Speculation is the lifeblood of the Eurovision Press Centre. After all, we’re all here because we (theoretically) know what we’re talking about when it comes to this contest. Our job as press is to communicate our impressions to the general public, and to give them an impression of what’s working and what isn’t.
But hardcore Eurovision fans aren’t the only people keeping a keen eye on the opinions of the ESC press. Delegates, artists and gambling analysis can also be influenced by the mood of the press room after a performance. The way Eurovision pundits frame a rehearsal can actively impact the betting market for the contest, installing a former dark horse as a hot favourite, or sending a preordained winner tumbling down the rankings. In the age of the producer-arranged running order, it’d be naive to imagine that this couldn’t also have ramifications for the shape and weighting of the grand final.
Every journalist has their own criteria for what makes a successful rehearsal – personally I like to focus on the core elements that are unlikely to change dramatically from the early run-throughs to the final performance. Concept, storytelling and how well the song translates to live performance are more revealing factors than more changeable qualities such as energy and camera angles at this point. A half-hearted rehearsal can be elevated by the presence of a live audience later on, but if gimp masks, astronauts or interpretive dance are involved, it rarely augers well at any stage of the game.
An underwhelming rehearsal on Monday presents the first major roadblock to Russia’s victory campaign.
Photo: Eurovision.tv
We’re only one day into the rehearsal process this year, but already Russia’s kitchen-sink stage concept has revealed a chink in the armour of the runaway favourite, prompting a frenzy of speculation about how bad the damage really is, and who could stand to benefit if Sergey’s performance fails to connect. The last note of You Are The Only One had barely sounded before Russia’s odds of winning The Contest began to drift substantially.
For the artists and their teams, being subject to such close scrutiny while they’re still getting used to the Eurovision stage can be unnerving, but it can also provide valuable insight. The trick is to strike the right balance between responding appropriately to early feedback, and having the confidence to stick to your guns when necessary. Last year the Netherlands floundered when their first rehearsal went down like the proverbial fart in a spacesuit, and spent the rest of their rehearsal time desperately tweaking their costume and staging choices, resulting in a half-baked, compromised final performance that wasn’t necessarily worse than the original concept, but didn’t do anything to improve Trijntje’s prospects either.
Russia are at a double disadvantage in that they had no opportunity to road test their stage concept at a national final this year. Today we see several other contestants taking advantage of lessons learned at the domestic stage. Most notable among these is Zoë from Austria, who’s toned down the LSD fuelled backdrop we saw at Wer singt für Österreich?, added more interactive elements to the performance and ditched the treadmill in order to concentrate on her vocals – all smart choices that could help push this quintessential fan favourite over the line, especially as more fancied competitors are forced to deal with roadblocks they haven’t had time to anticipate.
Zoë and her team have used the time since the Austrian national final to adjust and refine her stage performance into a slicker, more confident package.
Photo: Eurovision.tv
Azerbaijan’s first rehearsal also demonstrates the perils of skipping the national selection process. Miracle is a reliably competitive Swedish-penned confection that could do very well indeed with the right singer. Unfortunately, internally-selected Samra would have struggled to win a public televote on the strength of her vocals today. The song is simply far too big for her, and it’s too late now for them to switch her out or adjust the song into a more comfortable key. Azerbaijan are big on visuals, and a full-on firework show ends the performance with a bang, but like Russia they’re facing an uphill struggle to address some fundamental flaws at a very late stage in the game.
Malta did run a national final, but, somewhat controversially, the song Ira Losco won with isn’t the song she’s presenting at Eurovision. For my money, Walk on Water is a clear upgrade on Chameleon, but once again the perils of an untested stage concept threaten to derail a much-fancied entry, as Losco spends much of the performance in a heavy beige coat that supports some impressive projection effects, but reads as horribly shapeless and unflattering on camera.
Malta’s projection-friendly ensemble probably looked good on paper, but a pre-contest TV performance might have helped them to work around how unflattering it looks on camera.
Photo: Eurovision.tv
As we did yesterday, we end with a rehearsal from one of the heavy favourites of this year’s contest, but the contrast between Frans and Sergey’s performances couldn’t be more pronounced. The size and scale of Melodifestivalen arguably provides Sweden with the best platform any country has to refine their entry for Eurovision, but in truth If I Were Sorry arrived more or less fully formed anyway.
Unsurprisingly, the changes to If I Were Sorry for the short walk from Friends Arena to Globen are minimal. Pundits who weren’t sold on Frans’ low-key performance style before are unlikely to be converted now, but with many of his competitors are already on the back foot after their first rehearsals, all Sweden’s young hopeful needs to do is stay firmly in cruise control to keep his campaign on solid ground all the way to the Grand Final.
It’s interesting how even the Eurovision press differ in their opinions on how all the first rehearsals have gone – some say that Zoe has lost something, and that Ira was superb!
Opinions, opinions – that’s what makes the subjective viewpoints of humanity so interesting! As a viewer of what is happening solely online, I’ll get a better view of what’s happening during second rehearsals but I’m not really sure how much any of us says will affect how these nations perform in those or in the live shows…unless perhaps San Marino? 😉
Martin – Opinions definitely vary, and I certainly don’t think the press are the sole – or even main – determining factor in how performances evolve from rehearsal to lives. But I do think the delegates are often a bit too close to the project to be objective, which is where taking the mood of the press room can be beneficial. For example, the Dutch team had to have seen Trijntje in that dress before the first rehearsal, so there’s no way they can have been anticipating what a negative reaction it received.