Artists arriving – join the excitement backstage

Read everything about Sunday's premiere rehearsals in our daily summary!

Poland: Magdalena Tul – Jestem
Magdalena Tul told of all the advice she has had in the lead-up to the contest. Before she knows which of all the viewpoints are the best ones, she will have to evaluate the experience herself.

"I've had so many advices now! But we'll have to wait until after the rehearsals to see which were the best ones," she says.

Norway: Stella Mwangi – Habba Habba
Stella Mwangi was perhaps the most deeply concentrated artist before the rehearsals.

"I'm fine, but I have to put full focus on the rehearsal right now," Stella said backstage, determined to deliver a perfect performance.

Albania: Aurela Gaçe – Feel The Passion
Aurela Gaçe met Eurovision.tv amid her voice warm-up singing.

"I swear, the bigger the arena, the higher my adrenaline goes. I think I'm living my dream. I come from a small country, and even if we have big voices over there, the stages and the arenas are smaller than the talents that we have. I've always dreamt of singing in a big arena, and now my dream is coming true," she said.

Armenia: Emmy – Boom Boom
"All our delegation is ill right now, me too. But otherwise everything is great," Emmy asserted backstage.

She continued with explaining the lyrics of her song: "Boom boom, chucka chucka, your kiss is like a, like a".

"The story tells of a girl who's fallen in love with a guy doing nothing except boxing – only sports, sports, sports. She asks him to come to the love ring instead of the boxing ring. Chucka means 'nothing' in Armenian, and I sing 'boom boom, chucka chucka'. It's a very catchy song, easy to remember."

Turkey: Yüksek Sadakat – Live It Up
Yüksek Sadakat arrived early to the arena and had a chance to warm up a lot backstage – with one band member using a scooter. Some of the onlookers were worried for a moment, as the ambition is to keep the artists away from peril. But the band seemed unconcerned.

"We're fine. This is a regular day for us," they commented, relaxed.

Serbia: Nina – Čaroban
Nina admitted upon arrival that she is new to stages of this size, but the large dimensions didn't intimidate her.

"I don't have any experience of these kinds of performances. This is my first one, and I'm super-excited! I'm not scared, I can't wait to climb that stage and show people what I can do and how I can sing. It's important to keep that attitude," she said.

Russia: Alexej Vorobjov – Get You
Alexej had just arrived to the arena when meeting up with Eurovision.tv next to his dressing room. The experience of the Düsseldorf Arena is new to all the participants, and before entering the stage, it's all about finding the way to the different stations where preparations are made. This was Alex' main aim backstage, together with his Swedish team, including the backing vocalists Britta Bergström and Henrik Rongedal and the dancers Fille Michael, Robert Malmborg and Daniel Koivunen.

"This is a really crazy day!" he commented.

Switzerland: Anna Rossinelli – In Love For A While
As for Serbia's Nina, Anna Rossinelli is all-new to a big stage as the one in Düsseldorf.

"This is the first time I perform on a really big stage. Actually, today is even the first time I see this stage," she said.

Georgia: Eldrine – One More Day
The original lead singer of the band wasn't happy with the negotiations for the participation in the Eurovision Song Contest and decided to quit, explained the Georgian Head of Delegation, Maia Baratashvili. That was how the current front star Sophio Toroshelidze joined the project.

"Since the vocalist was changed, I had a very short time to learn the song. That's why we never traveled around Europe in the preparations," Sophio told Eurovision.tv.

Finland: Paradise Oskar – Da Da Dam
Finland's Paradise Oskar – or Axel Ehrnström, as his real name is – performs is song all alone on stage. And he is perfectly comfortable with that.

"It makes me feel far more secure than if I would have had a lot of other people. I won't have to worry about whether the ones who are standing behind me are doing the right things," he said.

"I've designed most of the performance myself. It's just a natural interpretation of the song I've written. I perform it alone without a big show and just tell the story to the people."

The participants are given in running order above, which was the order they rehearsed in. They will perform in the same order in the First Semi-Final, on the 10th of May.

Photos: Alain Douit, Pieter Van den Berghe and Elke Roels (EBU)