Albania: Festivali i Këngës 63 - Night 2 highlights

This morning, Australian time, Albania's week-long music event Festivali i Këngës (FiK) kicked off the second night, being semi-final 2.

Festivali i Këngës takes place at the Palace of Congresses in the capital Tirana over four nights and will decide who represents Albania at Eurovision 2025 in Basel, Switzerland.

It was confirmed that this year, the winner of FiK63 will represent Albania at the Eurovision Song Contest. For the previous two editions, the Eurovision representative was selected separately to the overall winner of the Contest, with organisers opting to make the winner the representative as seen in earlier editions.

The results of the Final will be determined by jury voting and public voting. For the first time, the Albanian diaspora will be able to vote in the contest.

The second night saw the remaining 15 of the 30 participants take part and Aussievision has picked out some of the highlights.

Our top picks

Elvana Gjata - Karnaval

The odds, fan and streaming favourite has delivered in spades. Elvana quite literally floated from the sky, down to the stage, slayed for 3 minutes and still had something left in the tank at the end. I get the impression we will see something spectacular from her final night costume and perhaps some pyro flames if we're lucky. If I had to be picky - some vocal moments that could be marginally stronger and a few clanky camera angles but nothing that can't be fixed by Eurovision. Albania, this is your best shot, don't mess it up.

Vesa Smolica - Lutem

Vesa delivered strong and memorable vocals on the night with plenty of power and presence. The all white outfit stood out with many other competitors opting for either black or red outfits. Additionally, the backing dancers and plinth she performed on helped inject the drama required for this type of entry.

Potentials

Gresa Gjocera - E vërteta

A song that didn't gather much hype prior to the contest but Gresa put on a good show tonight and has won over some fans! As many performers this year - she appeared with a small collection of backing dancers, a bit of a theme at FiK this year.

Klea Dina - Dashuri ndiej

A beautiful and delicate voice matched with a solid tune full of peaks and troughs. As a young artist, with a bit more stage experience, Klea Dina will be able to take it to the next level. Hope she returns for future editions of FiK!

Endrik Beba - Ishe Ti

Endrik Beba really stood out during the night with a captivating stage presence. He turned the studio into an amazing live show, bringing a lot of magic with the orchestra.

The WTF

Mal Retkoceri - Antihero

Last year's winner of Festivali i Këngës had a distinctly rough start to the competition. Opening the show in an eye-catching black-and-red-harlequin-esque-ceremonial-bedazzled suit, he struggled to hit any of the planned notes. At two minutes into the performance, he bailed out of a higher vocal, gave a slight grimace, and continued on. We can only hope that he's on the way up from here!

Santino De Bartolo - Kur nata vjen si bora

Unfortunately I'm not sure Santino knew what key the song was in - a very sweet little song but the live performance left a lot to be desired.

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