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.

The penultimate country today, and one which will definitely turn heads being one of the favourites for this year… Switzerland!

First Rehearsal

There were a lot early comparisons between what he can do to distance the song and performance from Arcade and well… the Swiss delegation have blown my wildest expectations in the way they’ve maneuvered away from that potential pothole. He’s wearing a black frilled shirt with subtle silver patterns up and down which capture the light really well.

No pianos in sight. Whilst the backdrop is universal/space/galaxy dark blacks/greys/whites, he remains stood for the song on what looks a bit like a white cube optical illusion. Some way in to the performance, around the second chorus, the structure breaks up and move to different parts of the stage in line with his incredibly high vocals. There are bits of contemporary dance in there, with Gjon’s Tears spinning at one point whilst singing, somehow managing to make it sound effortless. The movements look a bit weird at first but you quickly get used to them, and it’s great that he isn’t just stood still the whole time despite performing such a vocal masterclass.

The end gives us a huge light display from behind and (I think) there was smoke emerging from the sides. Lots of close ups of his face and he connects really with the cameras. Definitely in contention for the win.

Before Eurovision

Last year, Swiss broadcaster SRG SSR internally selected The Voice of France singer Gjon’s Tears as their representative for Rotterdam. After a fairly unsuccessful decade at the contest, an internal selection of Luca Hänni back in 2019 ended on a high so it was good to see them continue this path for selection. And it seemed that thunder had struck twice, when the Swiss 2020 song “Respondez-Moi” instantly became one of the favourites. Despite the cancellation of the 2020 contest, in March of last year the broadcaster confirmed that Gjon’s Tears would be returning for 2021.

Many fans thought he wouldn’t be able to top his song for last year, so when the delegation released “Tout l’univers” it was perhaps a shock that Switzerland once again found themselves as one of the big favourites to win. The hype has very much continued, with some impressive live performances in the past month. Check out the absolutely stunning music video here: