Welcome back to ESCBubble’s coverage for Eurovision 2021! It’s been a busy few days, and today marks the final set of first rehearsals for our semi finalists, with the countries performing in the second half of the second semi final getting their chance to take to the big stage.

As always, you can check out our ongoing coverage through both our Live Rehearsal Blog and also rolling  daily updates on our Twitter Account.

If you are avoiding potential rehearsal spoilers then don’t read any further! Semi Final Two will take place at 21.00 CET on Thursday 20th May 2021 with sixteen countries competing for ten qualifying spots for the final.

We’re going to be heading for lunch after this, but the final rehearsal of this morning comes from… Bulgaria!

First Rehearsal

There’s a lot of hype behind Bulgaria’s performance and I think it definitely captures the imagination for that. As a staging concept, it is one of the strongest we’ve seen to date. With colours tinged to be very similar to the music video, warm oranges and browns, Victoria starts sat on a big square rock with family/childhood photos laid out alongside her. The stage LED lights resemble water and the rock looks brilliant floating on top of the effects. There is also sand falling from the roof which looks incredibly impactful.

Victoria herself is wearing what I’d probably consider satin pyjamas, quite similar in style to the music video (albeit more teal/blue than in the video). Vocally she sounds great. It is clear that people who love this type of song and are hyped for this will really get on board. Reminds me of a better produced version of Lithuania 2018.

Before Eurovision

Victoria originally came to public attention after auditioning for the X Factor Bulgaria – which also is how Kristian Kostov had his big moment a few years back too! Last year, Bulgarian broadcaster BNT internally selected Victoria and then had another year of becoming one of the bookmakers favourites after releasing the song for 2020, “Tears Getting Sober”. The Billie Eilish style track caused a stir within the fandom and was one of the songs poised to take victory in Rotterdam.

Following the cancellation, BNT confirmed quickly that Victoria would be getting her Eurovision moment at the 2021 contest instead. However, whilst the ultimate decision for her song came down to internal selection, Victoria released an EP titled “a little dramatic” which had all of the songs in contention to go to Eurovision. Ultimately, “growing up is getting old” was the song chosen. Whilst still having comparisons to Billie Eilish, the song reminds us much more of the John Lewis advert covers which are popular in the run-up to Christmas in the UK. Check out the video for this below: