RUSSIA

The Russian entry was unveiled on March 8th with the video being premiered on youtube. A month earlier it was revealed that 2015 runner up Sergey Lazarev would once again be representing the country. His song is called “Scream”.

The video is reminiscent of fairy and folk takes. The very start looks like a cross between the BBC2 show “Arena” titles and “In the night garden”. Although there are different actors in the scenes there is also the use of shadow puppetry, animations and slow motion camera work. In between these shots we see Sergey singing the song passionately. Thereare lots of fighting dragons, running from danger, swords and shield and saving maidens in distress. The whole thing is quite dark and mysterious which fits with the tone of the song.

The song is heavily orchestrated and it is very clear that the use of a proper orchestra in the recording gives this a highly emotional and dramatic feeling. The start is very small and quiet, the first verse being very understated, low in tone and almost talkative. This goes into the pre-chorus which is basically a staircase of notes, with the tune doing a set of scales up and down. Then starts the chorus which is basically the word ‘scream’ elongated over the whole sequence then repeated again, which is a little disappointing considering the amount of effort it has taken to get to this point. There is then another verse, pre-chorus and chorus followed by what almost feels like false finish. There is then a mini coda section where Sergey sings in unison with what sounds like himself and this part really sounds more interesting than everything that has gone before. He does a lat chorus by the harmonised singing keeps going. This idea should have been picked up earlier in the song instead of leaving it right at the end.

Overall I feel every so lightly disappointed at this entry. Although the music is beautiful and extremely well structured the lyrics are terribly underwhelming. In particular I find the fire/liar/drier rhyme rather strange and I think the phrasing is a little odd. It’s almost like they have picked key words, put them together in a way that makes a bit of sense but most of all has the most emphasis. But most of all, the one word chorus is a let down.

That all said, we know from his previous attempt at winning Eurovision, Sergey can sing and we also know he can cope very well indeed with intricate and complex staging so the whole package will provide a lot of unforgettable drama which might overshadow some of its lyrical misgivings.

This will qualify with no problem whatsoever but he needs to be warned that in a semi with plenty of male ballads he might have to up his game to make sure his entry is not diluted by everything around him. This is good but I am also equally disappointed at the same time.

ARTIST – Sergey Lazarev

SONG – Scream

MUSIC -  Philip Kirkorov, Dimitris Kontopoulos

LYRICS - Sharon Vaughn, Dimitris Kontopoulos