Day five of Eurovision 2021 rehearsals is behind us. And now, we’re getting a clearer image of how the competition is shaping up.
Today, 14 acts took to the Rotterdam Ahoy stage for their second rehearsals. We got another look at the performances from Lithuania, Slovenia, Russia, Sweden, North Macedonia, Ireland, Cyprus, Norway, Croatia, Belgium, Israel, Romania, Azerbaijan and Ukraine. We also saw another teaser of Australia’s live-on-tape recording.
Manizha showed a costume change, we got our first proper look at Montaigne’s performance and Go_A’s Kateryna had to sit her rehearsal out. But who was the cream of the crop? Vote now in our poll below!
Scroll down to vote in our poll.
Eurovision 2021 rehearsals: Day Five (May 12)
Click on the below posts to read our reviews, watch our reactions and see snippets from each country’s second rehearsal.
- 🇱🇹 Lithuania: The Roop — “Discoteque”
- 🇸🇮 Slovenia: Ana Soklic — “Amen”
- 🇷🇺 Russia: Manizha — “Russian Woman”
- 🇸🇪 Sweden: Tusse — “Voices”
- 🇦🇺 Australia: Montaigne — “Technicolour”
- 🇲🇰 North Macedonia: Vasil — “Here I Stand”
- 🇮🇪 Ireland: Lesley Roy — “Maps”
- 🇨🇾 Cyprus: Elena Tsagrinou — “El Diablo”
- 🇳🇴 Norway: TIX — “Fallen Angel”
- 🇭🇷 Croatia: Albina — “Tick-Tock”
- 🇧🇪 Belgium: Hooverphonic — “The Wrong Place”
- 🇮🇱 Israel: Eden Alene — “Set Me Free”
- 🇷🇴 Romania: Roxen — “Amnesia”
- 🇦🇿 Azerbaijan: Efendi — “Mata Hari”
- 🇺🇦 Ukraine: Go_A — “SHUM”*
*Please note: Ukraine’s Kateryna Pavlenko was feeling unwell this morning and thus missed today’s rehearsal and press conference in line with health and safety measures. Go_A rehearsed “SHUM” on stage with a stand-in replacement singer.
Poll: Who had the best second rehearsal on May 12?
As always, you can vote for as many songs as you like. But you can only vote once, so make it count! This poll will close on May 13 with results publishing shortly after.
[polldaddy poll=10830541]Who did you vote for? What do you think of today’s changes? Let us know in the comments below.
Read more Eurovision 2021 rehearsal news here
PHOTOS: EBU / THOMAS HANSES / ANDRES PUTTING, JESS GLEESON
Where did they get her? Did they bring her as a stand in (didn’t realise that was a thing, I might be naive) or was it more of a “hold my beer” moment? Either way, kudos to her”
Wowww Cyprus guys.. I did listen to some interviews before from Elena and her team that they worked really hard and we will see on the stage but guys this is becoming now a serious contender. Elena truly deserves to be a winner, Cyprus do deserve it after Israel literarily stealing the victory and I am shocked how much Elena evolved artistically via this project.. Hope we don’t have another Duncan Lawrence style winner in a row, after the pandemic I need some uplifting sorry. So either Elena or Destiny I would be extremely happy. All these guys talking badly… Read more »
Cyprus, Russia, Croatia, Israel slayed.
Finally Sweden is last in something.. 😀
i dont like that sweden is good every year, but tusse will get to final and become top 10. so i hope for norway, tix is fantastic guy and you should have seen him in norways programs, he is such a good man, its really disappointment if i never get to final, the song is fantastic and i like the song to much, i cries every time when i go out from the house. i hope he goes to final. it will be very disappointment for norwegian tv viewers. norwegian people loves him too. by the way good luck in… Read more »
I think Russia, Ukraine,Ireland were strong and have the potential to improve and elevate even more.
Lithuania, Russia, Cyprus, Croatia, Israel all looked great to me. Ukraine looks so different without Kateryna on stage, but I’m already sold to their performance.
Ireland and Belgium are also fine, although they need to tighten up a few things.
Romania is still a bit messy but I expect this to improve and Australia was much better than expected.
Sweden and Norway both look in really big trouble right now.
PS. I completely forgot Azerbaijan which shows my feelings about their performance. Slovenia and North Macedonia never stood a chance anyway.
Cyprus and Azerbaijan is so hot and sexy! The best rehearsals ever! Your song prevented me from suicide! Elena Tsagrinou! You are the best of all! Thank you for El Diablo!
I hope you’re joking, otherwise I’m so sorry (about the suicide part)
Cyprus, Belgium and Russia best stagings/rehearsals. Ireland has a very complex staging and Lesley’s vocals are very sharp because she is out of breath. I am worried because i think Ireland can do well in televoting but juries might drag her out of the top 10 and thus miss the final. She really needs to improve her vocals, they need to figure sth out. Croatia looks slick but the clip does not show much. Albina is gorgeous. Azerbaijan is surprisingly good considering Efendi doesn’t really dance but visuals are cool. I am certain now that Israel will not qualify. I… Read more »
For me best reharsal have Cyprus, Belgium, Lithuania
Not good rehearsal Romania, Ireland, Azerbaijan
Cyprus and Russia are easily the best from SF1. I have a strong feeling they’ll both place in the top 5.
My prediction :
Safe Q: Lithuania , Russia , Sweden , Cyprus , Ukraine , Malta
Borderline(in): Israel , Belgium , Azerbaijan , Norway
Borderline(out):Ireland, Croatia ,Australia, Romania , Slovenia
NQ:North Macedonia
Bookies reaction to today’s rehearsal :
Countries which are more likely to qualify today than they were yesterday:
Cyprus , Lithuania , Ukraine , Russia , Belgium , Australia
Countries whose qualification chances have reduced after 2nd rehearsal :
Sweden, North Macedonia ,Ireland , Norway , Croatia , Azerbaijan , Romania
Countries with mixed Response: Slovenia , Israel
Russia and Cyprus <3
I really don’t understand what are Romania, Sweden and Norway still doing above Croatia, Israel and Belgium in betting odds.
The betting odds are a pile of steaming cr@p this year though.
People are just betting on the country and not the song
That’s just as good a reason to gamble as any other. Odds aren’t made from love.
Betting odds have often 2 wrong qualifiers, no way Azerbaijan will be lower than Romania, Croatia and Israel. And Malta will only be saved because of the biased juries, overhype won’t save the televote bottom 5 for such a mediocre song. Cyprus will win the SF
your literally maltas biggest fan
1st you’re*
2nd yes, ofc there is way Azerbaijan is that low. It is a mediocre copy of Cleopatra with poor staging and a bad singer.
thanks grammar police
Couldn’t agree more, absolute madness
And rusdia, Ukrain and Azerbaidjan. Its the worst song ever i ESC. They must pay a plenty of mobey for it
Love Romania studio version, probably in my top 3 overall for 2021 . Live currently is not cutting it and I would say I’m NQ territory.
I currently think from semi final one
Qualifying in no order – Russia , Ukraine, Croatia, Lithuania,Belgium , Cyprus, Sweden, Norway.
Possible borderline qualifiers Israel, Ireland, Azerbaijan or Australia
Malta…
totally agree… I love the studio version of Romania but the performance is terrible.
Let’s be real, Croatia SERVED!Phenomenal job Albina!
Still like the song and she can preform but the stage presentation/outfits and styling is a joke . It’s like a trashy Eurovision cliche
Croatia always mess up staging. They can come with some solid entries but staging always lets them down.
Phenomenal recorded voice.
It’s hers so basically you are just giving her a compliment.
Somebody please turn the lights off, Tusse looks like a ghost. Roxen, girl, please stop moving and just sing. You tried, let it go. Mamamamata Hari? An absolute banger with funeral staging, so dull.
In theory… could you just turn around and say…. my staging is rubbish, I’m changing it? I read somewhere it all has to be the same as the first rehearsal with minor changes?
It was Cyprus by FAR
Where was Destiny?
She’s first tomorrow
Malta is opening tomorrow’s rehearsal day, followed by the rest of the countries of the 2nd semifinal
Pulling up her boots.
My Semi1 NQ (based on rehearsals/live vocals/song): Sweden, Romania, Norway, Azerbaijan, Malta (never been a fan – but will obviously qualify), Russia (will probably qualify)
My top 3: Ireland, Belgium, North Macedonia (!)
Now about qualification predictions (I will include Malta, even though we did not see her 2nd rehearsal): Safe qualifiers: 1) Malta (Jury winner for sure) 2) Lithuania (Most likely televote winner) 3) Russia (Most likely televote top 3 and the juries will rank her inside top 10) 4) Cyrpus (with those vocals she can be in top 5 of the juries and she will get enough televote points to reach the final) 5) Israel (If she slays that high note in the Jury rehearsal she can be in jury top 3 and she will get enough televote points) Most likely… Read more »
Agree with most of it but there’s no way Israel will be a sure qualifier. I think its very borderline because neither the song nor the staging are particularly good.
No chance Malta to be jury winner with that disaster pink stayling of Destiny. Only if she change styling in jury dress rehearsal.
My best 3 performances today: Cyprus (spicy perfection), Croatia (sassy bop+great voice), Armenia (a lot of improvement from first rehearsal+great voice)
I hope so, but indeed juries will overrate it because it’s Sweden. If tele stays away from Sweden and vote countries like Belgium, Ireland or Slovenia we might see them as a shocking NQ together with Azerbaijan hopefully
Azerbaijan is currently 11th in the odds. How are they a ”shocking NQ” if they don’t qualify?
Shocking for a lot of fans that saw it as a top 10 contender for the last 2 months. Personnally Efendi is in my NQ zone since the song was released. The singer is nice but the song is so cheap.
Before the rehearsals they were much higher. They weren’t even called “borderline” as people expected to see them in the final
That is true. At some point, many of semi 1’s acts were considered to be favorites. As of right now, I would consider Malta, Cyprus, Sweden, Russia, Ukraine, and Lithuania almost certain locks. If one of them doesn’t make it, that would be a true ”shocking NQ” in the vain of Verona or Hear Them Calling. Others are more or less all in a rotation wheel. Even Romania, whom I love very much, and root for, is not secure as of now. I hope Roxen makes it!
Yup , I expected the staging to be much better , I had put them in Safe Q
After seeing the staging , I’ve put them borderline. Still think they will do enough shenanigans to go through.
If Russia and Ukraine can go to the final, Sweden gonna be thet to.
Wow almost every performance was truly AMAZING! I cannot wait for the semifinals right now. Here’s my ranking on them: 1) Cyprus (Just WOW! She was excellent vocally and she nailed the whole performance. El Diablo is growing inside me more and more as time passes) 2) Ukraine (The same goes to Ukraine. Even though Kateryna wasn’t well – thankfully she’s just fine – the performance was amazing for one more time! Congratulations Ukraine) 3) Russia (Yasss Queen! Manizha delivered once again. And her vocals were right on place!) 4) Croatia (Very unpopular opinion, but her vocals were much much… Read more »
The downvotes are for my ranking of Cyprus, am I right?
The Camera angles we saw today for Ireland really makes me feel much better about the performance, I am so excited to see the real thing. Russia really is the full package and I know she is going to be a dark horse and potentially be top 5 in the entire thing. Australia’s vocals are totally on point and Lithuania and Cyprus are amazing as well. Conversely, Romania is making me worried about her vocals are very shaky still and it seems still a little disorganized. I think the staging should’ve been totally reimagined and redone since she is moving… Read more »
All the backing vocals in chorus are hers. She pre-recorded the backing vocals.
And so what it changes ? It should have been forbideen in the firtst place and the EBU should have released all the background soundtracks so we could judge what is real live or not.I don’t want to vote for cheaters.
Do you want some chips with that salt hun?
Very sweet shout-out—agreed, Emmie van Stijn did fine work and altogether Ukraine looked on great form.
Get better, Kateryna!
This semi- final is super strong, with 14/16 countries having a REAL shot at qualifying. For now,my predictions are:
100% sure:
Lithuania, Russia, Sweden, Cyprus, Ukraine and Malta.
Likely to qualify:
Romania, Ireland and either Croatia or Israel (one of the two).
Borderline:
Azerbaijan, Belgium, Norway and Australia, but for now I think Azerbaijan will slip through.
0% chance:
Slovenia and North Macedonia.
P.S. I will be voting for Ukraine and Russia, and maybe if the staging works out I’ll throw some “helping votes” towards Ireland.
“helping votes” would be soo nice
Thanks
I will vote for Lithuania 🙂
Lithuania would be my third choice. If either Ukraine or Russia doesn’t make it to the final (and Lithuania does) they’ll have my vote.
I’d argue Slovenia has a chance, juries will eat amen up and she’ll be like 4th with juries, even if she places last with televote that’s a 12th place gurranteed
She can be upto 4th . If she makes 4th she will qualify. She will get votes from North Macedonia , Croatia and Italy . Those 20 Televote points should put her through. Malta, Cyprus and Sweden are probably locked for Top 3.
But I fear the jury might only put her 7th and then she would need 50 Televote points and she won’t go through.
Four stand outs. MANIZHA—fantastic. Russia’s is the only second rehearsal I would rewatch and share out of the bubble. Such a feeling. This rehearsal is one of those rare rehearsals that has changed my rankings—Russia is now in second for me and France in first will be in brackets until tomorrow. Cyprus—a great second rehearsal. Elena is hot, stunning, and delivering gorgeous vocals. Everything just pops. Ireland—excited for Lesley, she’s been great and is giving this performance everything. She better qualify in 6 days. Ukraine—looks awesome and the various sounds coalesce beautifully—considering they had a stand-in for poor Kateryna, the… Read more »
My ranking Ukraine- amazing props to the stand-in lady. Hope the Kateryna gets better soon. Russia – that looked amazing incredible energy, but I’m concerned about the juries. Cyprus – awesome staging, excellent showmanship, charismatic singer, terrible song but cant have everything. Norway – unpopular opinion I know. Lithuania- this is good, it’s always been good. Croatia – better than I expected, but im not loving it Australia- this looked good and vocals sounded great, but it could have been better Azerbaijan- staging not as good as I thought it would be. I still feel the instrumentation will help it… Read more »
today that Dutch girl (Emmie van Stijn) has become a celebrity, and I wish her all the best…
Your favourite was a country with stand in singer insted of lead vocal? Child please
In my opinion, Belgium, Cyprus, Lithuania, Russia and Ukraine made all the right choices about how to stage their entries, they would be sure qualifiers if I had the final decision in my hands. Considering the limitations of taping in a studio, I highlight Australia too.
From the rest, I’m still intrigued by Ireland (need to see more, but I appreciate the creativity), worried about Romania (but I’ll be rooting for them to get things right from here to Monday) and Croatia was my positive surprise from the snippets.
I like this Eastern Europe domination this year.
And still a western europe country might win 😉 France, Italy, Switzerland are all in the game.
Exept the part where Italy is not western europe but southern. And Switzerland is obviously not going to win. But yes, France probably.
Well, seems it depends on the point of view. I just said that because I found the comment a bit useless. As long as a good song wins I’m happy 😉
I think he divides Europe politically, former Yugoslav and Soviet nations are considered Eastern Europe and all of Southern Europe, Greece, the islands, Scandinavia and the geographically accurate Western Europe are the others…
Also not liking the song doesn’t mean it’ll flop
I saw on YouTube that the stand in Singer is Dutch and only had 2 hours to learn the Ukrainian lyrics. Amazing performance
Whaaaaaat !her enunciation was like I thought the band brought her with them
This is the first time I do like Sweden song. He is my 4h favorite and there are three much more deserving songs that I wanna to win But can you just don’t hate the song just because it’s Sweden PLEASE. It’s so stupid and disrespectful.
I don’t hate on Tusse because he represents Sweden. I disliked both rehearsals because the staging doesn’t do him justice. Bad lighting, empty staging… If this were sent by a country like Slovenia, everyone would have immediately thrown this in the category of ‘NQ’
Oh dear. Its not because its Sweden. Its because its bland. Which is being kind.
I agree with the other replies. The only thing good about it is Tusse, even if he’s not in great shape. I liked the song the first time I heard it, but on more hearings it becomes almost unbearable as plastic and artificial…
Thank u
the most promising staging so far ,from my sides are : Russia , Cyprus, Lithuania, Australia and Ukraine. others are brilliant too, but these ones are my favorite!!
My ranking of today’s rehearsals: Cyprus (that’s sooo much better than Tamta’s staging) Russia (it could have been 1st but I would suggest they move the dress away afterwards) Lithuania (it looks even better from the camera shots!) Ireland (I think that’s actually going through! The performance is promising) Australia (I just LOVED the dancers plus the staging’s colourful as it should be) Slovenia (that song has grown on me so much and the staging is top tier) Belgium (the dark theme always fits Belgium, well done again!) Croatia (tbh the dance moves are questionable but overall decent performance) Azerbaijan… Read more »
I just don’t know about Sweden now . Liked the song but was never blown away by it . Could be a case of winning melfest because of back story of Tusse and that not translating to Eurovision and a shock NQ . If it doesn’t qualify it would be around 11th or 12th in semi final ..
Agreed!
They’ve such a strong team behind them.
I voted for Lithuania, Russia and Belgium, they did great. They are my top 3 in this semi and also in my final top 5 (with Bulgaria and Switzerland) I REALLY hope all 3 of them make it, but I’m worried for Belgium. For me, their biggest competitor in this semi is Romania, whose vocals might not be as good as Geike’s, but the song might be more accesible. The competition is gonna be fierce, but every performance is final material imo, so good luck to everyone!! P.s.: honorable mention to Ukraine as well
I’m so hopeful that the votes for Cyprus are real here and it will come Too 5. I voted for it and was by far the best performance today.
Belgium was 5th and Ireland 6th in the Press Poll today. Delighted for them.
Romania and Azerbaijan joint 10th while Sweden 14th
What was the entire poll result?
1. Cyprus (50 points)
2. Russia (46 points)
3. Ukraine (36 points)
4. Lithuania (31 points)
5. Belgium (24 points)
6. Ireland (18 points)
7. Croatia (12 points)
7. Australia (tied with Croatia) (12 points)
9. Israel (11 points)
10. Azerbaijan (9 points)
10. Romania (tied with Azerbaijan and Norway) (9 points)
10. Norway (tied with Azerbaijan and Romania) (9 points)
13. Slovenia (6 points)
14. Sweden (4 points)
15. North Macedonia (3 points)
I wouldn’t take this “poll” anything serious.
The same poll ranked Netta 11th in the semi and Austria 12th in 2018.
I personally think they are pretty spot on with it this year tbh. Replacing Azerbaijan with Romania, and it’s pretty much the 10 who I think should qualify and probably the order that I would qualify them too.
You know Malta is also in this semi . It would knock out all three songs tied on 9
Dream qualifiers for SF1
-Russia
-Ukraine
-Cyprus
-Azerbaijan
-Ireland
-Belgium
-Croatia
-Lithuania
-Norway
-North Macedonia
Ours almost match! I’d swap North Macedonia and Croatia out for Australia and Malta though
Dream on…
LOL @ Romania second right now on the poll!!
Belgium!
The Best:
Russia
Cyprus
The Worst:
Azerbaijan
The Most Improved:
Ireland
The Unsure:
Romania
The Indifferent:
Sweden
Norway
I mostly agree. I would saw North Macedonia was the worst, but otherwise this makes sense to me. I voted for Russia and Cyprus as the best.
Nah personally I’d put North Macedonia in the indifferent category. Pretty much the same performance as the other day.
Personally I find Azerbaijan the worst in this semi, both song, and performance and I’d probably put it last if the final result was up to me. Where North Macedonia is being over dramatic, Azerbaijan is just being tacky. IMO
Some think Sweden deserves to stay in the semifinal, including myself. For over 30 years they keep sending same generic radio songs by pop artists, nothing new, nothing wow, nothing innovative. They only play it safe… They only pass the semifinal year by year only because they’re Sweden, and also because of Bjorkman mafia infiltrated in most of the national finals, and also in Eurovision organising. I was so happy and relieved to hear a 100% Dutch team is in charge this year, no more Bjorkman. It applies to Australia, too. They passed the semifinals all these years for No… Read more »
And then you ask people like you what their favorite eurovision performancd is and it’s something like fuego lmao
completely agree. I don’t think Australia will pass this year. Sweden still probably will but in a semi as strong as this, there are other countries I’d prefer to see who are borderline at this point, like Belgium or Ireland
For over 30 years?? Omg that’s a stupid comment!!
Their last “original”/authentic song was in 2000. But even that was a Swedish schlager 🙂
Y’all say this then have fuego as your favorite eurovision performance.
If Sweden sent Fuego, it would’ve won.
Did you watch the contest in the 80’s? I was a child and I watched. And I can tell you it was a completely different time when less countries sang in their own language and had a live orchestra. The music itself.. well it sounded like the 80’s. What seperated the entries was probobly mostly the language. The same went for the 70’s. And in the beginning of the 90’s was no different. And IMO the music in the 90’s nothing really stood out in ESC. Songs and countries sounded the same for a long time! Sweden became a great… Read more »
And one more thing.. trends have been coming and going as well. I think it’s been pretty obvious over the last 10 years. This year the 80’s are back. Look at all these neon colours and all of these pop tracks! Cyprus, Malta, Azerbaijan, Australia, Denmark. Are they anything ORIGINAL? Still some of them are winners in people’s eyes. At least we have an awesome dark skinned boy, with a message and stage performance very much different from all of that neon and sexy dancing going on! People are completely blind!
Milla we went blind cause of the lights in Sweden’s performance . Can you ask them to tone it down ?
I liked Russia, Croatia and Azerbaijan
romania azerbaijan cyprus macedonia.
These clips tell me nothing. How can anyone compare countries and vote based on 10 second clips? If someone has full clips, please share!