RUSSIA

The Russian act and song were revealed on March 12th via a news report of Channel 1. The country was almost silent about its Eurovision participation throught the selection window and the publication of the video was a little known almost until the day of broadcast. Yulia Samoylova will sing the song “Flame is burning”

The video is shot in a studio with Yulia on a large stage with an enthusiastic studio audience. Yulia is on a plinth centre stage with video screens all around her and underneath. Yulia is a wheelchair user and therefore does not movefrom the spot. Most of the visual dynamic of the piece is made by the different camera angles and the video screen. Most of the screen shots are of the top half of her body or head shots, however there are also some far away shots which show the stage really well but makes Yulia look like a tiny dot on a huge stage. On the other hand, with a creative 360 degree view they could come up with something very interesting and eye catching.

The song is a typical peace ballad with an anthemic chorus. The verses are quite fast and wordy, to the point where you really have to listen so you don’t miss the lyrics. The chorus is much calmer and memorable and she also has the support of the backing singers to emphasise the title of the song. The whole thing feels much better during the second verse as the drum beat is trsonger and seems to fit better with the meaning of the song. Around the 2:10 mark there is a nice interlude/bridge part with a much more intricate beat. This leads into the last chorus and the song slips back down into predictability again.

This is a very tough one to call. This is Russia, so it has lots of neighbours and culturally close countries who will vote for them. Russia also have a 100% qualification record from semi to final which I am sure they would want to uphold. There will also be a proportion of the viewership that might vote for this as a sympathy or solidarity vote due to her disability. On the other hand, her diction is very bad during the verses and the song writing itself is full of over used rhymes and the structure is far too predictable.

Personally, I think there are 10 better songs than this in semi-final 2 and if this was anybody else but Russia this would be an open and shut case of DNQ. The broadcaster has tried to distance itself from the political situation between Russia and Ukraine by sending a peace ballad by a singer with physical disabilities. Although this might stifle any booing and personal comments towards the Russian delegation (which has happened in the last few contests towards the Russian acts) it won’t stop people talking about how political Eurovision is no matter if this song does or does not qualify.

ARTIST - Yulia Samoylova

SONG - Flame is burning

MUSIC - Leonid Gutkin, Netta Nimrodi, Arie Burshtein

LYRICS - Leonid Gutkin, Netta Nimrodi, Arie Burshtein