It’s the end of the first day of rehearsals for Junior Eurovision at La Seine Musicale in Paris! We have seen snapshots of the performances of nine of the competing acts. Here’s our recap of what we’ve seen so far!
(It goes without saying that the vocal performances for every single one have been amazing, so we’ll be telling you more about what to expect from the staging and performance!)
🇵🇹 Simāo Oliveira – O Rapaz
Simão brings his velvet jacket and cap from the music video, but elevates the staging with a beautiful starscape, alongside touches of black and white video in the background, capturing traditional Portuguese architechture.
Simão will represent Portugal in the 19th and final performance in the running order on Saturday.
🇮🇪 Maiú Levi Lawlor – Saor (Disappear)
Maiú also brings a touch of his music video to the stage, with black and white buildings in the background and a road to him on stage, which lights up in colours as he performs.
Maiú will represent Ireland in the 8th position in the running order on Saturday.
🇲🇹 Ike and Kaya – My Home
Ike and Kaya’s staging splits to represent their two personalities. Kaya wears a beautiful white dress, and has backgrounds of cherry blossom and unicorns (not at the same time!) while Ike wears a leather and houndstooth jacket, with a black, gold and white geometric background. We also see the floral swinging seat from the video make an appearance!
Ike and Kaya will represent Malta in the 4th position in the running order on Saturday.
🇳🇱 Ayana – Mata Sugu Aō Ne
Ayana’s staging draws on her Japanese heritage, featuring kimonos, fans, cherry blossom and paper screens. She is joined by two backing dancers, whose fans mimic bird wings in silhouette as Ayana sings “wish I could fly away.” There’s also a beautiful moment where polaroid pictures appear in the background as part of the cherry trees.
Ayana will represent The Netherlands in the 15th position in the running order on Saturday.
🇩🇪 Pauline – Imagine Us
Pauline’s staging reflects the bright message of her lyrics, with a background full of adorable animated characters spreading the message of peace and unity. She is joined by two backing dancers on stage, and shines in an aqua and silver tracksuit.
Pauline will open the show representing Germany, performing 1st in the running order on Saturday.
🇮🇹 Elisabetta Lizza – Specchio (Mirror On The Wall)
Elisabetta brings some rock and roll with a leather jacket and white dress, decorated with a few of those titular mirrors. She has four backing dancers, wearing white mirror t-shirts and black trousers. Her background is graphic and monochrome, but one which changes between colours through a rainbow, set against black.
Elisabetta will represent Italy in the 5th position in the running order on Saturday.
🇬🇪 Niko Kajaia – Let’s Count The Smiles
Niko’s staging is heavy with primary colours – red, yellow and blue dominate the outfits, the lighting and the graphics. He has two backing dancers , dressed in block-colour overalls with graphic print shirts underneath. It’s bright and peppy, just like the song!
Niko will represent Georgia in the 2nd position in the running order on Saturday.
🇪🇸 Levi Díaz – Reír
Levi keeps it casual in a double-denim outfit (possibly triple, I need a closer view of the shirt!), as he dances through a city in the performance of Reír. He’s joined by four backing dancers, also in white and denim, and the stage includes tiny houses/bus stops/remnants from La Venda’s staging, with oil drums inside them. The background transitions through the city between night and day.
Levi will perform in the 16th position in the running order on Saturday.
🇵🇱 Sara James – Somebody
Sara brings an ethereal staging, featuring five backing dancers in marbled pink, purple and blue one-pieces and face paint. Pink, purple and blue are the dominant colours here, as Sara wears a beautiful pink floral dress and the background graphics show celestial scenes. The dancers also carry white branches at some point during the performance.
Sara will perform in the 3rd position in the running order on Saturday.
Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2021
Junior Eurovision 2021 will take place in Paris, France following Valentina’s victory in JESC 2020 with “J’imagine”. The contest will be held in La Seine Musicale on December 19th. 19 countries will be competing in the 19th edition of the competition. The running order for the show on Saturday was revealed yesterday.
What do you think of the performances so far? Which entries are you looking forward to seeing in tomorrow’s rehearsals? Let us know in the comments below or on social media. Don’t forget to follow ‘THAT Eurovision Site’ over at Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
News Source: EBU
Photo Source: EBU/Andres Putting
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