#i started re-watching the tiktoks right before writing the blurbs around latvia

[purecommemasolitude]

Thoughts on Eurovision rehearsals so far

Norway - Not sure about the hair, but other than that I love the outfit upgrade! One of my favourite parts of seeing NF choices in the actual contest is seeing upgrades like that :) Other than that it seems to be pretty much the same as the MGP staging, which is fair enough-- if it ain't broke don't fix it and whatnot

Malta - Suddenly this has shot up from "meh probably won't qualify" to "oh boy this has a good chance of qualifying". The staging looks fantastic; the Maltese delegation really outdid themselves. Excited for how the choreography seems to be more elaborate than the NF choreo 👀

Serbia - Once again not much to say on this one since it's essentially the same as the NF-- I was expecting something very different than the NF staging for some reason, but I hope they make it work and can qualify!

Latvia - Falls a little flat in the videos, but the pictures look fantastic, so I have no doubt that this is going to be elevated tenfold by the camerawork. The light work is great and I really hope they get their costumes back from their allegedly lost luggage jksdfh

Portugal - I miss the couch :( and honestly I prefer the dress from the NF way more, but I have faith that Mimicat will probably pull off a great live show regardless. It looks like the lighting is gonna be excellent also!

Ireland - It seems like nice staging! And their costumes look good too, though I'm not as sure about Conor's as I am about the others. I don't think it'll be enough to save them from NQ though :(

Croatia - An alas in the chat for them not seeming to have a real traktora 😔 Other than that though, the staging looks even more buck wild than the NF, and I'm terrified by the fact that they seemingly got the okay for the stripping and butt corks (?). Honestly I still don't think they'll qualify, but I won't be upset at all if they do (and I am very looking forward to seeing first-time reactions to them)

Switzerland - Mixed feelings on this one honestly. I love that they have contemporary dancers and also the lights, and massive props to Remo for singing so steadily while running, but I'm not sure how I feel about him dancing alongside the dancers (I was hoping for more of an elaborate choreography piece around or behind him that tells a more elaborate story), however I am reserving full judgement until the semi-final because the staging seems to evolve a lot and that makes this snippet even less of an indicator than most. Also not a huge fan of his outfit, but it's growing on me a little

Moldova - I can already tell this is going to be great. Moldova never fails with staging and this is no exception-- the lights, costumes, choreography, etc all come together to create an excellent atmosphere very fitting of the song

Sweden - Well, she's keeping the platform! I'm not sure if the Swedish delegation is going to really have to play camera angle tricks to make it look bigger/more impressive or if it really will look as cool as the Melfest one did to people who haven't seen her NF staging. Very nitpicky but I'm not as big of a fan of pattern of the. I don't even know what to call it honestly. The shell? The outer casing? of her platforms, but it'll probably become inconsequential come the live shows

interim text so I don't exceed the character limit for the lists which apparently exists 👍 also a good place to put a read more

Israel - Ohhh I can already tell this is going to be fantastic. The costumes look great, the stage setup is excellent, the choreography is tight and well-done-- I had my doubts about the dance break but it already looks like it's shaping up to be one of the most enjoyable parts of the evening. The only things that could maybe kill this are a) bad camerawork or b) if people compare her too much and too negatively to Chanel, but even then I don't think that'll make that much of a difference, especially when it comes to her qualification

Azerbaijan - Oh no :(( oh girlies no :((( This staging pretty much killed any chance I saw of it qualifying, and I really like the song-- it's very much on the left-hand side of my ranking. Actually, the more I watch it the more I do like it, and it does have good aspects-- the costumes are fun to look at and I really like the lighting-- but I don't think it'll be enough to qualify, and I'm not a fan of centring the guitars so much in their performance when everyone knows they'll just be mimed? It works for other, less common instruments, like the violin or the saxophone, or of course folk instruments, but something as generic as the acoustic guitar doesn't really add that much (okay I looked closer and one of them is actually a bass whoops. That makes it slightly better but I don't think it'll do that much in the long run)

Czechia - Ahh!!!! Czechia!!!! I never really had my doubts that much about what their staging was going to look like, but now that we've seen it will after all be dramatic like the music video I'm so so excited to see the final product. I didn't like the pink in the pictures, but it works much better on video, and if they can get their vocals well then the entire package is going to be phenomenal. I'm predicting that their full performance will probably give me child night of the semi-final

The Netherlands - The staging seems pretty similar to S10's last year, which is fitting because they're similar songs. I'm not sure on the staging, but I'm predicting camerawork will make a world of difference, as tends to be the trend, I feel, with more intimate songs + stagings like this and Latvia. I love their costumes, and I'm wishing them the most broken of legs in terms of performance

Finland - Ahh I'm excited!! Very intrigued to see the upgrades to the staging, and I think the dancers' hair being plastic as well is a nice touch. I think the music video will always be my favourite visual representation of the song, but this is shaping up to be quite nice staging, an excellent closer (but we already knew that), and I think making the stage + lights rainbow instead of just gold was a really good one

Denmark - The set looks really really cool, I'm excited to see it in motion! Still have no idea why this is opening, and that might hurt its chances a bit, but the staging seems much more exciting than I was expecting. I honestly liked his outfit today more than any other outfit he's performed the song with so far and was very disappointed to learn it's not his actual costume elemayo. I hope his final costume is something similar

Armenia - Not what I expected! I love her costume and the first part, but I was hoping she'd get off the platform at some point-- looking at it, I doubt they'll not be able to make it work, though. I wasn't too keen on the lights at first glance, wanting something more like her preparty performances, but I watched it again and it actually does look pretty nice-- if they pull the lights off well the whole song and have good camerawork, this is going to place high, I'll wager

Romania - It looks fun!! I never really had problems with either this or his NF staging, but I'm seeing it's not very popular staging still, which is a shame. The outfit is nice (obviously I love the Pikachu socks) and the only complaint I have at the moment is that having yourself be a giant background sure is a Choice. My prediction is that he'll either NQ or borderline qualify and get a low result in the final, but I'm hoping he'll do well! He's a great vocalist and an excellent performer, especially considering he's only 18

Belgium - This song has been rapidly growing on me recently, and the staging looks pretty good! I was fervently hoping for something more different than the NF staging or the music video, but it seems to work really well on the bigger screen + stage. It'll be fun to have a dancer there, and overall the whole show looks like it'll be good!

Cyprus - It's better than I expected! I'm not sure if this one needed the LED screens or if it would've been better as just lights, but I wasn't sure how they would stage it and they by far exceeded by expectations. The stage seems like it'll go through a journey following the song, his outfit looks great, and his vocals are Excellent. If this qualifies I don't think it'll do well in the final, but I'm hoping it will, because so far it looks fantastic!