Eurovision Asia 2026 rehearsals began in Bangkok on Sunday 8 November, with four of the eleven acts taking the One Bangkok Forum stage for the first time. Laos’s Thinla went first, followed by Bhutan’s Nyendra, Bangladesh’s Beatmosphere and Cambodia’s Monetrey. The organisers released a short clip of each. All four have reworked their national-final performances, and one has gone the other way and stripped it back. The other seven, including favourite Malaysia, rehearse today, 9 November, five days before the Grand Final.
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Photos, left to right: Thinla (Laos), Monetrey (Cambodia) and Nyendra (Bhutan). Official images, Eurovision Song Contest Asia (eurovisionasia.com), cropped side by side.
Key takeaways
- Four first rehearsals on 8 November: Laos, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Cambodia, in that order.
- Thinla (Laos) brought at least four dancers and a bench-like prop. It is a new look against her national selection.
- Nyendra (Bhutan) performs alone in the gho, Bhutan’s national dress, against a Himalayan backdrop. It was his first day outside Bhutan.
- Beatmosphere (Bangladesh) have new outfits, new choreography and black, white and red graphics.
- Monetrey (Cambodia) is alone in gold and black, under a spotlight, with no LED graphics in the clip.
- Polymarket’s Top 3 price for Laos jumped 11.5 points on the day, to 27.5%, on wide quotes. None of the four is above 5.5% to win.
What’s on this page
Day one at a glance · Laos: Thinla · Bhutan: Nyendra · Bangladesh: Beatmosphere · Cambodia: Monetrey · What the markets did · What a rehearsal tells you · Today’s seven · The rest of the week
Eurovision Asia rehearsals: day one at a glance
First rehearsals are each delegation’s first look at its staging on the real stage, with cameras, lighting and screens. Changes made after them are common. What the official clips show is direction, not the finished performance.
| Order | Country | Act | Song | Final slot | What is new |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Laos | Thinla | “BAE” | 3 | Dancers (at least four), a bench-like prop, a new look |
| 2 | Bhutan | Nyendra | “Lhayi Semo” | 5 | Gho, a Himalayan mountainscape backdrop, solo |
| 3 | Bangladesh | Beatmosphere | “Tumi Ele” | 7 | New outfits and choreography; black, white and red graphics |
| 4 | Cambodia | Monetrey | “I Let You Go” | 2 | Solo under a spotlight; gold and black; no LED graphics in the clip |
All four came through a national selection under the same rule, section 8.1 of the voting terms: 40% domestic public vote, 40% jury and 20% Rest of World online vote. The Grand Final changes that to 50% jury and 50% public, with the Rest of World folded into the public half and no jury of its own.
| Country | Broadcaster | National selection | Date | Field |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bhutan | BBS | Rhythm of Bhutan | 11 August | 5 acts |
| Laos | VTE9 | Sieng Lao: The One (artist chosen internally) | 24 September | Song selection |
| Bangladesh | NTV | Voice of Bangladesh | 30 September | 10 acts |
| Cambodia | TV5 | Cambodia’s Finest Voice | 17 October | 7 acts |
The order follows Eurovoix’s rehearsal reports and the timing of the organisers’ posts. The final slots are the official running order, published on 29 October. Our running-order analysis sets each slot against the betting.
Laos: Thinla brings a new look to “BAE”
Thinla was the first artist to complete a rehearsal on the Eurovision Asia stage. The organisers’ preview shows a performance built around dancers — at least four of them — and a bench-like prop. That is a clear change from the performance that won her the ticket in Laos. It fits what she said on 15 October, that the released version of “BAE” was only a demo.
Thinlamphone Mahavong was born in the Khong District of southern Laos and began her career in 2015 as Dork Ya Thinlamphone. VTE9 chose her internally, and the song came through the national show Sieng Lao: The One on 24 September. “BAE” was written by DonutDropIt, Johan Gustafsson, Rebbi James, Sam Intharaphithak and Thinla herself. Her rehearsal clip drew the most likes of the four day-one clips on the organisers’ Instagram: about 6,400 when we checked on the morning of 9 November.
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Bhutan: Nyendra keeps it solo, in the gho
Nyendra was the second act on stage. He wears the gho, the traditional national dress for men in Bhutan, in front of a mountainscape that places the song in the Himalayas. As at Rhythm of Bhutan, he performs alone. The organisers’ follow-up interview noted that Bangkok was his first day outside Bhutan, ever.
Thukten Nyendra is a 24-year-old singer-songwriter from Thimphu. His song “Oh No!” went viral locally in 2024. On 11 August he won BBS’s Rhythm of Bhutan, the first sanctioned national final of the whole Eurovision Asia season, with “Lhayi Semo” (“The Angel”), beating four other acts. He sings fifth in the final. Our report from that night has the full result.
Nyendra at Rhythm of Bhutan in August. Official image, Eurovision Song Contest Asia.
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Bangladesh: Beatmosphere update the look
Beatmosphere were third on stage. Their snippet shows new outfits and new choreography, with stage graphics in black, white and red. The group grew out of Beatbox Bangladesh, which Moktadir Dewan and Ronesh Biswas started in 2014. They formed as an a cappella and beatbox group in 2015. They won NTV’s first Voice of Bangladesh on 30 September, against nine other acts.
“Tumi Ele” (“You came”) is credited to Mahi Bin Ashraful, Khandaker Shams, Moktadir Dewan and Ishtiyak Zobayer as writers, with Sidratul Mursalin Bhasha among the composers. They sing seventh, the middle slot of the eleven.
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Cambodia: Monetrey strips it back
Cambodia went fourth. Monetrey stands alone in gold and black, with simple spotlight staging, and the clip shows no LED graphics behind him. It is the most minimal of the four. That is a deliberate choice for a ballad, and one that leaves all the weight on the voice.
Monetrey won Cambodia’s Finest Voice live from Phnom Penh on 17 October, the last of the eleven national selections. The vote there was 40% Cambodian public, 40% jury and 20% international online vote. “I Let You Go” is sung in Khmer, English and French, and he performs second, straight after Vietnam opens the show.
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Eurovision Asia rehearsals and the odds: what the markets did
None of the four day-one acts is priced to win. In Polymarket’s winner market, read about 01:47 UTC on 9 November, Laos is the highest at 5.5%, and Cambodia, Bhutan and Bangladesh are each 0.1%. The movement came in the Top 3 market, which asks whether each country reaches the podium:
| Country | Winner (mid) | Top 3 (mid) | Top 3 bid / offer | Polymarket one-day change, Top 3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Laos | 5.5% | 27.5% | 13 / 42 | +11.5 points |
| Cambodia | 0.1% | 13.0% | 9 / 17 | −4.5 points |
| Bhutan | 0.1% | 7.5% | 5 / 10 | −1.5 points |
| Bangladesh | 0.1% | 6.1% | 2.4 / 9.8 | +3 points |
Read Laos’s jump with care. The quote runs from 13c to 42c, the last Top 3 trade on Laos is 12c, and the whole Top 3 book has taken about $11.9K. A move like that needs very little money. Still, it is the market’s first response to a rehearsal clip, and it went in Thinla’s favour. Cambodia’s small fall after the most minimal staging of the day is the mirror image.
One oddity in the split books: Bhutan is 7.8% in the jury market, the third-highest price there, behind only Malaysia and the Philippines. It rests on a 3c bid against a 12.7c offer, with about $80 ever traded on the line. Nobody has bet that price; one market-maker has quoted it. A solo performance in national dress may appeal to juries, but the market has not committed money to that idea.
Social engagement is a weaker signal still, but it is the only crowd number available on day one. At about 02:00 UTC on 9 November, the organisers’ four rehearsal clips had roughly 6,400 likes for Thinla, 4,900 for Beatmosphere, 3,700 for Monetrey and 2,600 for Nyendra. Like counts reflect the size of each act’s existing following as much as the staging. They line up with the market only in that Laos leads both.
The full six-book picture, including Malaysia at 54.5%, is in our odds report from this morning.
What a first rehearsal can and cannot tell you
A first rehearsal shows the concept: who is on stage, what they wear, the props, and the screens behind them. It does not show the final camera script, which delegations refine all week, or how the vocal sounds in the arena, which the clips mostly hide. Short official clips are also edited to flatter. None of the four day-one acts has shown anything that changes its place in the pecking order. What the clips do show is that every delegation has spent money and thought on the Bangkok version of its song. That counts for something, given reports in October that the production budget had been cut.
Today’s seven: the contenders take the stage
The seven acts still to rehearse on 9 November include every country priced above 5.5% to win:
| Final slot | Country | Act | Song | Winner (mid, 9 Nov) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Vietnam | Tóc Tiên | “EM TIÊN” | 8.1% |
| 4 | Mongolia | Beck | “Chamguigeer (Without You)” | 0.2% |
| 6 | Philippines | CARMELLE | “Sobra-Sobra” | 25.0% |
| 8 | Thailand | MANG x DAOU | “Aroma” | 4.5% |
| 9 | South Korea | JUNHEE | “DEEP DIVE” | 1.2% |
| 10 | Nepal | Pratik Himal Rai | “Ananta Maya” | 8.0% |
| 11 | Malaysia | Aina Abdul | “Bluest Sky” | 54.5% |
Three things to watch. First, whether Aina Abdul’s staging matches the trailer she posted on 7 November without giving it away. Second, whether Tóc Tiên’s reworked “EM TIÊN” has the bigger techno drop she promised on 15 October. Third, how the host, MANG x DAOU, use a home stage they cannot win votes from at home. Under the voting rules, no one may vote for their own country.
The rest of Eurovision Asia week
- Monday 9 November: first rehearsals for Vietnam, Mongolia, the Philippines, Thailand, South Korea, Nepal and Malaysia.
- Friday 13 November: the Preview Show at the One Bangkok Forum, 20:30 ICT, open to ticket holders.
- Saturday 14 November: the Grand Final, 20:30 ICT (14:30 CET), on the Eurovision Song Contest YouTube channel and eleven national broadcasters. Hosts Woody Milintachinda and Cindy Bishop, with DARA and Jeff Satur as guest performers.
Viewing details for every country are in our guide to watching the Grand Final. Voting is free on the web at eurovisionasia.com/vote: eight free votes, spread across at least three countries, and none for your own. The Eurovision Asia hub tracks every country.
The organisers are posting a short clip of each first rehearsal on the official Eurovision Song Contest Asia Instagram account, with longer interviews on the ZOOP app. Thinla’s and Nyendra’s post-rehearsal interviews were already up on 8 November. Expect the same for today’s seven.
Sources
- Official rehearsal clips: Eurovision Song Contest Asia on Instagram, 8 November 2026. Rehearsal reports: Eurovoix (Laos, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Cambodia, 8 November; schedule, 9 November).
- Running order: Eurovision Song Contest Asia, 29 October 2026.
- Prices: Polymarket Gamma API, about 01:47 UTC on 9 November 2026, mids between best bid and offer.
18+. Prediction-market prices move quickly in rehearsal week; check the live board before acting.