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
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