Welcome back to ESCBubble’s coverage for Eurovision 2021! After the first seven countries took to the stage at the Ahoy Arena in Rotterdam for their first rehearsals, we are flying through to day 2! Today, the remaining nine countries performing in the second half of semi final one will be rehearsing so keep following our coverage for all the updates throughout the day.

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 One will take place at 21.00 CET on Tuesday 18th May 2021 with sixteen countries competing for ten qualifying spots for the final.

After two very well paired angel & demon themes, the third to rehearse this morning is… Croatia!

First Rehearsal

Firstly, Albina looks STUNNING. She’s dressed in a silver/nude bodysuit which has disco ball qualities without being overbearing. There is a full blown choreography routine to this one, as she originally starts by herself with armography dancing with the LED lights on the back of the stage. Colours are mostly pinks and blues. For the second half of the performance she’s joined by 4 very strapping male dancers who add to the flirtatious nature of the song. The Croatian language section sounds awesome, too.

In terms of effects, there is a great part where she makes use of the augmented reality to create five holograms of herself – a little like Iveta Mukuchyan did for Armenia in 2016. Not sure if they could’ve done a little bit more with that though, as they do just stand there singing with her. She also gets carried by the male dancers at one point, singing on her back with a birds eye view camera. Very Kylie Minogue 2000s era, but a very polished routine.

The third runthrough is a lot cleaner too, with added fireworks! She also dances more with the holograms of herself which make it look a lot stronger. Still some camera angles that need to be touched up but Croatia has a good shot here at making the final.

Before Eurovision

Shortly after the cancellation of the 2020 contest, Croatian broadcaster HRT announced that 2020 participant Damir Kedzo would not be returning and that instead they would be hosting prestigious song festival and national final Dora. The contest, which took place in the city of Opatija back in February, saw 14 talented artists performing for the ticket to Rotterdam. It was young pop singer Albina who impressed and won Dora, topping both the jury and the public votes, with the catchy “Tick Tock”.

Despite typically performing ballads, Albina mixed things up by bringing a pop/dance track to Dora instead and has since revealed that she has found a new side of her and one that she enjoys! It’s been a busy year for the young singer who also competed on The Voice Hrvatska at the start of 2020. She ended up placing second behind other Dora participant Filip Rudan, however a number of her performances have gone viral online. You can also check out her music video for “Tick Tock” here: