The cameras love Italy's Nina Zilli

Nina keeping it simple

Before her second rehearsal, Nina Zilli spoke with Eurovision.tv about her experiences with rehearsals so far. She said "We are happy with the first round of rehearsals and how they went. We also expect the second time around to be even better today. We are keeping things simple on stage, no gimmicks and we think that's the right way to do things"

Nina is enjoying her time at the Eurovision Song Contest, she told us "I'm very happy being here in Baku, i'm having a great time, and meeting lots of new people."

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First glimpse of the dress

Nina is wearing her hair in a bun. She has a blue dress and is wearing a huge ring on her left hand. There are three backing singers accompanying Nina, one male and two female. 

The camera loves Nina, and she certainly knows how to play it to full effect as she pouts and glances at the cameras all of the way through the performance. She is also saying "Europe clap your hands" as the final chorus begins.

The background is dark to start with, and then has a retro black and white look later on. Nina looks very confident on the huge stage.

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Song change from Per Sempre

Nina has lived overseas in the past and told the press a little more saying "My parents sent me to Ireland to learn English. The first movie I saw was The Commitments, I didn't really understand it but I paid a lot of attention to the music. When I graduated when I was 18, I went to Chicago, so there's a lot of music influences there."

When asked about why Italy changed the song from the one performed in the San Remo Festival, Nina explained "In San Remo I went with Per Sempre, I listen to the team that I work with, they know all of the songs. Here I decided to come with the title track of my new album, it's more representative of my new album. It wasn't an easy decision because I love them both, but I felt that this song was better for Baku!".

Part of L'Amore È Femmina (Out Of Love) is in English, Nina was asked why she did not sing completely in Italian. She adds "I decided to sing in English, I like people to understand what i'm saying. If I sing totally in Italian, a lot of people wouldn't be able to keep up with the lyrics, and that's important for me that they can."

10 seconds to decide to do Eurovision!

Comparing the main Italian music festival San Remo with her experiences here in Baku, Nina said"Time is going very fast in San Remo as it's over just one week, at Eurovision it's more relaxed as we are here for longer. When I sing, I always have fun, I try not to think about the fact i'm in a competition. I like to be relaxed."

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When Italian broadcaster RAI asked Nina to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest, she didn't take too much time to accept the invitation saying "It took me about 10 seconds to decide to agree to Eurovision. I love to sing, I have fun when i'm singing.I sometimes have a butterfly moment before going on stage, but then as soon as I'm on the stage i'm totally relaxed."

Nina spoke also of her idol in the music business, saying "I took the stage name Nina after Nina Simone, I love her so much, she's an example for females all over the world. I love all of her songs. I close my concerts in Italy with a Nina Simone song."