Light your fire! Joan goes native for the Netherlands

Baku, May 15 (AzerTAc). Today was the first chance for Joan from the Netherlands to rehearse her song You And Me at the Baku Crystal Hall after a resounding win at the Nationaal Songfestival back in February. Today in Baku, the Netherlands took to the stage for the very first time where Joan practiced her song You And Me in a new and refreshed stage show since the Dutch national final. Keep reading to see how she did! Backstage, Joan was clearly very excited about performing on the Eurovision Song Contest stage here in Baku for the first time. She was smiling and greeted everyone warmly, listening intently to the production crew who gave her instructions about her upcoming rehearsal. We had a little chat to Joan before she took to the stage where she said, "I am so impressed by the production here and I am so excited to go on stage. This is something completely new and big for me". We also asked her about her performance and whether producer John de Mol had helped to which she said "we had many meetings to create the stage show". She also went on to say, "my headscarf is new and I also have a new dress but that is still a surprise and I am not wearing it today". On stage, Joan is joined by a band with four young men playing the guitar, violin, banjo and accordion, adding a bit of country feeling to the performance. Also with Joan is a backing singer. The stage presentation is very different to the national final, as the band did not appear back then. In the background flames are appropriately a dominant feature with various shades of orange, red and yellow creating the setting for her song. Also, on stage there are some interesting props, with several fire bowls adding to the fire theme. The song itself isn`t particularly fiery but a nice mellow country inspired song. However, the story behind the song lends itself to adding a few flames and injecting some fire into the performance; there is a very distinct theme about native Americans and the fiery emotions of childhood romance. Vocally Joan`s voice is very strong and she is confident and smiling on stage with her band adding to this with an enthuisiastic performance. At the age of 22, Joan Franka will represent the Netherlands in Baku with the song You And Me. She is a gifted singer/songwriter and a talented poet who has a story to tell through her song.