RUSSIA

The Russian song was unveiled on March 11^th via its première during a news bulletin on Russian TV. Last year, Yuliya Samoylova had been chose to represent Russia with “Flame is burning”, but due to her blacklisting in the host country Ukraine, the entry was withdrawn. It was hinted that she would be back in 2018 and in January this was confirmed. Her song this year is called “I won’t break”

The colour scheme for the video is mainly white. The song intersperses footage of Yuliya between views of the moon, waves crashing and show capped mountains. Near the end of the song we see fiery volcanoes erupting. All the shots of Yuliya are from her shoulders up (Yuliya lost the function of her legs during childhood so usually sits in a wheelchair) even in the wide shot at the very end.

The song is much edgier and has more personality than last years cancelled attempt. This has a much louder and rockier sound, something that Yuliya is known for. The structure is pretty simple – we start with verse/chorus/verse/chorus. The chorus is very memorable with the repetition of the title and the use of the rhymes of emotion/ocean/motion. At the two minute mark there is a break from the pattern with the repetition of a very simple phrase which keeps repeating even though the last rendition of the chorus. The song ends with the repetition of the very first words of the song. During the choruses, the backing singers are very prominent.

This is afar better entry than last years attempt which was far too wet and saccharine and possibly wouldn’t have qualified or done very well. This though is far more interesting and although still has a connection to Yuliya and who she is, it is much more positive. The performance of this is much trickier to imagine and pin down. As I suggested she will need some singing support and I fear that her voice and diction could get tricky, especially if nerves kick in, but I feel that having 5 backing singers will leave her open to a lack of performance. I can almost imagine her with some interpretive dancers or acrobats to liven up the stage. They may also use a background screen or possibly use holograms or on screen editing. I would like to say this has a better chance of qualifying than last year being in semi2 but she is in the first half and could get overshadowed with a poor visual show.

ARTIST –  Yulia Samoylova

SONG – I won’t break

MUSIC - Leonid Gutkin, Netta Nimrodi, Arie Burshtein

LYRICS - Leonid Gutkin, Netta Nimrodi, Arie Burshtein