For the rehearsals today Lithuania and Belgium had swapped positions. First on stage today was however the interesting act from Montenegro. This article is being updated after each rehearsal so don’t remember to come back to read about your favourite and its competitors.

Remember to refresh the article to make sure you are kept up to date. We will update after each of the four rehearsals. 

9. Montenegro: Who See – Igranka

The day starts out with the hip-hop group Who See from Montenegro. There is a big cloud of smoke on the stage as the song begins. The background flashes mainly in green & yellow. As the singer Nina Zizic starts singing (not visible on stage) the two male singers Dedduh and Noyz come out of the smoke dressed up in astronaut-like suits (which is met by quite a bit of laughter from the people in the press centre). The duo does their rapping part and when the chorus comes Nina Zizic enters the stage up from an elevator. Nina sings the chorus and is dressed in some kind of futuristic equipment which covers part of her head and with what looks like to be some kind of wings on her back.

This singers sound fine and the song really stands out with it’s strong beat. What could work against it is that these types of hip-hop & dubstep songs whave not proved to be successful in the past (Ukraine 2005, Bulgaria 2008).

10. (nr. 15) Belgium: Roberto Bellarosa – Love Kills

Montenegro’s unique stage act is a tough one to follow, but young hopeful Roberto Bellarosa from Belgium is certainly up for the challenge. He is looking very dapper in a black suit with white shirt. His act opens with a darkened stage, white lanterns hanging behind him are swiftly raised into the air before the backdrop changes colour to blue, with circles of various sizes appearing followed by excerpts from the text projected onto the backdrop.

Roberto is joined by two female dancers also in thigh high black dresses. They stand behind him at first, before taking their positions next to him to do their tightly choreographed routine, while he stands motionless on stage. Three backing singers stand behind them, offering vocal support. He was in fine voice indeed this morning, although his diction still needs some work. As the rehearsals progressed, he clearly became more relaxed in front of the camera. Roberto’s vocals were of a consistently high standard, vastly improved compared to when he performed the song in the Belgian final. Love Kills comes across superbly on screen, with a sweeping drive and energy that is hard to contain. His performances were met with enthusiastic applause from those present in the press centre, and the way things are looking, he should hopfeully provide Belgium with their first spot in the final since Tom Dice back in 2010.

11. Belarus: Alyona Lanskaya – Solayoh

Moving on to the next country we have Alyona from Belarus with her oriental influenced song Solayoh. There is some smoke and a giant silver disco ball on stage out of where Alonya emerges at the start of the song. Alonya is wearing a top and a short skirt, both in purple. Two male dancers dressed in white join her at stage and lifts her up and out of the disco ball which starts to spin. The background is in red, orange and yellow. The dance routine is pretty ordinary with the dancers dancing beside and around Alonya. Both Alonya and the dancers are making a lot of hand movements during the performance. As the last minute short before the keychange the dancers starts beating on the drums and one male and two female backing singers comes to join Alonya and the dancers to take part in the dance routine.

Alonya sings well throughout the rehearsal and looks quite comfortable on stage. Yet you can’t help to get the feeling that it sounds like a song that has been done and heard before.

Next up: 

12. Moldova: Aliona Moon – O Mie

The Moldovan performance is basically the same as it was in the national final. However there is a few changes. In the national final back in Moldova Aliona sang in English, but here in Malmö she has decided to switch to Romanian. In the last run through she sang only in Romanian, but in the first one she also sang parts af the song in English. Whether she will sing some parts of the song in English or not is still unknown.

The dress is the same as the one she wore in the national final, but the lights in the dress are done much better this time. It actually looks like she’s a part of the stage itself – the dress and the backdrop play very well together. At the beginning the dress i red and the backdrop is blue but the merge more and more and in the end, it is the same. We saw a similar dress last year (Sabina Babayeva singing for Azerbaijan), but this is a bit different. Compared to Sabina’s dress a new thing has been added. During the song the dress becomes higher and higher and in the end Aliona looks very tall. If anyone remembers Kaya Brüel in the Danish national final back in 2010 ("Only Tonight"), it is the same gimmick.

Aliona is not alone on stage. She’s accompanied by three dancers and the author of the song – Pasha Parfeny – on the piano.

This article is written by Tommy Engström, Kristján Sveinsson and Jens Erik Møller