Chiara to dress like a winner

Chiara is keeping everyone guessing about her outfit for the Eurovision Song Contest, taking to the Moscow stage for her second rehearsal yesterday in cream trousers and a smart top.

Since the actual dress rehearsal is not before Monday she preferred to keep mum, saying only that it will be very similar to the black, floor-length dress she wore on the night she won the local festival. It has been designed by top designer duo Charles and Ron and she promised to sparkle in it.

The previous rehearsal backdrop of an underwater city was changed yesterday and the LED screens portrayed light and dark shades of blue, which the producers felt was more befitting of the song.

Her team also chose to release a lot of dry ice to add a romantic mood to her ballad What If We, composed by Marc Paelinck and penned by Gregory Bilsen.

Commenting during the press conference she said: "I am very satisfied with the new background. We are thankful to Channel One who worked late into the night to fix the graphics".

However, she was still uncertain about the effect of the dry ice, which was drifting all across the stage because the doors were open: "We'll see how it goes during the dress rehearsal and if I still don't like it, it goes".

There were mixed reactions to yesterday's performance. While the Maltese delegation felt it was an improvement over Monday's, the Eurovision website okiotimes.com remarked that the low notes were barely heard in the venue. Despite this, they had no doubt Chiara would qualify for the final on May 16.

Renowned as The Voice by her fans, Chiara has never had any problem hitting her notes. She could be saving her energy for the actual night.

"If I win, it would be the happiest day of my life and I would fulfil my father's dream," she enthused.

Her father, Maurice Siracusa, who died recently, had been the one to push Chiara, Malta's Queen of Ballads, into trying her luck at the latest Eurovision song contest. His dream was to see her clinching the coveted title after having come so close when she placed third in 1998 and second in 2005.