Next in line: Cyprus, FYR Macedonia and Portugal

The singer from Cyprus, Evdokia Kadi, certainly has one of the most memorable dress gimmicks in the contest this year! Starting off in a high-collared, shiny silver dress, she quickly got rid of it, displaying a short orange-black one which corresponds well with her black hair. Her four backing singers wore glittering black suits and the choreography includes some chairs and a small table. Evdokia Kadi had won the Cypriot final earlier in January being the only song in the Greek language and here in Belgrade, this could work in her favour as well. Femme Fatale is an incredibly catchy tune which will make people think of summer nights in an Mediterrenean atmosphere. Evdokia's vocals were faultless today too, so the Cypriot team will just have minor things to adjust for the first general rehearsal of the second semi final for the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest. The Cypriots were very happy about the way their rehearsal went. Evdokia revealed that the Cypriot final for this year's Eurovision Song Contest was her first music competition ever and this Belgrade week would be already her second and she'd be much more relaxed now. 

Today the second rehearsal of FYR Macedonia's Tamara, Vrčak & Adrian who seemed a bit more comfortable on the stage than at first rehearsal. The three young FYR Macedonians have a big burden on their shoulders since FYR Macedonia has qualified for all finals since the introduction of the semi-finals in the Eurovision Song Contest in 2004. Tamara was looking astonishing in her outfit: she was wearing a classy, black dress and matching high-healed shoes. Moreover she wears large, elegant earrings. Vrčak and Adrian were wearing white outfits which are a mix of traditional school outfits from the 1950's and a very fashionable touch! It seems like the FYR Macedonian indeed are ready for the dress rehearsals, and from first take they seemed on top of things. On the big LED screens in the background, blue and white shiny colours appear during the entire performance. Based on their performance this afternoon, competitors of the second semi-final should be a bit scared of this young and refreshing FYR Macedonian entry! In the press conference, the Head of the FYR Macedonian delegation, Milanka Rašić, pointed out the fact that Let Me Love You was the first ever Eurovision Song Contest entry that was not only recorded in six different languages, but also got six different video clips! All six versions were recorded in a 48-hours-long session, which the singers had to spend without food and sleep! 

Portugal has been named of one of the songs who could really surprise in the second semi-final of the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest. It'll be the last song to be presented in this semi-final, so it might be still fresh in the televoters' memories! Portugal has never managed to climb over the qualification hurdle since it was introduced in 2004, but this year, the Portuguese is really giving everything to guarantee the country's first participation in an ESC final since 2003! Vânia Fernandes and her team were still very secretive though about their stage clothes as they were wearing casual clothes today. So right now, the only thing we know for sure is that Vânia will be barefoot on stage. There was no doubt whatsoever today that the extremely talented was in top form vocally today, and the effective choreography of Senhora Do Mar (Negras Águas) looked excellent on the big TV screens. The Portuguese delegation explained that, in the second rehearsal, a different background scenery was used, the main colour of which was blue, whereas a mainly green version was used in the first rehearsal. The lyricist of the Portuguese entry, Carlos Coelho, confirmed that they would stick to the blue version. Vânia Fernandes finished the press conference by singing a part of the Serbian version of her song.