He’s the Slovenian crooner who crashed out in the semi-final at Eurovision 2005. But today Omar Naber returned to the song contest stage once more for his first rehearsal.
The “On My Way” singer kicked off his comeback with staging that harked back to his EMA victory. Once again, Naber stood alone on stage with lots of sweeping shots. However, they’ve shaken things up ever so slightly. Omar is kitted out in a slightly mismatched black suit — a shimmering blazer and slacks with a white shirt. We’re still awaiting the fashion police’s verdict.
Large rectangular panels hang from the ceiling, encircling the stage. At certain moments, they undulate as they change from blue to white. Meanwhile, the crowd will wave their phones in the air, giving us a sea of flickering light. It all builds to the moment when Omar belts out “on my way” and the stage explodes with white light. A powerful moment, which gives off strong X Factor winner vibes — albeit more Leon Jackson than Leona Lewis.
Omar Naber — “On My Way”: Reviews and Reactions
Slovenia: First rehearsal at Eurovision 2017
Slovenia: First press conference 2017
Read all of our Eurovision rehearsal reviews
Read all of our Slovenia Eurovision news here
Photo: Eurovision.tv (EBU)
What was in Slovenians minds when decided to send an convicted sexual abuser to Eurovision? BQL were the right choice, but I guess now Slovenia is in love with their Melania and Donald Trump and Slovenians thought that is good to be sexual abuser. Go home Slovenia, you’re drunk.
With the staging, the song went from being suicidal to alien abduction. I like it.
The staging animations was wonderfully executed and went well with the build up of the song. This performance should shut those haters down. Omar is definitely on his way to the finals. Another ESC comeback success story after Bulgaria’s Poli perhaps?
I like the colours.
But the song does nothing! The staging doesn’t add anything to the song! It’s still forgettable and boring!
Watching it again on another feed and longer than :30 seconds, it’s not as bad. Too bad the quality of the video isn’t all that great.
Haha, go Omar, my guilty pleasure!
I don’t know about the staging but this guy can SING! I think it’s actually a pretty nice song! 🙂 It’s not in my top but neither is it at the end. I like it!
Ha ha ha… I might be the only person here to think so, but coming after Armenia is actually an advantage. Even if Artsvik brings the whole Chinese Dragon parade, a phoenix, a sphinx, an actual body of water and an actual meteor from the moon, it’s still a boring, boring, boring song. But I get that many people like it, so it might be bad for Omar. As for Slovenia, I kind of do like it. I more do than don’t, but I really wish if it sounds more inspiring and less lifeless. I actually thing this might qualify… Read more »
Honestly, Slovenia’s chances of qualifying would have been 10x better if they just sent Melania Trump to represent them. This is just grim.
Well, this is better than I expected, but the song is still boring, dated and under average. I was thinking about a last place, but maybe Slovenia place a bit higher.
I’ve always kinda liked the song and the staging looks promising. It MIGHT be a surprise qualifier…
The impatience and derision on Chris’ face when one of the others is saying something nice about a song he hates is always priceless.
I don’t like this song, but I totally see a qualifier in this. I can imagine many regular viewers/voters across Europe supporting this entry, as it happened with Poland last year. He has the “over 40” vote guaranteed.
Omar reminds me of Don Quixote. #
“Truly I was born to be an example of misfortune, and a target at which the arrows of adversary are aimed.”
This looks rather good – and he’s got one of the best voices in the contest. On my Top 10 list!
Agree! He’s shown what he’s capable of. I think it might be a shock qualifier, but I’d be happy because he’s my #2 🙂
To the bottom you go! Staging is so blah!
1. Armenia
2. Greece
3. Sweden
4. Finland
5. Azerbaijan
6. Poland (swapped after looking at pictures)
7. Montenegro
8. Moldova
9. Czech Republic
10. Australia
11. Albania
12. Iceland
13 Cyprus
14. Belgium
15. Georgia
16. Slovenia
Inc. Portugal
I hope he won’t include the black and white shots for his ESC performance. The ones he used for EMA looked so out of place and he was better without them.
This is only the first rehearsal for Slovenia. Just because Omar included black and white elements doesn’t mean that it’ll actually be used in the semi-final.
Here’s the question that STILL hasn’t gotten an official answer. What is it about “On My Way” that makes people hate it? Does it sound like a Barry Manilow reject of recent years? o.O
I love how divisive people are over this song.
I personally don’t hate the song. I find other songs in this semi better. The staging didn’t help.
This is so cheesy, not the kind of music I like. Plus, he looks so swollen-headed, and he looked even more so in the Slovenian preselection, where there were so much better songs.
I dislike how plodding and lifeless it feels. Saccharine, pompous, tries to be uplifting and anthemic but has no energy or spark. He has good vocals, but the song is such a task to sit through.
What makes me hate it is the same reason I hated the UK 2012 entry; it’s boring! Like, really, really boring.
For me, it’s not a bad song, but it’s boring and I feel like I don’t know what he’s singing about!
1. The lyrical rhymes are cheesy.
2. The lyrics are pretentious. “I’m happy with my friends but I’m going to leave them all to find MY way in the world!” – what a b*tch!
3. The music has two obvious key changes, just like with Norway 2010 (“My Heart Is Yours”). So it’s unoriginal.
4. Eh-i-yeah-i-yeah. Seriously.