🇦🇱 That Eurovision Review: Pointy shoulders and contemporary dance for Besa in her first rehearsal

Today the rehearsals for Eurovision 2024 continue in Malmö. Countries rehearsing on Day 3 include Malta, Albania, Greece, Switzerland, Czechia, Austria, Denmark, and Armenia. The second to rehearse today is Albania’s Besa.

Besa’s first rehearsal

The next to take to the Eurovision 2024 stage at Malmö Arena in Malmö was Albania’s Besa. Besa will be competing in this year’s competition with her entry “Titan” following her win at the 62nd Festivali i Këngës.

Following Besa’s first rehearsal a clip of what went on was posted on the official TikTok account of the Eurovision Song Contest. The clip showed her 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 Besa’s staging?

Besa is rocking a pantsuit in black and blue with gold detailing, as per the official Eurovision liveblog. Pointed shoulders are clearly the trend alert of this Eurovision season, as this outfit also features them. On stage, Besa is joined by two backing singers and three dancers. The dancers are wearing grey bodysuits for the contemporary dance they perform, while the LED wall and cubes show even more dancers. As the song builds towards its end, so does the tempo of the dancing.

What we thought of Besa’s first rehearsal

After Albania’s first rehearsal, Rory gave his initial thoughts on the snippet that we saw.

Who is Besa

Besa Kokëdhima, the full name of singer Besa, is a 37 year old singer from Qepero, Albania. Despite being from Qepero, Besa now resides in Fier. At the age of 15, Besa moved to the United Kingdom, in order to receive musical tuition. This proved successful, as in 2003, at the age of 18, Besa released her first ever single “Më Beso”, it later went on to win awards in Albania. Following on from her first single, Besa went on to release her self titled debut album, three years later in 2006.

Since 2006, Besa has gone on to compete in several Eurovision based competitions. The first of these came in 2009, when Besa took part in the Romanian selection “Selectia Naționăla”, with the song “Nothing’s Gonna Change”. Besa reached the semi-finals of this national final. Later, in 2010, Besa took part in Festivali I Këngës for the first time. Besa competed with the song “E bukura dhe bisha”. The song reached the Final of 2010’s competition. Throughout her discography, Besa has released four albums, the most recent being “Ti je festa ime”. However, since 2014 Besa has released many singles, the most recent before Eurovision being “Plastic Heart”, which she released earlier this year.

Her Eurovision song for 2024, “TiTAN”, was written by Besa herself, alongside Fabrice, Alias Lj, Grandjean, Kledi Bahti and Gia Koka.

Albania’s Eurovision Journey

In 2004, Albania made their debut into the Eurovision Song Contest with Anjeza Shahini with “Image of You”, which placed 7th in the final. Since their debut, Albania has participated 19 times, and made the final 10 times, with their best result in 2012 where Rona Nishliu placed 5th with “Suus”.

In 2023, Albina Kelmendi and her family represented Albania at the Contest in Liverpool with their song “Duje”. Performing in the second semi-final, the six-piece group qualified for the final. At the close of the voting in the final, Albania finished in 22nd place with a total of 76 points. Of these, 16 points came from the juries, whilst 59 came from the televote.

What do you think of “Titan”? How do you think the song will do? 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