🇲🇩 That Eurovision Review: Strings and seascapes for Natalia in her first rehearsal

Today the rehearsals for Eurovision 2024 continue in Malmö. Countries rehearsing on Day 2 include Iceland, Slovenia, Finland, Moldova, Azerbaijan, Australia, Portugal, and Luxembourg. The fourth to rehearse today is Moldova’s Natalia Barbu.

Natalia’s first rehearsal

The next to take to the Eurovision 2024 stage at Malmö Arena in Malmö was Modova’s Natalia Barbu. Natalia will be competing in this year’s competition with her entry “In The Middle” following her win at Etapa Națională 2024.

Following Natalia’s first rehearsal a clip of what went on was posted on the official TikTok account of the Eurovision Song Contest. The clip showed Natalia before and after she took to the Eurovision stage for the first time, as well as giving us some insight into how well her first rehearsal went.

What did we learn about Natalia’s staging?

Natalia Barbu returns to the Eurovision stage with violin in hand for “In The Middle”. The clapping, white violin, and arm-focused choreography return from her performance in the Moldovan national final but, as the official Eurovision live blog notes, this time Natalia is not flanked by dancers. All alone on the stage, seascapes and other nature shots. During the violin section, the LED wall shows wings that make Natalia Barbu look angelic.

What we thought of Natalia’s first rehearsal

After Natalia’s first rehearsal, Jazzi gave her initial thoughts on the snippet that we saw.

Who is Natalia Barbu

Natalia Barbu is a 44-year-old singer-songwriter born in the Moldovan city of Bălți. A prominent member of the Moldovan jazz scene, Natalia often collaborates with up-and-coming artists to help expand her own musical experimentations. Natalia is musically trained and received her training first at the Stefan Neaga Music School, then at State Conservatory. Natalia has also received a major as a violinist. She first came to public knowledge in 1998, through competing in various music competitions.

In 2007, Natalia represented her nation at Eurovision in Helsinki with her song “Fight”. At the close of voting, she finished in 10th place. She then shifted her style to summer pop and was well-received in her native country. After Eurovision 2007 Natalia has released four albums and twenty singles. Her most well known single outside of competing at Eurovision is “lubeste-Ma Azi”, which is a track off her latest album “La Capatul Cerului”.

Her Eurovision song for 2024, “In the Middle”, is written by Natalia herself and Khris Richards.

Moldova’s Eurovision Journey

Moldova is relatively new to the Eurovision Song Contest, joining in 2005. Their debut entry, Zdob și Zdub, finished in 6th place, which had remained their highest scoring entry up until 2017. This was thanks to the Sunstroke Project performing ‘Hey Mamma’, finishing in 3rd place. At the close of voting, Moldova received 374 points.

In 2023, Pasha came back to the Eurovision stage to represent Moldova at the Contest in Liverpool. Performing his song “Soarele și luna”, Moldova qualified for the final, finishing in 5th place. Following the jury and televote points in the final, Moldova received 96 points, finishing in 18th place. Of the 96 points, 20 were given by the jury, while the remaining 76 is given by the televote.

What do you think of “In The Middle”? SECOND SENTENCE? Let us know your thoughts! Also, be sure to follow “That Eurovision Site” on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok as we prepare for Eurovision 2024!

News Source: That Eurovision Site / Eurovision.tv

Photo Credit: Corinne Cumming / EBU