Day 4 of the Eurovision Song Contest 2019 was one to remember. Nine more countries had their first rehearsal: Croatia‘s Roko, Malta‘s Michela, Lithuania‘s Jurijus, Russia‘s Sergey Lazarev, Albania‘s Jonida Maliqi, Norway‘s KEiiNO, The Netherlands‘ Duncan Laurence, North Macedonia‘s Tamara Todevska and Azerbaijan‘s Chingiz.
Country after country brought their A-game. Croatia went over-the-top, telling a story of finding your wings in an Apocalyptic world. Malta, working with Loreen’s Eurovision 2012 stage director, brought the brightest performance of the year, while Lithuania soothed us with black and gold lighting. Russia brought a truly sophisticated stage show that saw Sergey mirrored eight times. Albania tried — and later ditched — a projection of an eagle, while Norway saw its dancers playing amid the Northern Lights. The Netherlands kept it simple with Duncan at a keyboard, while North Macedonia stood centre stage in a gorgeous green dress. And Azerbaijan closed the show with some truly futuristic staging — Chingiz’ heart being operated on by robot arms.
With so many big names showing up and showing out, it’s going to be harder than ever to choose a winner. But someone has to do it…so we shall trust you to decide!
You can watch all of our reviews of today’s rehearsals in the playlist below. Then vote in our poll. You can vote for as many countries as you like, but you can only vote one time, so make it count. Be sure to click the box next to each act you want to support before pressing submit.
I believe Malta has much more under their sleeve. During their press conference Ambra and Michela confirmed that they will not give everything away during the rehearsals. If you look closely at the official images of the rehearsals, you can see palm trees on Michela’s all-white outfit. I’m pretty sure she will be camouflaged depending on the backscreen LEDs. Malta will be one to watch!!
I agree with you
People in the press centre saw the full thing with the TV feed. They clearly went for Azerbaijan. People here have arena snippets to go from, so anything with effects is at an automatic disadvantage.
Malta .
Malta, Croatia, Azerbaijan, Russia, Macedonia
My top 5
Russia, Croatia & North Macedonia was the best!
Liked: Albania (voice, waiting for the full package), NL, Azerbaijan But I don’t see Duncan winning: He is the number one in odds and that’s terrible to say but some juries are too strategic, voting for a “less” popular song (like Austria and Sweden last year) instead of a direct concurrent or an announced winner (like Italy in 2017) and I’m not sure that Duncan will get a landslide in televote. Too special. So more probably Italy, Azerbaijan or any Fuego copy ( 😛 ) Also one dark horse could be France (I don’t like it well but according to… Read more »
Poor Albania, dropping low. North Macedonia taking her place.
So underrated…
Her voice is amazing, her song is strong. SF2 will be a real bloodbath
Albania is working on technical problems … they are rehearsal and rehearsal to be perfect
My dream list for qualifications: Definites: North Macedonia, Azerbaijan, Norway, Ireland, Romania, Albania, Sweden, Austria, Netherlands (just about), Russia (ok, just to make it ten)!
Here’s a factual thing to discuss: Eventhough some of the 41 Eurosongs are in the favorites right now, they are mostly made, help and/or rehearsed by teams not originating from the competing country, and some most probably paid a hunch of prices for them. Do you think these songs/broadcasters should be done some justice? Do you think the ‘Eurovision industry’ has gone too far and should there be something done towards it?
Broadcasters generally are not record companies, so there always has to be some kind of intake going on anyhow, for practical purposes. If that should change – how would you want it to change?
Whether the entry’s personnel come from within the country’s own borders or not is a different question entirely. I suppose it depends in how truly you believe in the spirit of the ESC in bringing people together. I personally would remove the competition of countries from the contest altogether, but then I am very outspoken and in the minority on that view.
I would leave choice of rehearsing and staging to be up to the broadcaster. If they want to use a foreign talent, they would know the best ones to do it. I do think ‘somebody representing another country’ is all fine and broadcaster could choose to. What I’m mostly going to overtake is the rules of the song’s origin. Bearing in mind that this is a song contest (the song is the ONE representing X country), it should’ve been composed mostly by home — e.g. lyricist and composer should mostly be from their home country with limited intake from foreign… Read more »
How much is unfair that some countries does not have neighbouring votes , you said nothing about it , most likely your country get some 12 points from your neighbour country even if the song sucks . But you dont like it that other countries do there best and make the song contest more beautiful for you yo enjoy.
IF YOU WANT JUSTICE DONT VOTE FORE YOUR NEIGHBOR’S!!!
The ‘problem’ of neigbor voting is that it was based more on nationalistic and cultural similarities (or sometimes including publicity), so to actually remove neighboring voting is near impossible with chances of the countries having strong bonds between each other. This is just a simplification as it had layers and layers of history and reasons between the said ‘problem’.
Lets wait until the whole performance of Duncan is shown, he shared a snippet on his Insta and it looks very good. Its a Songcontest not a Stagingcontest folks!
we all know it is a song contest though, and i already know what the whole performance of duncan will look like, a snooze
he got the voice, the song is decent but his performance is just so Dull Dull Dull, a definite no hoper for me and i’m dutch, i am massively disappointed in us
Nicky91 is back pffffffffffff
Norway! Absolutely loved their looks, especially Alexandra’s hair, and Fred’s outfit inspired by Sami traditional attire. Just like I imagined how they should look like!
Also voted for Lithuania.
Duncan – sorry, but Austria staged an emotional intimate song better.
The Netherlands have come with even more simplicity than Austria and Lithuania. Duncan sits at the piano and sings the song. A country that has remembered it is a song contest, not a visuals contest. The song and the lyrics are incredible. The stage is all blue. The only effects are one simple light and white clouds with a blue background. Perfection.
What you said, is true!
” A country that has remembered it is a song contest, not a visuals contest. ” Yes, why would anyone think that EuroVISION Song contest has nothing to do with visuals…
So all of a sudden it’s about the voice and song only?
It has always been like that. Let’s not act as if staging is not part of the formula. Mans Zelmerlow, Eleni Foureira, Helena Paparizou, Jamala, Netta, even if we go back to Ukraine’s Wild Dances (to name a few). So EVERYONE is aware that staging is a big part of this show.
ew, Netherlands most basic country at eurovision, hope that is gonna change soon
we need to start sending better acts
not so basic as you are.
Norway have not shown their real staging, the LED screen showd just a sketch
Such strong performances today…
Netherlands kept it simple and they stole the show. This reminds me of Salvador Sobral in a way.
Malta and Russia should also qualify easily. I’m loving their stagings.
Norway delivering and Albania with outstanding vocals. They are among my qualifiers.
Croatia is not going anywhere. Great vocals though. The same goes for Lithuania.
Macedonia with a decent staging. They are going to be borderline.
Azerbaijan has the edge of finishing the show to qualify.
Malta’s propaganda machine keeps being very effective. That’s the only way I can explain an average song and an average staging being on the top of this poll.
What propaganda machine? Care to divulge? I love the song, modern, fresh, up-tempo. Michela is young, talented, seems pretty humble. Oh and the stage IS A BREATH OF FRESH AIR THIS YEAR!
What’s there not to like?
Analyze. Benji’s comment might refer to Malta playing the ‘Eurovision industry’ card this year. Michela is a Maltese, but the song was made by the Bulgarian team Symphonix Int. In collaboration with Johan Alkenas and Paula Winger, which I assume to be both Swedish, and the stage choreography was done by Ambra Succi, which is also a Swedish. In essence, it’s a Bulgarian-Swedish song competing under Malta’s name. I actually saw Una being unjustified with the Eurovision Industry network, but I don’t know why she skipped this one out.
It is actually almost completly Swedish not so much Bulgarian. But I agree nontheless.
I do expect to get a lot of downvotes because of this, but that’s the truth. Internal selections can bring amazing products, but once you dig deeper into it some of them are not exactly as beautiful as you think. Aside of ‘Chameleon’ being a Bulgarian-Swedish collaboration, ‘Replay’ (and to add, ‘Fuego’) is almost Swedish in composition, ‘She Got Me’ is probably Canadian-American-Swedish, and ‘Truth’ is originally Bulgarian-Swedish-American (I don’t know what Hostess’ nationality is), before Chingiz added the Azerbaijani flair as a composer. I do think these are actually great products, by great composers, working hard to have their… Read more »
Are you on drugs ?
I wish I was.
Le’s have a deserved and respectable winner this year after last year’s flop: North Macedonia! Stunning Song, Singer and Staging! Was completely over the Netherlands even before the rehearsals. Russia is a failed Christmas song with a lot of decorations. Azerbaija – like it, but then one has to choose! So North Macedonia it is!
Don’t exaggerate it because they had nice staging after many fails, it’s good, but not a winner.
Lets face it North Macedonia is amazing, but not a winner. Tamara might bring them to top 10 but “Proud” isn’t competitive enough to win or to get a top 5 or top 3. I agree that Russia did a bad job staging that boring song. Azerbaijan looks great. The Netherlands need to make the performance more emotional and moving.
The Netherlands. Does not need fireworks and extreme visuals. The intimacy and vulnerability is magnificent. When you have a masterpiece song and a massive voice you dont need great, big staging like Russia or Australia. Minimalism is the core. Go Duncan!
Que la venda caiga y se vea la realidad: Arcade no es una “masterpiece”. Están exagerando mucho respecto a la calidad y unicidad de esa canción.
Look i am italian and understand Some English. You are clearly do not understanding the story Duncan Tells. We did not understand a word of the Portugal Entry that won but we felt the emotion. And this is the same with Duncan
And that may cost him a winner because stagings matter! If you want an Eurovision studio version contest, go and make one!
duncan a minimalist what a joke, he worked in sweden, uk, south Korea and his fave song last year dance you off, which was a lot of Visuals and show and he himself comes with something boring, snoozefest all over
I’m going to echo a lot of what has already been said, but I am very confused by this year’s stage background. Last year was the whole thing with no LEDs, and yet I am feeling more let down by this year’s stagings. Too much darkness, but also, there are a lot of seemingly “low quality” backgrounds. I hate the visual static effects used by both Armenia and Switzerland, they are all pixelated and don’t look very pleasing. Norway’s mountains are also pixelated and dark. I’m wondering if this is some new trendy style that people are going with this… Read more »
I agree. What if they installed a PowerPoint projector? …It would look much better!!!
I was really impressed by North Macedonia today. I wasn’t sure how they’d translate the song to a performance on the stage but it looked strong, the vocals were flawless, and it resonated. Tamara looked fierce too. For the first time this year, they’ve got a vote from me.
I would say Azerbaijan, Malta and North Macedonia were the winners today, because the first became a player to follow, the second solidified its status as a possible dark horse and the third showed strenght to qualify. But it was also a good day to the Netherlands and Russia, since their rehearsals seem to had a good reaction by their fanbases. Considering the amount of people that were already determined to don’t like one or both of them, mixed reactions are part of the game and not a reason for panic.
I don’t know if this is true but there are rumors that we haven’t seen all yet about Malta’s staging. We’ll see.
Yes, Michela and Ambra Succi confirmed this and don’t want to give it all away at the very first rehearsal but will leave much for the semi final night… starting from the outfits definitely!
its true ..
the best is yet to come Go Malta…
Croatia – Oh no, the wings are back. I just don’t know how I feel about them. This rehearsal sits on the fence for me, I don’t love it or hate it. Malta – Wow. This looked impressive. Very bright and colourful and fun. However, judging from the 30 sec clip, I would say that Michela needs to limit her moves. She is not a natural dancer and looks a little uncomfortable. I also expected her to wear a little more colour, but I still liked the staging. Lithuania – Another just very meh package. Jurij looks good and he… Read more »
Malta all the way.
my semi 2 qualifiers
1.Netherlands
2.Azerbaijan
3.Sweden
4.North Macedonia
5.Malta
6.Russia
7.Romania
8.Albania
9.Armenia
10.Switzerland/Latvia
Netherlands should nq, if there is any justice in eurovision left
At last, my thoughts. Armenia: Still a lot of power there. Could maybe have a bit more oomph, and I wish it had the elaborate choreography of the video, but it still is impressive to me at least. Ireland: I worry. I like it, and I think it’s cute and her vocal’s fine, but boy do I worry about it being swallowed up. I won’t dismiss it, because Ireland was able to do great with much less last year, but who even knows? I want it to do well, but you can never be sure. Moldova: I’ll give it this:… Read more »
Nice analysis, Joe. I really enjoyed reading it and I mostly agree with your comments.
I agree! Really like what Joe writes. I wish I could sound as cute as him as he’s been a little mean. “Cool horsecrap” for example, was brilliant.
Thanks guys! What can I say? Throwing shade and making it sound cute is the American theatre kid way.
It deserves much more love. I’m headed over – get this – on a Sunday. Next Sunday, in fact. Way for things to naturally tie together, eh?
To be honest, only Malta and Azerbaijan really surprised me in a good way. I know I was personally having a bad day on Day Four, but even so, I think there is some work to do here.
Teaser: The door might be open this year for a Big 6 act to win in the Grand Final. 😉
I’d say only Italy has a big chance of winning this time, but I’d be quite happy if UK finishes high too. I’m waiting for rehearsals to see how it develops.
Mahmood get well soon please! We have to see you in full strenght !
*clap* *clap*
Bilal! 😀
So many people from Netherland here, it’s obviously…come on people, be honest with yourself, it wasn’t your day today.
Touché!!!
I am from Greece and I voted Netherlands because it was the best, only song matters!
Only song matters then why did Greeks keep bragging of their staging this year everywhere in every forum and comment section? Right! Because you guys didn’t make it last time because of a really bad staging! Stagings matter!
of course, Netherlands masters of self promotion, calling themselves the best, minimalists and what eurovision is all about blah blah blah
the real minimalistic musicians this year at esc are slovenia (zala & gasper) who perform regularly with basic staging, intimacy
duncan had fireworks in his performances at the voice of holland before, so don’t fall for his act now
TOP 5 TODAY:
MALTA, CROATIA, RUSSIA, NETHERLAND, NORTH MACEDONIA
I have arrived. what did I miss? why is everybody hyping Azerbaijan?
is albania flopping? noooooooooooooooo 🙁
Yeap *tears
I voted for the netherlands, i dont know…all this attention on performance and technology and crazy lights,fire, made me wanna rote for something more simplistic.Something that s all about the song.
That s though only based on rehearsals and the general feeling of how they progress so far…
I can relate so much. I am from Netherlands myself. But even if Duncan was from any other country. He would be my favourite. Please vote duncan too on the grgand final.
Yeah i havent decided about my votes yet, of course i am waiting for the live performances but the netherlands…i call it now a serious contender for me. I am counting a lot on italy as well. I just appreciate both so much as songs and i am already starting to feel a little bit fed up with all the other- too much on your face- performances.For sure Eurovision is a show, that s what we love about it, but what i love even more than a show is a great song with a complimentary performance to really highlight its… Read more »
“something more simplistic.Something that s all about the song.”
North Macedonia, correct?
yep, they got strong powerful message, good singer, nice dress, basic staging but still nice throwback at how ballads were performed back in the day eurovision was great at this, still the message makes the song feel current
then vote for slovenia, they are real, Netherlands are fake
“Norway saw its dancers playing amid the Northern Lights. “. Let me guess: this was written before the rehearsal?;)
Azerbaijan was the favorite of the journalists on the scoreboard of the press center today with the highest number of votes. If we consider the fact that the journalists were the only ones who saw the whole performance with the camera angles, I guess we already have a winner.
Like Cyprus last year?
hahaha
I wouldn’t mind if he won since his song has my #4 spot, but at the same time, it would feel so unexpected and out of nowhere omg
I hope not. Such a generic song.
Chingiz has been my no.1 all the time, i am superhappy he slayed his first rehearsal
I love how MALTA is at the top when considering that we’ve seen basically nothing (cause its full of projections). GRANDE MALTA <3
it’s the same for everybody else Malta or not.
My finalists from semi 2 after rehearsals :
1. Azerbaijan
2. Switzerland
3. Croatia
4. Malta
5. Russia
6. Sweden
7. Albania
8. The Netherlands
9. Austria
10. Moldova
I am so angry at Albanias team she is so amazing and she dosnt like it I hope she qaulifys
Azerbaijan is suddenly everyone’s the best and main favorite…That they didn’t progress on bookmakers, no one would notice them…
Or may be Azerbaijan rose on the betting odds because it suddenly became everyone’s favorite, especially the press center’s after the first rehearsal?
Your opinion…
But it’s not an opinion. Everyone said that Azerbaijan got the biggest reaction from the press center, and *then* the odds started shooting up, it definitely happened in that order. However, I do agree with you on the basic premise that the bookies’ influence is too strong in EV, just that this isn’t an example of that
Top 5
North Macedonia
Armenia
Malta
Netherlands
Azerbaijan
North Macedonia
Malta
Sweden
Netherlands
Russia
Switzerland
Azerbaijan
Albania
Armenia
Croatia
My Q after watched rehearsels. Somebody feel the same?
Maybe Denmark because originality and Norway beacuse has a hit…
Norway was bad today, sorry…
I put Denmark out becuase its not strong enough and Norway because the jojk is dragging it down
1. Malta
2. Croatia
3. Russia
4. The Netherlands
5. North Macedonia
6. Albania
7. Azerbaijan
8. Norway
9. Lithuania
#mypointofview
Azerbaijan obviously was the best. Russia, Netherlands and Macedonia were nice too.
Real finalists from second semi-final (in this order):
1.The Netherlands
2.Russia
3.Azerbaijan
4.Sweden
5.Malta
6.Switzerland
7.North Macedonia
8.Norway
9.Armenia
10.Denmark
••••••••••
11.Romania
12.Albania
13.Austria
14.Croatia
15.Lithuania
16.Latvia
17.Moldova
18.Ireland
P.S. Romania has a better stage performance than Albania…
Possible actually
Norway, Denmark, Azerbaijan, are you serious, three the most bad rehearsals for me…
Which time machine did you use this time? 😛
I’m actually quite happy with this list, except about Albania. I still have hope for Jonida.
Hahahhahaha ok, Jonida’s vocal not a problem, she has to do something with stage pergormance if she wants to go to the final…
Switch Armenia and Denmark with Romania and Albania and we’re good 😉
Honestly this maybe was the best day of rehearsals I’ve seen since following the contest in 2014- Malta, Russia, The Netherlands, Azerbaijan, Norway and North Macedonia really delivered and Albania should deliver too on the night itself. Combine this half with the amazing entries and performances from Armenia, Switzerland, Romania, Denmark, Sweden and Austria then you’ve got a real bloodbath on your hands. I can’t WAIT for this semi! (Btw I voted for Malta, The Netherlands, N Macedonia and Azerbaijan because wow they were all great)
Thé best by far is Azerbeidzjan, pleasently surprised, he will go through to the finale, The Netherlands, don’t know what to think anymore, good performer, still a good song, but am i the only one who’s get a little bored by now? And please don’t hate me for it. And what about Russia? Big problems!
Malta, Croatia & Russia are the winners of May 7th
So dissapointed with The Netherlands, North Macedonia & Albania. Sorry.
You put Croatia in the winners category ! Your entire comment lost credibility
Sorry but I was really dissapointed with The Netherlands, North Macedonia, Albania, Azerbaijan, for me, that is not enough and interesting for Grand Final. And yes, that is my opinion. Malta, Croatia & Russia was the best today. Wish you all the best.
bratko da se barem nisi odao imenom, mislio bih da netko izvana zapravo voli našu pjesmu…
(if you didn’t have such nick, I might believe that someone outside of Croatia likes our song…)
Azerbaijan is the best by far. Even we can’t see his full stage and performance. But I think we will be shock in the second semi final in a good way. Maybe he is next winner
Disagree
He’s good, but not THAT good
Dear Italians, dear Greeks : vote for Michela, MyDNA Heritage shows she’s half Italian/Greek 🙂
Thats not enough reason to vote for anybody
It’s about the music…NOT where you come from.
I’m happy we have juries.
I like Malta’s entry this year. I do hope the jury and the public vote for her.
Netherlands, Russia and Norway are my favorites. Personally, I wasn’t disappointed by any of them. I was a bit disappointed by the lack of wow factor in Albanian staging, but Jonida also agrees, so I believe this will improve. Azerbaijan, Malta and North Macedonia also did quite good on stage. Any of the seven qualifying would have a merit. I actually think that most qualifiers will come from the second half. But it also has it’s lows. Lithuania was very pedestrian and Croatia… urgh! I apologize for my country’s trainwreck! Wasn’t my pick.
But Norway was bad, sorry. Not enough for Final, also like The Netherlands…
What part of ‘Please no wings’ did the Croatian delegation not understand! Maybe you can tell them in Croatian…..
Many of us did repeatedly! On You Tube, Facebook and other portals. “Molimo vas da maknete krila!” Jacques just doesn’t listen because he thinks it’s so good. Is his hunch right? We will find out in a few days.
Perhaps the Croatia team wanted to be sponsored by Red Bull. (Because it gives you wings.) 😛
N.B. I’m not sure if that advert is just a UK thing, so I will leave that joke out there and see what happens.
So this guy drank redbull for 5 years , took pics and sued the company cause he didn’t grow wings!! He actually got paid a million dollars in damages by the company
I thought they’d listened and said they’d scrap the wings. It’s just so unnecessary.
The staging is like what I could imagine one of Liberace’s dreams to be like.
People are still probably voting for the studio version cause North Macedonia shouldn’t be that low on the poll (percentage wise) based on the final product….
The winner of the day has to be Azerbaijan , this explains why it was put last and not Norway/Malta !! thanks The loser of the day for me is Albania. The staging doesn’t look very good in the clip. O hope they fix it. Cause the song does deserve to qualify.However it has dropped from a likely to a borderline qualifier for me ! My assessments of the rehearsals: 1) Croatia: – – (NQ) 2)Malta: + (Sure) 3Lithuania: = (?) 4)Russia: – (Sure) 5)Albania: – (?) 6)Norway: + (Likely) 7)Netherlands: – (Sure) 8)North Macedonia: +(?) 9) Azerbaijan: ++ (Sure)… Read more »
Netherlands by far. Some small fine tuning is needed yes. But I think it will good great on camera. Come on Europe give Duncan a chance, this is his first peformance on a grand stage ?. Netherlands still #1.
PS Azerbadjian did great ;). Climbed in my top 10 after seeinh rehearsel.
You actually have to deliver the performance, you shouldn’t expect people to give you a chance because it’s your first time on a big stage. That being said, I didn’t find the performance awful, I just think that this is a competition and Duncan shouldn’t be favoured for that when talking about staging.