LIVERPOOL (UNITED KINGDOM), 11 May. (from envoy, Luis Fuster) –
Albania, Cyprus, Estonia, Belgium, Austria, Lithuania, Poland, Australia, Armenia and Slovenia are the last ten countries that have won the pass to the Eurovision final in the second semifinal that was held this Thursday in Liverpool and in which Spain has been able to vote.
With them the Grand Final of Eurovision 2023 is completed, which will be held this Saturday at 9:00 p.m. and will be broadcast on La 1 de TVE. Blanca Paloma will perform in the first part of the final, in a position that will be revealed tonight. Who will not perform in this final will be Denmark, Romania, Georgia, San Marino, Iceland and Greece, who have been left out.
Denmark has been the first country in contention with the Faroese Reiley. The young man is the first contestant from the Faroes to have managed to represent in Denmark and has brought a pastel green and pink scenery for his “Breaking My Heart”, complete with a spinning “little house”.
Armenia presents a cinematographic performance that plays with projections and lighting on the trapezoidal platform on which Brunette, its singer, is located. With an aesthetic inspired by the statues of Mother Armenia and with a “dance break” in the middle of the performance, the Armenian woman sings her “Future Lover” to hers.
In third position was Romania, with the 18-year-old Theodor Andrei and his “DGT (On and Off)”. The song is the story of a toxic relationship in which Theodor tells how his lover “plays with him between her ‘degete’ (fingers)”. Screen projections of him and his girlfriend dressed in white complete the performance.
For Estonia sings Alika, a 20-year-old girl who begins the performance at the piano. Standing up, the instrument continues to run on its own, as the singer performs her ballad “Bridges”, which comes with the signature of Wouter Hardy, composer of the 2019 Eurovision-winning song “Arcade”.
Belgium brings a hymn to acceptance and the concept of the “chosen family” of the LGTBI community with “Because of You”, performed by Gustaph. Wearing a giant hat and dressed in pink and white, the Belgian appears on stage with three showgirls and a vogue dancer, who end up pulling out pink fans.
Cyprus features Greek-Australian Andrew Lambrou performing “Break a Broken Heart,” an English R’n’B-infused ballad surrounded by all four elements on stage. Lambrou walks alone and barefoot to the box at the M&S Bank Arena, in a fiery performance.
The Icelandic Diljá fills the stage with energy to interpret “Power”, a synthetic pop song in English. Jumps, pirouettes and a very powerful choreography are the staging, which is accompanied by graphics of flowers and plants.
For Greece comes the youngest of the edition, Victor Vernicos. At barely 16 years old, this Greek-Danish singer interprets “What They Say” in a staging in which we see himself on the screen. The Greek scenery plays on the screen with the English lyrics of the song and the letters of the Greek alphabet, by substituting “aes” for “alphas”, for example.
Poland subscribes to more is more with a staging in which there are more than a dozen special effects. Fisheye, fire, graphics, camera blur, a virtual singer on the screen… all to accompany Blanka, who sings “Solo” along with four dancers.
The Joker Out from Slovenia were one of the great favorites to win the semifinal. This indie-style pop-rock band that just a few weeks ago released a song with Elvis Costello comes out on stage using charisma and looks at the camera to perform “Carpe Diem” in their mother tongue.
From Georgia comes Iru, winner of Junior Eurovision in 2011, to try to revalidate this feat in the adult festival. She does it with “Echo”, an epic song in English that she accompanies with a set design focused on a careful work of realization and lighting. The wind and two white capes do the rest.
San Marino has sought qualification with Piqued Jacks, an Italian group that won the crowded San Marinese shortlist, which featured 106 singers. Among them, the participant of Operación Triunfo 2001 Verónica Romero. The indie band performs their “Like an Animal” in English.
The Kelmendi family arrives from Albania with one of the most ethnic proposals in the edition. These six Kosovar singers won Albania’s historic Festivali i Këngës thanks to televoting and their song about broken families “Duje”.
The Lithuanian Monika Linkyte returns to Eurovision eight years later, after participating in a duet with Vaidas Baumila in 2015. Seeking to improve her 18th position that year, she has brought the ballad “Stay”, with a gospel choir behind that repeats a kind of mantra in Lithuanian: “Ciuto Tuto”.
The finishing touch to the semifinal has been put by the Australians Voyager with their song “Promise”, for which they have been accompanied by a car on stage, where the singer begins. The rock band had been trying to represent their country since 2020 and have been the first Australians from the west of the country to get to go to the festival.
