Good morning from the ESCBubble team! Unbelievably, it’s now day 7 of the Eurovision 2021 rehearsals which also means we’re almost at the end of rehearsals. Today we see the second rehearsals of the eight countries competing in the second half of the second semi final, whilst that only leaves us with the second rehearsals for the automatic qualifiers tomorrow morning!

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We will be now be giving you an overview of all five of the rehearsals in today’s morning session – where we saw Georgia, Albania, Portugal, Bulgaria and Finland rehearse.

Georgia:

Tornike Kipiani did not have much to change from his previous performance, however there is a noticeable improvement in his performance. As reported on Tuesday, he was absolutely holding back during his first rehearsals and probably not even taking it very seriously. This is different now, as his voice exudes the emotion in the song and his vocals are off the charts. The song itself won’t appeal to everybody, but it will definitely have its fans! I can see the juries going for this a little bit more than perhaps originally expected. The stage is similar to the first rehearsals, with clever use of lighting whilst the focus remains firmly on Tornike singing.

Albania:

Anxhela Peristeri of Albania is really serving up Iveta Mukuchyan vibes this this staging masterpiece. There haven’t been many changes from the first rehearsal, understandable as it looked pretty slick back then too. She’s amped up her interactions and movements which somehow conveys both sass and vulnerability. The red/blue dancing flames in the background behind her also look really effective. They’ve cut down on some of the wide shots by the looks of it too which is a huge plus because the only fault the first rehearsal performances had was that she looks tiny on that big stage. All in all, a solid second rehearsal and Anxhela’s voice got better with each performance.

Portugal:

Perhaps the surprise revelation of the whole contest, this rehearsal firmly cements Portugal as a dark horse and contender for that left hand side finish. His voice is smoother with each performance, and the actual staging is incredibly impactful. The start in black & white, transitioning in to the 16:9 dimensions as it glides smoothly to colour. Then when the colours are in full force, the staging looks classy and extravagant and the shadow orchestra really adds to the beauty of the whole performance. They will qualify on authenticity of their song and performance alone, the fact the stage looks absolutely incredible — check out the video below to see just how awesome it looks!

Bulgaria:

Bulgaria has definitely provided us with one of the best staging concepts of 2021, it’s the most stunning visual and really works with the story of the song. Today, the camera angles felt a little bit off on occasion however it seemed to be resolved for the third run. Of course a reminder that technical difficulties are a normal part of rehearsals! That is what they are there for. All in all, it looks majestic and stunning as ever. Great job from Bulgaria.

Finland:

To be honest, this morning has just been a series of acts that haven’t really needed to change or improve their performances as they all looked slick and ready for the live shows already. Finland is another that hasn’t done much on top of their national final performance earlier in the year.  However their rehearsal went swimmingly as expected, sharper camera angles, strong vocals (especially on the last run, wow!) and every rehearsal was 200% for effort and energy. Ended the morning on a high!

Our polls are open too – let us know which of the songs in each semi final you want to qualify by voting here: