After the opening press conferences yesterday, today was the turn of those competing in the second semi-final to rehearse and face the probing questions of the assembled media.
During the Maltese song, photos of the band are prominent on the video wall. "It’s up to the production to decide how many of the 208 selfies are being used. ‘Coming Home’ can relate to a lot of things really. All of us in particular have been out of home for a while. I, for example, have been in the UK for three years, where I even took part in the X Factor"
Mei Finegold, representing Israel, is a songwriter in her own right but she is singing someone else’s song. "I am used to singing lyrics of other writers, but this song it’s my story, it feels like mine, I adopted it, it’s my child."
Carl Espen’s cousin, Josefine Winther spoke about the origins of the song, "Carl Espen was the source of the song, because I felt like he had something bubbling under the surface waiting to come out" Carl himself commented "One of the main themes of the song is that there is some sadness in it. It can be quite hard to do it because you have to try and be in contact with these emotions"
The Georgians talked about the ideas behind their folk song, “We did this song together in the team, and we started from the idea to have a song about the Earth. But in the end we had to finish it very quickly. We added the idea of coming home, and Felix Baumgartner with his great space jump gave us some additional ideas for the song and the stage act. In the end, it’s a very green song, both literally and figuratively too. In this matter it’s also dedicated to the wonderful green city of Copenhagen."
The Polish delegation were asked about the collaboration between Donatan and Cleo and the folk group, Mazowzse, “It was easy to combine our music with the Polish entry. Our performances are also folk performances and we are young girls. Our music is rhythmic so it isn’t difficult to cooperate.
Possibly the most controversial act in Copenhagen is Austria’s Conchita Wurst. "The problem is that many people think that the way that I express is too much, but this is my own truth. I feel comfortable this way. I don’t want to scare anyone I just want people to know that they can be accepted in any way that they can"
There is a serious message behind the Lithuanian song. “It’s not about me. Not at all, it’s about this situation I’ve notice around me. There is sex tourism and it’s popular all over the country. I’m not supportive about that. Not that I have something against the sex. But girls follow so easily for those stories men usually tell them” commented singer, Vilija Matačiūnaitė
Lead singer of the Finnish group, Topi Latukka, was asked why he doesn’t look at the camera while he’s performing. "I am focussed on what I am doing, but next time I will keep my eyes open"
The Irish delegation seem to be easing their way in slowly. Kasey said, "Every time we rehearse, it gets better and better, so we are very happy. It was about getting comfortable with the stage and getting comfortable with our surroundings" Of the last place in 2013, she commented "We receive a lot of support from Ireland so we aren’t too worried"
"We did three run-throughs in today’s rehearsal, which went pretty well. We did our choreography, only a few problems appeared with our microphones but I think it will be fine in the next rehearsal" were TEO’s thoughts of the Belarussian rehearsal. "The atmosphere between the artists here is very good. We already became friends at Eurovision in Concert in Amsterdam"
While Tijana is performing the Macedonian song, her dancer is never far away. “On stage, he does what I don’t want to do and I do what he doesn’t want to. And we are having this interaction. And we love and hate with each other in the same time." She was asked if there was a message in the song, "With our entry we want to show to our fans that we are coming from the beautiful country with amazing people and great energy."
Swiss singer, Sebalter spoke about how he came up with his stage name and the whistling element in the song. The name Sebalter comes from his real name, SEBastian, and ALTER comes from ‘alter ago’ "The whistle part was meant to be played with my violin, but while creating it I recorded the melody on my phone whistling and it stuck in my head so we decided to use it in the end"
The first task of Greek group, Freaky Fortune feat Riskykidd, was to sit in the right places so that the writing on their t-shirts, featuring the phrase # Rise Up, were in the correct order. Will they collaborate again? "You never know what the future holds"
Tinkara Kovac from Slovenia is one of only a couple of acts singing in two languages in her song, Slovenian and English. "I have more versions of the song, in various languages. As I live close to the Italian border, for example, we made a very international version in Slovenian, English and Italian. As for the Eurovision version, we had to choose before the Slovenian national final, and it was clear for me that it had to be partly in English as it’s the most international language, but I also wanted to sing in Slovenian, as this is my home." she said
Fan favourites, Paula Seling and OVI, brought the days conferences to a close. One of their stage props is a circular piano. What is the thinking behind this? "Look, it’s like this – a circle of wonders", they explained. They were asked which of their Eurovision entries they prefer. Paula was quite clear, "We cannot choose – it’s like having parents choose between their kids! But of course we have grown in our artistic path, so I personally like Miracle more than Playing With Fire"
