Eurovision 2024 – With two weeks to go to the contest, daily rehearsals start this weekend and will go on through the entire week!
Following the pattern of the last few years, the countries are split again using their allocation draws in two halves for the two semi finals, plus the Big 5, so that’s five splits. Moreover, there are two rehearsals for each entries.
The first rehearsal today will last 30 mins. No press are allowed in for the rehearsals this week. The official site and Tik Tok will be the only place we get to see any initial snippets.
The Eurovision Times 
France drew 2nd half, Spain drew to be at the mercy of the producers.
Germany’s snippet
omg I had forgotten the “producer decision” slots :/
Looks like the Italian delegation heard the criticism and changed Angelina entire look. Good. They did the same thing in 2019 I think.
UK : They really went all in with direction and dizzy spinning effects. Very memorable even if they drew first half. Vocals can improve but overall this is very good.
Germany : I forgot how static and uncharismatic he can be. There is a lot of flame action here that is creating some movement on stage though. We LL see if it will be enough.
France
France really grew alot for me after having watched all the rehearsals
Angelina looks fresher and less intimidating today. Good.
I still dont get why they went so dark with it
I don’t get the nature theme with thorns etc at all personally. But betting odds liked it.
France : I like the brightness of the stage, it would be too predictable to go black and red for example for such a classic ballad. The gimmick of standing away from the microphone is a bit of a show off but it will be talked about and make it more memorable.
The Big 5;
– Germany unsalvagable as has become the norm
– Italy – what’s with the dark colors, this is a cheerful song
– UK 🔥🔥🔥
– France looks and sounds stunning again
– Spain I can’t be bothered to check
Abiut the big5 rehearsal clips:
Itaky looks and sounds gorgeous after all. I think that in the end the trophy will be between Italy and Ukraine.
France ia suitably grandiose, I guess this will be a love or hate thing.
Sweden looks great in the big stage as expected.
Spain needs to loosen up a little but she looks very glamorous and the cabaret setting is very appropriate.
The UK comes across as cheap and desperate (mouldy shower stalls, red-light dark room, genital cups) and his vocals are breathy and terrible.
Germany, I have no idea what that is. A random guy next to an armchair and a barrel with barbecue fires that would set off all the alarm detectors in the building raging around him. Good grief.
I disagree re Sweden. It looked like an intimate club on MF. It’s lost that.
🇮🇹 looks much better…especially the styling and outfit change. Still too dark imo and I still wonder if there should be any backup dancers. Idk if it has the necessary vote out there too win imo, it is hard seeing it in the televote top 3 at the moment.
🇫🇷 looks quite good. The white smoke is incredibly striking with all the dark stagings this year, and we all know Slimane and his voice is arresting. I don’t know if the stand away from the mic trick works for the viewing public though. Jury top 3 and lower televote top 10 is what I would put this at right now.
The doggystyle and missionary porn ilusion of UK’s performance seems to be bit too much imo. This year’s line up is too sexadicted, bombastic divawannabe, too much naked men …. Now Israel with its bit bland ballad seems to be a fresh air and it will benefit from it. If there were no “tireness” in Europe from the Ukrainian politics I would say that Ukraine has everything to win this lineup. The “innocence” of the Greek and Armenian entries stands out as well and must be appreciated.
The key though is to understand the beauty of both innocence and promisciousness 😀
Believe me I do understand it . And very well:)))) But I need some balance here.
Avat, I remember you emailed me a few months ago. How is everything going?
Still in the plans. Preparing my papers for schengen visa (that’s very hard to get recently as there is a huge demand) to make visits to understand some points. Thanks a lot for feedback Morgan. :)
Sweden : Looks even better on the big stage, even more slick and professional. Only the running order has me hesitant to say this is another clear top 10.
Spain : She looks super classy in that attire. Loving it. Direction is nice atmosphere is nice and again the only thing I don’t like is the male burlesque. Nice idea to have the lyrics on the backdrop for this one. I just wish more people could understand them, this is one of the most important songs of this esc in terms of message.
Italy : They didn’t do anything crazy apart from the thorny aesthetics and they didn’t need to. Even the throne could be missing. The direction seems crispy and Angelina delivers as always.
United Kingdom: Looks great, probably it will be the most memorable show of the year, but I don’t think a jury would reward that or televote voting for a recreation of a music video. I thought the pre-recorded vocals didn’t allow the main melody sung by the artist, but this rule is so vague that I don’t care at this point, just that I considered one of the most entertaining elements trying to emulate all the vocal production live, and now it is more like who brings the best circus, accentuating the yearly battle between sobs and laughs.
Germany: It looks good but will it be enough to elevate the anonymous song? I don’t think so. Just avoiding the last place would be a success.
Sweden: I have a serious problem with the shadows created by the lights and structures over their faces. The act is more impactful on this bigger stage, but I feel the details are messed up.
France: We’ve reached a point where this overdramatic performance, and particularly this part, makes me laugh. I still want it to do well and it has all the elements to do so, otherwise I would think Europe loves the Italian stereotype but hates France lol What kind of screams from the audience are we going to hear from the audience during his vocal show off: “guapo”, “zorra”, I love you, free Palestine or just shouting and clapping?
Spain: Now it looks more “expensive” instead of the cheap night club feel from Benidorm. I have to say that people (Spaniards) went bananas with the Tiktok and I was vibing in a similar way, but this snippet sent me back to the “nope”. Her charisma is not the type of friendly middle aged woman that gets sympathy votes so around 20th is the best they should expect. Yesterday it was randomly named on Argentinian TV by mistake, so if “Eaea” got 2 from the RoW this one should get at least 4.
Italy: I hate you all, I loved the previous outfit 😭 In any case, the only thing Italy always does is arriving with 5 different posh looks lol It is too dark for something that sounds like a party song, I have to give you that. I wouldn’t rule out a 26th place in the draw. I think it needs to be a bit more dynamic, but I never saw it as a contender, so I stand with my “5th” by default.
At least France sings live still and has done so since the rules, for better (2021) or for worse (2022). But yeah I dont think Europe likes us at all. I still dont think Slimane can really get better than 50pts from televote at best, but it could be just 30 something!
My take is the general audience loves countries sending their stereotypes, and Slimane is the closest to Barbara Pravi in some way with all this “mon amour, je t’aime”, plus a big star has enough charisma and experience to not ruin it all because of the pressure. If he does bad then I fail to see the delegation convincing another big with the track of La Zarra lol
About the pre-recorded vocals, imagine having a year with lower budget-Chanel performing the hell out of her facing a Kaleen dancing even more doing almost playback, or Slimane losing to an Andrew Lambrou lol
In any case, good luck (and safety) at the real event of the year: the Olympics.
Yeah Paris iz getting covered with signs and posters. I cant wait for people around the world visiting my town! Exciting. Hope it all goes well!
The finalists had pretty good rehearsals and since 2021 a lot of the Big 5 have really done much better generally, with 4 of them being top 3 at least once! The only 2 I didnt like from today’s 6 rehearsals were Germany (very static, a gimmick that doesnt work with the song, sorry but uncharismatic singer, back to a favorite for last place unless juries save it) and Spain (the worst vocals out of 37 rehearsals, boring irrelevant show). The UK while I love it, feels too much like a clip and these slick lives dont really connect with the audience (remember Sweden 2018) because the stage is there to make it seem organic. Also thr gay baiting is way too much for casual viewers (I cant stop but thinking of my step family who likes to watch it for me and what they’ll think). Italy looked ok but Im not a fan of the dark aesthetics and the girl dancers. It looked like an Eurovision entry and lost the charm of the genuine Sanremo act. They did it to Emma and to the 2016 girl too, both looking bad eurovisiony and not Italian diva. France was what you expected but the professionalism does come through. Each time France goes big dated ballad, we get Top 10 after all. I still dont think the country can get more than 50 televote points but juries should give enough for Slimane to be 12th-16th and therefore get a better result than last year. Sweden looked great and will be a nice opener for sure. Except for the weird new voting, I think it would have been a bit forgotten after 25 more acts but now it’s hard to call. Top 3 with juries coz it’s Sweden could be enough for Top 10 though.
Thank God Italy changed outfit but still it’s too dark and they didn’t need dancers?
Germany zzzzz
France : I never enjoyed the song much (terribly formulaic, painfully simpe lyrics) but good vocals and white colour suits it
The Spanish lady has so low energy I can’t see it scoring the big tele points this needs to avoid overall bottom 6
Sweden : Slick but the vocals and the twins are irritating
UK : Most innovative stage direction of the year but my mother disliked the over sexualization of it. How does this translate with televoting?
Your hatred of our brilliant entry is noted.
I never hate I only RAVE
A week from now, all of Europe will rave. I’m not sure she’ll make it to the final actually.
Of course she will Q cause in semis only bubble cares enough to vote. Ronela Hajati was equally horrible and would have Qd under 100% tele
There is life outside the bubble?
Yes, the otterworld + werewolves
Hey, otters and werewolves are also part of the bubble!
Germany is doomed once again. Please, Spain, save us from last place, just as you did in 2017!
We may be able to get some jury points, I don’t see Spain getting points anywhere. She can’t sing at all and even I find the presentation tacky. Especially laughable that people claim it’s some sort of feminist message. I even prefer K at this point.
I am not that confident regarding jury points for Germany, but we will see.
We can buy them in Malta, San Marino and Azerbaijan. I agree on whether juries will support this or not, he’s shouty and doesn’t modulate. But it may stand out for some juries because at least the song is not a collection of dance breaks.
https://video.twimg.com/ext_tw_video/1786768450808856576/pu/vid/avc1/534×742/1SkPWF5UxH-CPsU5.mp4?tag=12
🤣🤣🤣
LOOOOL
That was my point about this producer draw. It used to be an exciting moment of joy or disappointment and now it’s just awkward. I know people have bigger objections but this was what was bothering me lol.
My football team of AJ Auxerre just got promoted to L1! Imagine the PSG going to Auxerre lol, like the good old 90s days :)
This is really kind of exciting, no idea who will win. I thought it was going to be Italy but the staging is a mess. They’ll want to avoid the chaos of an Ukraine win and it’s one of their weaker songs. France is my favorite but it won’t get televoters in the Nordics or Baltics. People are delusional IMO if they believe Switzerland can win, it will repel televoters. Am I forgetting something?
https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/licensed-image?q=tbn:ANd9GcQfJ4QldQYYiEZomuyl-ZGSynUZtZ7P3PMHD5RkJLzxO3Qay2JzUem_aWZFf1c1gYUsunQXWfgvvJ4rpwk
The constant bashing against the Spanish entry is really beyond me. Where has all that positive mood about it, when it was first released, gone? Reading comments about last place or bottom 5 makes me feel like I am out of place and time once again.
I never liked it personally, and it wasnt even in my Top 8 for Benidorm final :/
Yes, but the general feedback was really positive initially. What has changed? Am I missing something?
I don’t know, it didnt change anything to me so I’m with you in wondering why the sentiment changed. However, it’s happened before: inside the realm of a NF a song looks great but then it loses steam next to other esc songs. After all it happened this year with Lithuania or Sweden too :/
Yes, but that’s not the case here. In a really weak year, “Zorra” shines.
I don’t get why Lithuania isnt a huge favorite either :'(
I didn’t expect Spain to be a huge favourite. But not a favourite for the last place either.
As soon as it got picked, I had it as a contender for last place. We’ve all had favorites in the past who we knew wouldnt work for the main audience though :/
I find it totally dreadful. She can’t sing at all and it’s cheap and tacky. I’m surprised you see sth positive in this proposal.
“She can’t sing at all”
If we go down this road then we’ll see that almost 80% of the eurovision entrants especially the last years can’t sing either. And if singing skills is the main criterion then Spain should have won last year.
I’m surprised you don’t see the amazing synth pop elements in it btw.
It seems like a bad drag show to me.
The song is really nice but her live is so low energy and the camp factor of the presentation drags the whole package down. Also she is the weakest vocalist of all 37 with an entry that is not demanding vocally or physically
Agreed. Same with Belgium really.
From one zorrista to another: we can be proud of our acquired taste 🦊
:D <3
Natasha St Pierre announced as French spokesperson for eurovision 2024!
Im in Sweden already a week, and in Malmo since 02.05.
I have been to Ladaniva’s performance today in Village, didn’t catch the whole thing 😭😭 but what I saw and heard, gooosh that is incredible, she has an amazing voice, they are so different, unique here in this line up.. She sung in Greek, Spanish, Armenian, what I saw, probably more languages before that.. ❤️ They bring special energy, can’t wait for the whole performance!!
I don’t understand why this statement is supposed to be problematic. Are Israeli flags also banned? All flags? Hamas flags obviously should be banned (not that I imagine Hamas cultists attend ESC).
Only flags of the participating countries and the rainbow flag are allowed.