🇫🇷 Road to Malmö: France

1st semifinal preview: the Eurovision Song Contest 2025 has begun! Tonight, the 2nd dress rehearsal took place. We of Eurovision Universe have been looking carefully to the show and made our own preview for tonight’s show. The show starts with typical Swiss folklore. Then presenters Sandra Studer and Hazel Brugger come on stage. Sandra is reminded of the fact that she herself participated in the contest in 1991. No dreadful introduction, but after 10 minutes we move on to the first country:  Iceland As in the national final, the brothers are dressed in silver. The sunglasses have become a trademark for the two. They are standing in a kind of boat and with graphics that would not be amiss during the Junior Eurovision Song Contest. The singing of the two boys also doesn’t function as it should.  Poland Poland opens with Justyna Steczkowska in a kind of whirlpool with the dancers around her. After water follows fire. The audience is enthusiastic during the performance. As can also be seen in the fragment, a dragon can be seen in the background when Justyna goes into the air. A lot happens during this performance. Unfortunately, we have heard Justyna sing better.  Slovenia Klemen knows how to move with this song about his wife. She was told that she didn’t have much longer to live. In the background, in front of a starry sky, we see photos and videos of her. Halfway through, he hangs upside down. After all, his world is also upside down. Those who didn’t know it only see at the end that it all ends well: then his wife comes on stage.  Estonia Tommy Cash drinks his espresso macchiato in the ‘winners cafe’. Maybe that’s a bit too optimistic. The act is very similar to the one in the national final with the security guards and the dance with the strange knee movements. Later we see him in front of a dancing airplane and between the coffee beans. Note: we don’t have a stage invader here, this was planned. The singing…. well… eh…. 🇪🇸 Spanje (Big Five, so not in tonight’s competition) Melody wears a black dress and a hat, which she throws off in the second verse. Then she suddenly wears a sexy silver outfit. She is flanked by five dancers. Not much happens on stage. The graphics depict rocks and at the end we see a golden rain. It is not very innovative. We got the feeling there should be more possible with this song.  Ukraine The men have colorful suits against a pink background. The backing singers stand in the dark with a candle during the high note. The rest of the image is rather blurry. It is not entirely clear what they want to say with this. Ukraine goes through to the final on sympathy votes.  Sweden It starts with a sausage. Kaj’s three men sit by a fire, after which they start chopping wood. The three dancers are now also dressed as woodcutters. After the word sauna, the decor turns around and they are in, yes, the sauna. Nothing new. The audience loves it. The song, yes that’s still an earworm.  Portugal Salvador Sobral once said: ‘music is not fireworks’. The gentlemen of Napa have kept that in their minds. Lots of strobe light in the background, which gives the impression of a concert. Musically there is nothing wrong with this entry but maybe that is the problem.  Norway Kyle Alessandro still wears armor, but a different one. He stands between a scaffolding that looks most like a kind of magnet. Kyle has to rely on his charisma and the beautiful meaning of his song, not on his singing. At least during this rehearsal, that wasn’t very good. He has done better, so we know he can.  Belgium If you call yourself Red Sebastian you have to dress in red with red in the background and red graphics. Halfway through Sebastian plays with his reflection, after his high note three doppelgangers of him suddenly enter the stage. About that high note: it came out perfectly. Unfortunately Sebastian has more trouble with the lower regions of his voice. 🇮🇹 Italy (Big Five, so not in tonight’s competition) Lucio sits behind his grand piano, with two large radios from a distant past behind him. He has the same yellow suit and white-painted face as during the San Remo festival. Those who don’t speak Italian are in luck: Lucio has his text subtitled in English. Whether the message of this song gets across is the question, however, no matter how well Lucio can sing. And then we have a look back at the weirdest acts with the weirdest probs in Eurovision, before we continue with the songs.  Azerbaijan Also a lot of red in Azerbaijan. Asaf Mishiyev, the singer of the group Mamagama, is often in close-up in the picture. Together, the entire band stands on a plateau almost the entire time. Above them, a halo that turns yellow, and during the bridge briefly turns silver. The singing of this group is fine, but it seems as if the song does not come across during this messy act.  San Marino The singers during the San Marinese act are masked. It is not about them. Gabry Ponte, the man who once made “I’m Blue” a world wide hit, is behind a DJ table. He makes a party of it. The LED screens show all kinds of images of Italy, from ancient Rome to Michelangelo. In the audience the party seems to come across, whether that is also the case on television remains to be seen.  Albania Lots of red and black, although Beatriçe Gjergji of Shkodra Elektronike is shown between white blocks with a black border. Kolë Laca is occasionally seen doing his utmost with drums and percussion. As a whole, the Albanian entry comes across well. Final place? Yes sure!  The Netherlands Claude starts in close-up. He remains visible in close-up throughout the first part. At