The seashell, as well as the stage lights, shift from blue to yellow to gold to pink. Vocally there are a few shaky moments but nothing shocking and easily fixed.

Will qualifyBrooke Scullion is bringing that popstar realness to the Eurovision Song Contest stage. It reminds one of those iconic and fun MTV performances to the likes of Madonna or Britney Spears. In the beginning, Brooke is laying in the middle of a giant heart (part of the floor LED) and is joined by four female dancers. She gets up eventually and delivers choreography until the very end of the performance. The LEDs are covered with pink hearts which is quite ironic given the meaning of the song. Brooke is very playful with the camera and shows her charisma easily through her performance. Worth mentioning that the camera work and the lights work in this specific performance are great... It looks like a huge fun party that is reinforced by the fun fireworks!

Will not qualifyThe staging for North Macedonia starts in a very dark way. There are two lights pointing at Andrea while the camera slowly zooms in her figure. Andrea stands in the middle of the stage up until the end of the first chorus. The LED behind her seem to represent a thunderstorm that eventually gets calmer by the end of the song when the sun seems to come out. In fact, that's what the meaning of the staging looks like: a troubled relationship that eventually heals. The LED on the floor is also used to represent the line "crumble down beneath us" as the floor starts to break after that. The two structures on each side of the stage also go up during the performance and show images of hands' palms. As for Andrea's vocals, those sound almost like the studio version.

Will qualifyThe old Texas environment was kept for Stefan's Eurovision performance. He starts in the stage B of Pala Olimpico and is joined by his guitar. The sepia effect is on and it almost looks like we're about to see a cowboys movie but once the chorus kicks in, the normal colours take charge. Once the chorus is done, Stefan engages with the camera and moves to the stage A where he continues for the biggest part of the performance. There, the sepia effect goes back on and one can noticed the LED floor that looks like a dry desert. Stefan engages a couple of times with the audience and before the song wraps up, he goes back to the stage B. The camera closes just like in a movie and, again, in the sepia effect.

Will not qualifyWRS is the next one giving us a quite entertaining show. The performance starts with shots of the two male dancers moving to the rhythm of the song. As soon as the beat drops, all eyes are on WRS with a vivid red outfit. He is joined by two female dancers and deliver an energetic, dramatic and very highly choreographed performance. Despite being an entry for Romania, the overall mood is very Spanish. One can also see how much WRS is having as he never stops smiling or engaging with the audience with "HEY" or "Let's go!" The LEDs are decorated with graphisms for "Hola mi bebebe" or "Llámame" and honestly this performance goes so, so fast... It's fun!

Will qualifyOchman's performance is filled with rain effects, not only visually but sonically. It starts with the sound of rain falling and even the screen has an effect to make it look wet. He is at the center of the stage dressing a tuxedo and we can spot four dancers on stage B that eventually join him for the bridge of the song. The LEDs have Ochman's face in blue tones and also watery. After the first chorus the screen rain effects get more intense and just before the second chorus starts, there's what seems to be a thunderstorm and a lot of special effects that also resemble an earthquake. In the final chorus the dancers, that also represent this thunderstorm, go against him and by the end lay next to him as if they're tamed.

Will not qualifyVladana from Montenegro surely is one of the acts taking bigger fashion risks at this year's Eurovision and her stage outfit follows that same line. She is standing on the stage B and has what looks like a structure of lights on her back. The stage is filled with smoke and towards the end, the LEDs have the figures of people. It's worth mentioning she sings the bridge of the song in Italian. As for the vocals, Vladana had a few off key moments but overall strong.

May qualifyThe Belgian performance is quite simple this year. Jérémie Makiese is on stage alone wearing a quite sporty look. The environment is blue and an open angle is used for the first part. Once he starts singing, the camera gets closer and that's when he starts engaging with it as well. Up until the end of the first chorus, there isn't a lot happening aside from a big game of lights. After that, we can see four dancers approaching and some changes on the blue LED to tones of red. Once the second chorus starts, he finally delivers choreography but do not expect a lot of it. Jérémie's moves are limited and the attention is obviously on the voice that is quite great.

Will qualifyWhat a ride for Sweden's Cornelia Jakobs. The second round of rehearsals was met with a lot of production issues including a camera man who tripped on her microphone's cable... But anyway! Once they got it all right, we reached the conclusion that it was a replicate of what she did at Melodifestivalen. The main difference is (again) the black structure in the middle of the stage that is quite visible and the pyro at the end... That's right. The final chorus is met with a lot of fireworks that caught everyone a bit by surprise. As for the rest, everything's the same: the stage prop going from green-white-red, she's barefeet, the outfit's the same, etc.

Will not qualifyWe Are Domi wrap up the day of rehearsals with a fun performance filled with light effects (wouldn't the song be called "Lights Off"). It starts with a shot of the member of the group in charge of the keyboard and quickly moves to the vocalist that is sitting on the floor. As the melody changes before the chorus, she gets up and moves to the middle of the stage. The LEDs are filled with what seems to be statues. The first big moment happens once the break of the song kicks in and there's a huge light game and the second moment, also related with lights, happens when before the second chorus she sings "so turn the lights off" and they do turn off to the beat of the song: "Let's go Europe" she says right after. At the end the LED statues seem to be destroyed and before the end she's joined by the two band members in the center of the stage.