After four days of TikTok snippets, Eurovision 2022 second rehearsals are finally here. Today, we’ll get a proper look at how nine countries from semi-final one decided to stage their entries. Up first today was Albania’s Ronela Hajati with “Sekret”. How have things changed since her first rehearsal? Let’s find out…
Albania’s Ronela Hajati “Sekret” — Eurovision 2022 second rehearsal
Luis: The Sekret is clearly out! Ronela and her female dancer portray an affair. And a very explicit one: there’s a move we’ve nicknamed “the cunnilingus“. Go figure. The idea is the same as the music video: a forbidden love story, but instead of the guy, there’s the female dancer. Ronela is wearing a sparkly white bodysuit with a flowy pink robe.
William: At various points Ronela shouts “Let’s party Europe!” and “Europe, are you ready to move?” The answer after watching this is very clearly a yes. It oozes sensuality from every pore — from when the acrobatic dancer arches her back and moves her private regions towards Ronela to the implied orgy with all six people in the final minutes of the song. Another nice touch comes when Ronela says Rawr! and the stage goes black. The lights return when she climbs on two dancers and starts performing her iconic helicopter move.
The black rainbow of death — aka, the dead sun — doesn’t really interfere with her performance. The stage is bathed in so much light at the front you simply don’t see it.
Reaction to Albania’s second rehearsal at Eurovision 2022
@wiwibloggs_official #Albania’s @ronelahajatiofficiall switches up her outfit for her second #Eurovision rehearsal. @jonathanvautrey watches and reacts 🇦🇱 #ESC2022 #Sekret ♬ original sound – wiwibloggs
What do you think? How will Albania fair in the semi-final? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
She posted on her twitter another video of the performance.
It’s groundbreaking guys!!!
?https://twitter.com/RonelaHajati/status/1522301410330783751?s=20&t=-RSso7FXb-meTUx3KsxY_w
She needs to bring back those goth dancers from the NF and lose this hideous garb she is wearing
Now it’s too late !!!
eww
Ronela you are the best kill them with your kindness !!! the haters go f yourselves !!!!
Too much circus going on stage. They try too much to stay memorable. Men dancers with skirts are just too much for the first song in the running order, she is shouting and promising party – but no one is ready for party. Albania, slow down, and don’t tire us please.
Who put thsm first? Right, EBU, and AFTER they saw this performance. Albania is going their thing, it’s EBU’s responsability to think of the overall show.
I’m so sick of those rude Albania stans (twitter user named Igli in particular) so I can honestly say how nice it feels when I saw this going even more messier!
Like a pink hippo on stage in granny underwear, clunky choreography and bad vocals, this mess could be the last one in the semi! Hah.
This is now when you regret the Barbara Dex Award.
This song was likeable when it was released. This act sunk it.
Between all the yelling, hair whipping and legs spreading I didn’t understand what does this woman want from me. It looks all over the place. And then the absolutely terrible outfit in the press conference, why is she trying so hard? All this Lady Gaga from Ali Express stuff never actually work. Just stop.
I feel exactly the same
She just needs you to shut the hell up and check what you actually do like, Karen
It was a messy rehearsals. Not just the camera angles and lights. But also Ronela herself; her voice, the outfit, the shoes. So random and not matching the song’s vibe. I don’t get it, she has a stylist… how difficult is it to stick to the National Final aesthetics? It was perfect.
Also, the choreography is kitschy and it does not make sense. I’m sad because Albania is looking to be a fan favourite to crash like Malta 2021.
Is 7th place in the final with 255 pts a crash? Since when?
The camera angles…. idk if it’s RAIs fault or their delegations fault but it’s baad…
I liked the looks of he lr NF performance way better, it had a vibe that fitted the song.
I really don’t like her current outfit it’s so random
Its OFFICIAL she will be changing her horrible costume.
how many costume changes? reminds me of the negative feedback that Destiny received.
Love the song. Love her…
But the staging is so basic. I’ve seen this color scheme so many times for basic ESC pop songs. It’s a bit of a let down given how creative she is, to eventually at the end, go full mainstream pop. I really expected more of a BOLD and earth glam color scheme/staging. Something to bring in parts of the FIK performance and Music Video together. However, this is so different and I hope it will make sense when we finally see it during the semi-finals. <333 Wishing her the best. Still my fav <3
yikessss. This was the worse rehearsal video today.
Starting with the off-pitch high-note,
literally hearing her hair banging in the microphone during hair-flips,
very bad camera angle during the line dance,
line dance itself being out of sync,
finishing with that awkward choreo that looks like the guy on the right slipped
Hope they’ll have enough time to fix
Can someone explain to me how you move the camera far away from the dancers where nothing is seen, in the best dancing break of the song? The guys dancing when she hits the high notes is genius though.
I still think it was the best of the day but EBU/RAI is clearly making her life hard.
I Hate to say this, but I’m actually disappointed with Albania. I’m not expecting to Irving station to be a one oh one copy to the lady, but some elements should’ve been carried over. For instance, the black and red color scheme was much stronger than in the pink and blue here and the costumes were better. I cannot work doesn’t look that great either, although maybe it will be better when we see the full performance. Even Ronela doesn’t sound so great here, but maybe she saving her voice for the live show which is probably a smart move.… Read more »
This absolutely staying in the semi as of now
As I thought. That whole censored drama was hyped up by the delegation and “fans” to keep
the drama train rolling and hashtags multiplying to cover up the fail that is gonna happen. Damage control at its finest – bravo to the ALB delegation! smart move 🙂
I’m sure there were better shots than the ones we got on that clip…right? I’M HOPEFUL.
When people say looks and camera work doesnt matter as long as you have a good song, show them this rehearsal
JESUS, IT WON’T EVEN BE SHOCKING IF ALBANIA GETS THE “NQ” NOW, WHAT IS THAT?! ‘:O 🙁
Who picked the most unflattering frame to use as a cover photo? It’s like pausing a Disney movie right at the most awkward transition.
The dancers’ outfits got upgraded for sure!
I bet she has more outfits ready for each performance, she loves to change up her look.
This is messier than my life.
The sun is the least of this rehearsal’s problems. Really hope Albania’s team analyze this run-through well and tighten up everything because if this is what is presented during their semi, they could be looking at a shocking result.
Oh oh. The staging, the clothing, the lighting, camera angles … it doesn’t do any justice to the song. I’d hate to, but I can see this not qualifying unfortunately. :/
I have found something nice in her 3minutes show. The scene when Ronela uses her long plait like a helicopter rotor is great.
And if Albania fails to advance people will blame that sun thing, right?! Based on the clip, the sun is not problematic, the staging just seems messy at the moment.
An onstage sunburst couldn’t save this, messy I think is the best word for it, and it’s not just the staging.
I guess they’ll go and blame the weather
(Just joking with Azerbaijani lyrics ^^ )
Chanel … this is how you take control. Not by become a toy that are supposed to satisfy older men and film sexy moves in slomo for DADDY to watch. Chanel, learn by Ronella. Ronella take control over her sexuality and are not an object. There are probably old men behind the lyric and the decision how Chanel’s video should be. Can’t se that Chanel has had any inpact at all. She is their toy that they can use to make money by glamourize the playboy world. And it sells, the fans as well as wiwi loves it. Take at… Read more »
You have to control your obsession with Chanel darling thaaanks
You should relax a little and enjoy the performances, no offence intended.
Wtf did i just read. Even my “vegania” is laughing
I swear to God, do you get coins every single time you bring down a female performer?
It’s annoying at this point.
Her stylist, choreographer and stage director should be fired. From a TOP 10 to a non qualifier. Such a pitty, I was rooting for Ronela but I’m afraid this is a very bad presentation.
Agreed. I mean it will probably Q but if it won’t I ain’t gonna be shocked.
The outfit is a downgrade from the previous and the stage looks awful and so do the camera angels. Albania will qualify but there is no way they’ll come top 10.
Also what are those shows man???
camera angles*
Btw, with this stage falling apart I assume chances for Italy winning again are droping rapidly lool
This stage is one of the worst I’ve ever seen in 30 years following the contest, if not THE worst… This “static black hole” on the background seems unfortunately to be swallowing Ronela already and I expect more to come. Such a shame really because it’s not the contestants’ fault. I hope for some action from EBU, because this gonna end up as one of the most messy contests in history.
Same feeling here. I’ve been watching the contest every year since 1987 and Torino may not leave a lasting impression. It’s like RAI doesn’t care at all to improve things, or even just to elevate their quality standard a tiny bit.
Funnily enough my first contest was Rome 1991. Tacky stage but at least it had some “personality”. This one is simply a disaster. I can imagine RAI executives sitting on a table, and someone having the brilliant idea of creating a sun on the stage. I’m sure that everyone got super excited and they didn’t even think about the technical aspects of such a project. And obviously had no alternatives – they never thought that something could go wrong. No tests, no calculations, nothing at all. They had to build that monster to realise that “oops it’s not working” and… Read more »
Holy cow
I agree with most of you.
The camerawork is lazy and flat.
Singing and choreography are amateurish and vulgar.
But the worst is the stage. So empty, no atmosphere at all. And what is wrong with that floor?
Everything looks so CHEAP!!
Absolutely not Eurovision worthy.
That was the first rehearsal vid I watched today, no I’m dreading to go on with the others.
I’ll be straight here, I don’t like the song, never have. But I will say that the broken sun does not do this performance any favours.
Please EBU, ditch the waterfall or replace the waterfall with an LED one in order for the planned staging for all delegations that had planned the LED sun wall.
Oh no. The camera work is miserable. Albania is really struggling this year 🙁
i thought everyone was being dramatic about the stage – but having now seen the youtube videos – it really is ruining things!
Im sooooooo disapointed 🙁
Ronela wears your national final dress please !!!!!
the stage looks smaller and more miserable than the one in Tel aviv, damn this year will be one to remember but not for good reasons
Delusional take, the stage doesn’t look small at all.
Not an amazingly good start this one. It looks very chaotic with not much coherence.
And that massive black asteroid looming over the contestants is going to obliterate all joy and happiness. I wonder if they should switch off the LED background, it is very distracting whenever there is a wide shot as it feels like you should strain your neck to see something interesting behind this massive black lump. Very distracting.
Don’t look up!
I am not sure. I like her voice and I like the song but with the staging and all it is to much for me. And when it is so over the top it sometimes look cheap. Let’s wait and see how the live performance goes next week. I’ll definitely keep my fingers crossed for her.
Ronela slays and she is perfect! But that stage…
It doesn’t look quite right to me yet. The choreography isn’t that slick in this clip and it’s definitely not coming across as smooth.
I imagine it’ll still be fine but, based on this, not as confident as I was.
Yeah, I think Ronela’s really fun and has a great entry – but I think she may be a ‘shock’ non-qualifier. It would be the last country to call, and Iceland will go through instead.
The stage looks ugly, and it looks so messy. Nothing works. I’m so sad for Ronela.
She had better performances during pre parties
Wow, this could be the worst looking stage ever. I mean, come on, dark sun, dark floor, camera shadows. It really looks cheap, esc stage should not look like this crap
I hope the cameras are not that far of the stage. It looks even smaller.
Loved Ronela! However, I thought the stage would look better through the professional camera shots, but it looks JUST as bad.
The giant black abyss in the centre of the stage is horrific. Can’t they flip the ‘sun’ to the LED side so it at least looks a little better? What a complete mess.
It is so boring and deja vu!
I see she’s changed her outfit to something equally awful, that is not a flattering pic above.
If only she had stuck to her original outfits from her NF… 🙁