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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Entertainment
Daniel Bird

Rita Ora sends fans wild after 'full circle' Eurovision semi-final performance

Rita Ora's performance at the Eurovision Song Contest semi-final certainly took the audience by surprise.

Her performance at the semi-final comes 14 years after she auditioned to represent the UK in 2009 with the song Get Here by Oleta Adams.

Following her stunning audition, Rita was offered the chance to represent us but later decided to pull out of the competition, claiming it wasn't the best career move for her.

Taking to the stage, Rita performed snippets of tracks such as Ritual, I Will Never Let You and Anywhere.

Shortly after her performance on Tuesday night, fans flocked to social media to praise the songstress who also performed her latest single, Praising You featuring Fatboy Slim for the first time.

Rita Ora took to the stage during the first Eurovision semi-final (BBC)

One fan commented: "Spectacular Rita Ora. It still makes me very sad that she is one of the most underrated artists on the music scene. He deserves so much more #Eurovision."

"@RitaOra just delivered an incredible medley performance of her hit songs Ritual, Anywhere, I Will Never Let You Down and Praising You during the @Eurovision semi-final," said a second.

A third penned: "Rita Ora smashed this #Eurovision."

"Well said: Only @RitaOra can deliver incredible live performances live on stage like the Eurovision," said another.

Rita also took to her own social media, saying: "Wow what an honour and a full circle moment to be on the @Eurovision mainstage performing some of my favourite songs and my brand new single Praising You.

Rita wowed fans with her performance (BBC)

"Thanks to the team, to Liverpool, to @officialfatboyslim and of course to you, my incredible fans. Hope you loved that as much as I loved performing it. Sending love to everyone watching across Europe and of course, the Ukraine. Stay strong, we all love you."

The songstress wasn't the only famous face to take to the stage, with Liverpool's own Rebecca Ferguson showcasing her impressive vocals for the world to see.

Hosts Alesha Dixon, Julia Sanina and Hannah Waddingham welcomed fans to Liverpool's M&S Bank Arena in the Albert Dock to celebrate the event.

This year, the Eurovision Song Contest is being held in Liverpool despite Ukraine winning the competition in 2022, unfortunately, they are unable to host due to the ongoing Russian invasion and subsequent war.

But fans are ensuring that Ukraine is well represented at the contest, with Liverpool turning yellow and blue in honour of them.

As the show kicked off, host Julia addressed the audience in her native language, Ukrainian.

Rita's performance certainly caught the attention of social media users (BBC)

She later went on to thank "beautiful Liverpool" for welcoming Ukraine and its people "with open arms".

Julia added that the show has "come back to its own roots" as the competition has shown support for Ukraine following Putin's invasion

Speaking to the PA news agency, the frontwoman of The Hardkiss said: "The Eurovision Song Contest has become something more than the biggest entertainment music show last year and this year.

"It has come back to its own roots and aims, which were uniting people in dark times and bringing the feeling of support to everyone.

"And, of course, this is the first time when two countries host together."

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