Tuesday saw The Netherlands‘ Shalisa rock the stage Alicia Keys style. Her second turn on the Junior Eurovision stage with “Million Lights” got even more soulful. The flickering candles and piano give a personal quality to the performance that is difficult to find elsewhere. Vocally on point, Shalisa was completely at ease on stage: her experiences at Junior Song Festival have prepared her well for Arena Armeec. The only thing that might hold her back is her draw for the final. We were surprised to learn that she only met her dancers one week before departing for Sofia: this seems so, so cohesive.
Watch The Netherlands second rehearsal
THIS IS WHAT WE THOUGHT OF HER FIRST REHEARSAL
Fans of Shalisa and her Junior Songfestival performance will heartily approve of her first rehearsal at Junior Eurovision 2015. Once again she serves up some Alicia Keys realness, sitting at her piano and tickling the ivories while giving us vocal soul. She looks straight into the camera and dares you not to feel something. The songs translates well to this bigger stage: two backing vocalists and two dancers help fill the space, and spinning camera shots give this more energy than we remember from the national final. All of us non-Dutch speakers can easily discern the meaning of the song, which is about two people who love each other, thanks to the dancers who dominate the LED screen. Cast in black and white and then in color, they create an atmosphere of longing and nostalgia that morphs into celebration. Shalisa pops in a gold sequin jacket and takes in the light from candles burning on her piano. In some of the takes Shalisa seemed to struggle during the bridge. The spinning camera shot at that moment is quite effective, so if she can hit that note it’ll help bring this home.
JUNIOR EUROVISION 2015: THE NETHERLANDS’ FIRST REHEARSAL
READ ALL OF OUR REHEARSAL REVIEWS HERE
READ OUR JESC 2015 SONG REVIEWS HERE
FOLLOW ALL OF OUR JUNIOR EUROVISION COVERAGE HERE
EBU (Credit: Elena Volotova/Vladimir Dudakliev)
@jj
Most of dutch kids look older than they are xd, look at Julia van bergen !!
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I litteraly dont UNDERSTAND HOW EUROVISION FANS DONT LIKE THIS SONG. WE ARE SO UNDERRATED… imo THIS is the best dutch entry ever
Those dancers look older than 15 to me, and their style is of an adult couple. Not very “junior” looking to me.
Call her Shalisa Keys! 🙂