Romania’s Roxen has taken to the Rotterdam Ahoy stage for her first rehearsal at Eurovision 2021. Her performance is very similar to her music video, but how does “Amnesia” measure up on stage? Let’s see…
Romania’s Roxen “Amnesia” — Eurovision 2021 first rehearsal
Oliver: Almost a direct copy and paste from the music video, but with less dancers, updated outfits and a huge smoke machine budget. The stage backdrop looks good — with the absence of all her dancers, it shows silhouettes trying to break free from the screens. Roxen’s vocal is decent, but there’s no change to her diction or enunciation, which should have been a priority. As well, Roxen’s fatigue set in midway through the song and she occasionally lost her footing. The interpretive dance is also a rather bizarre translation on stage, but overall this is elevated from the music video. Perfecting this performance will be a monumental task.
Padraig: The stage show starts off dark and smokey and has a similar vibe to the music video. This gives way to light, as the backdrop is filled with a hopeful sunrise, radiating warm oranges, yellows and pinks. Roxen is wearing an oversized hoody, joggers and a giant pair of boots. It’s not exactly an outfit that screams Eurovision, but it appears to be a stylistic choice as her dancers are also dressed casually, albeit with an avant-grade flavour. Roxen acts the song, and you can hear the emotion in her voice. The fact that her vocal isn’t always perfect adds an extra emotional punch. However, the question remains as to whether the vocal cracking is down to emotion or the fact that she’s doing an awful lot of movement with her troupe of contemporary dancers.
Reaction to Romania’s first rehearsal at Eurovision 2021
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What do you think? Did Roxen live up to your expectations? Let us know in the comments below.
A good move for the Romanian delegation would be to keep Roxen on the main stage on the second chorus, and to let the dancers go to the second little stage. Simply swap the places. Help her rest. I think the Romanian delagation made a huge mistake when they did not offer Roxen any backing vocals for the chorus, knowing she needs to move a lot on the stage. Poor judgement! Four dancers would have been enough.
Go Roxen,prove these negative types that your all that and the rehearsal means nothing!Canada is rooting for you!
Nobody cares about ESC anymore. The last singer people cared about was Laura. Since then only TVR knows what they want with this contest, no public involved hence no audience. It is just a big waste of money. Withdrawing would be the sound choice.
Hmmm coming to a Eurovision website to complain about Eurovision and saying your country should withdraw. Do you really have nothing better to do?
I never thought this worked as a competitive song and now as a performance in a competition like this, even less…I never understood it’s appeal, but she genuinely looks lost on stage…what has happened to Romania lately…they were masters at Eurovision
Will Roxen be the new Sennek?
She seems lost on stage, not always knowing what to do next…
NQ
lets see on the 18th of may
She needs to work on her vocals. They were pretty weak. It shows there was no auto-tune to help out.
The song does not suit live performances. It was clear from the second I first heard it.
Thats really sad as it looked she managed her vocals before. How will you solve that? There’s only a short time left?
In her rehearsals for 2020 eurovision when singing 5 sons to pick one, she did struggle with vocals too. But they might sort this.
Her styling is absolutely dreadful, so I pray they’ll change it. She also needs some vocal practice before the live shows. If not, Romania could very well be a shock NQ
great song message and performance but thye need to rehearse more. Roxen needs more help with backing vocals.
She is so beautiful!
I just felt that she was pretty nervous but hey, it’s just the first rehearsal. I think she will shine in the end …..
Also I think there is a lot of choreography for her to keep her vocals just perfect on point, the delegation can review perhaps this important element giving her the chance to perform in a better way.
Good luck, Roxen!
This is looking like a hot mess right now. We’re only a week away from the jury shows, she should be singing much better than this so late in the game. I hope Romania gets their act together because this semi is WAAY too cut throat for her to qualify with this
I LOVE this song, and I WANT it to qualify! Still, this clip shows that the staging could be too much to feel cohesive. This isn’t the semi to let yourself be out of focus. Please, Roxen, focus and qualify! I don’t want for some much inferior songs to come ahead just because they mastered the staging.
I like the idea but needs to be towned down. Its never a good idea to look tired and over worked in your performance. Too many ESC acts have fallen in the trap of doing to much on stage..
I love the concept (the music video is by far my favorite between this year’ contestants), but the rehearsal snippet made me seriously concerned. It seems the choreographer forgot Roxen will have to sing too, she can’t run through the stage like that. I hope they have a plan B for the choreography, because it will be hard to perfect it under pressure.
Good point!!!
The staging is a mess and she sounds like she’s gasping for air. I hope they fix this because I really like the song
This can totally work in the way Belgium 2017 worked
It could be that she`s wearing the green only at the rehearsal and not showing the real costume yet
This could go either way, though the nervousness she has could work in her favor as some kind of vulnerability, as the song is about not forgetting to love yourself.
Not writing Romania off yet, it’s one to watch.
She was so nervous and the choreography really didn’t suit her vocals.
I really hope Roxen and the Romanian delegation will fix what’s troubling them, because we all know Roxen can deliver a solid and emotional performance.
Fingers crossed for Romania!
She was in my top 10 but now I’m worried if she qualify for the grand final. Such a shame because this song is a masterpiece
Seriously? They had two years to prepare something impressive and they just presented this staging. I mean..seriously???
fix your math, it was nowhere near 2 years
not TOO bad
If they get this right Romania could literally win. In this rehearsal tho the thing that is worrying me the most are her vocals. I hope she gets them right on 18th
Girl! Stop moving and give us your mesmerizing voice!
The staging is extremely ambitious. This means that this entry could go both ways. If it works it is going to be amazing. I am extremely worried about her vocals. I really hope their ideas work because I really like this song.
The first rehearsal is technical. Very few will go well in this rehearsal for most countries. The next one will be better. Good luck from Cyprus ?
I don’t think it was so bad, but if they get a camera shot wrong, the whole thing might falls down, it’s a very risky performance.
GO GIRL, GIVE US NOTHING!!!
I saw someone judging Elena’s vocals. I am laughing.
Love the studio version and video production . Stage production is a mess. It reminds me of what happened with Armenia 2019 and what went wrong there
I want her so badly to qualify but with these vocals its very likely that this will stay in SM1
She was very out of breath . They need to make her run less.
She will definitely stay in the semis
Ouch. The staging seems messy to me and the vocals are bad. Romania was alreay 10th in my top of SF1 but now Roxen seems in danger.
roxen baby no… this needed minimal staging a la beautiful mess this is too much !!
Yikes! This mess of a performance makes even her Cherry Red self-sabotage look decent in comparison.
This looks so messy and sounds like a NQ to me.
It was so obvious when a studio version is so over autotuned that the live would be a mess.
Prefere her hair down. Nice choreography, wrong colors and clothes and Roxen was nervous enough. Unfortunatelly…with these bad vocals could be the shocked NQ of the semi 1. Actually, is the only song that has lost one place in odds, immediatelly after the first rehearsal. Hope to make the needed improvement.
Oh dear – those vocals are in trouble (and it’s not about saving her voice)! The girl ought to have a chat with Vasil!
It’s kind to suggest the frail, off key vocals are part of the song’s “emotion.” but it just sounds out of tune. Juries will punish that if she doesn’t get back on track. Shame , as it’s a decent song.
She was nervous, so let’s hope that her vocals will be better next time.
Oh no… That’s bad for Roxen
I don’t want her to NQ but… will the performance be emotional enough for her to qualify?
Plus she doesn’t look like the most confident performer out there
She was good, but I have to say I’m a little bit disappointed by her vocals… I hope she will improve !
She should just drop her emotions and it will be 10 times better
So, the first of the two sad balkan princesses is out of the game. Let’s see what Viktoria will bring…
This supossed to be fun? Well nobody laughed. Plus you can’t just rule them out yet. Remember the negative ractions Blanche got after rehearsals yet she still finished 4th.
True 🙁
Ahahah true, but I was talking just about the two sad ones!
She was really nervous
Why does she look like elves in that hoodie?
LOL!