🇨🇿 That Eurovision Review: Fire and growth for Aiko 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 fifth to rehearse today is Czechia’s Aiko.

Aiko’s first rehearsal

The next to take to the Eurovision 2024 stage at Malmö Arena in Malmö was Czechia’s Aiko. Aiko will be competing in this year’s competition with her entry “Pedestal” following her win at ESCZ.

Following Aiko’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 Aiko’s staging?

The official Eurovision live blog confirms that Aiko builds on the performances she created during the pre-parties: the staging represents the five stages of grief. Aiko is accompanied by four female dancers, with everyone on stage personifying a different stage. Aiko, of course, is acceptance. The dancers and Aiko wear similar looks. The tight-fitting black outfits are broken up by mesh sections and glittering details. However, the dancers wear mesh face coverings while Aiko wears wide-legged trousers. This is the most intense use of the stage cubes we have seen so far, as they start very low before moving out, making the scale of the stage grow in the progress. As for the lighting, Czechia have opted for the classic black and red strobe lighting. To cap it all off, there are big flame jets that appear throughout the song.

What we thought of Aiko’s first rehearsal

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

Who is Aiko

Aiko, which is the stage name for singer Alena Shirmanova-Kostebelova is a Czech singer, who currently resides in Brighton in the United Kingdom. In 2015, Alena participated in the singing reality show “Česko Slovenská Superstar”. This was the springboard to Alena starting off her musical career. A few years later, in 2018 Aiko released her first album, “Aiko”. In 2020, Aiko released a second album “Expiration Date”. Alongside her second album, Aiko also released her first stand alone single “Hunt” in 2020 as well.

Throughout her career, Aiko has performed at many festivals and big events, so is no stranger to big crowds. One of Aiko’s big musical achievements is that she was the first artist from Czechia to appear at Times Square in New York. In October 2023, Aiko released her third album “Fortune’s Child” – which contained the original version of her Eurovision 2024 song “Pedestal”. Since winning ESCZ, Aiko has also released the single “White Flag” in April 2024.

Aiko will participate in Eurovision 2024 with the song “Pedestal”. Steven Ansell wrote the song alongside Aiko herself. As well as writing the song, Steven also produced the track.

Czechia’s Eurovision Journey

Czechia made their debut in the Eurovision Song Contest in 2007, with Kabát’s “Malá dama”. However, their debut entry finished last in a 28-song semi-final, scoring only 1 point. Afterwards, this kicked off three consecutive non-qualifications, with their best result coming in 2008, finishing in second-last place. Having withdrawn in 2009 due to poor results, Czechia returned to the Contest in 2015. In 2016, Czechia qualified for the first time with Gabriela Gunciková’s “I Stand”.

In 2023, Vesna represented Czechia with their song “My Sister’s Crown”. Performing in the first semi-final in Liverpool, the band qualified for the final – and finished in 10th place in a field of 26 with 129 points. Of these, 94 points came from the juries and 35 points came from the televote.

What do you think of “Pedestal”? How well do you think the staging and the song work together? 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