Russia – After years of rumours, Russia has finally chosen Sergey Lazarev to represent it at Eurovision. The announcement was made this evening on the Russian National Music Awards where he won the best singer category.
Lazarev said on his Instagram account:
“Dear friends! I am really happy and honored to represent my country at the Eurovision Song Contest 2016! I am looking forward to this exciting experience and I hope you will all love my song as much as I do. Wish me luck! Thank you.”
Sergey Vyacheslavovich Lazarev (Серге́й Вячеславович Лазарев) is a singer, dancer and actor born in Moscow. He is most famous for his singing career, when he rose to fame as the dark-haired member of the group Smash!! Signed by Universal Music, they became the biggest Russian pop group in 2002–2003. The duo had five #1 hits, numerous awards and sold millions of records in Russia, CIS and East Asia (including Hong Kong, Taiwan, Thailand). The group broke up in 2006.
Since then Lazarev has pursued a solo career. In 2006 Sergey took part in Russia’s “Dancing on Ice”, coming in 2nd. In 2008 he appeared in the reality “Circus of the Stars” winning the first place for his performance.
What do you think to Russia’s choice? Will it be Sochi 2017?
The Eurovision Times 
The only thing I care about is that he does not win – and thankfully I heard he is not a good live singer.
“…he won the best singer award”
Best?! I wonder about the rest of the singers over there but I’m sure that there are many of them in entire Russia that are a lot better than him :P
Good luck though :)
Hola guapo, I agree, sounds like what British people call a “Guinness celebrity/singer” like the beer, a lot of froth (head) but not much substance, like in Catalan language “una persona de café amb llet” =café con leche, anyway sure he will be top 5, maybe I’ll find an ice skater for him as tomorrow I’m going to the Grand Prix Ice skating finals here in Barcelona , mientras tanto, hope to get your news soon! un abraç P x
They want to win it but let’s wait for the song first.I find the songs i’ve listened so far very underwhelming and not a good sign of what’s to come.Since he’s a better dancer than a singer i expect an up-tempo dance number and a huge show in stage.Good luck!
Oh my … This season hasn’t been promising so far. Just look at the Swiss and Belarussian finalists … and now this. :(
What a heck, are you informed that a walking LEGEND Kaliopi is flying macedonian flag in Stockholm??? :o
Hi Marko, I have high hopes for MAK too. I was referring to the songs we already know: Belarus, Switzerland and Malta (not Ira’s songs though). I haven’t listened to the Estonian hopefuls yet.
Lol, is this to confirm all prejudices you might have about Eastern European dance pop? The clips don’t sound promising at all, but he seems to be quite well-known and that would be enough to grant him a Top 10 I guess. But I’d say an Alla Pugatjeva is desperately needed from Russia now, instead of artists like these.
Good luck!
I think I need a dose of Pink Floyd or Bob Dylan after having heard these songs.
Cristina Branco, Nena Venetsanou or Pietra Montecorvino for me.
#SouthernEuropeCalling
Let’s stay in the folksy universe: Swedish-Finnish Hedningarna.
#NorthernEuropeCalling
Hello Northern Europe. :)
BaWü = We are the South (That was our tourism slogan a couple of years ago …)
<3
This is the real stuff. Get lost, Plastic Sergey!
Ok, #EasternEuropeCalling so there :P
LOL Great stuff … but alas I had a bit too much of it. I did my A levels in music in grammar school and still suffer from an overexposure to Mussorgsky. :)
My favourite ESC-related song from Russia (from the NF 2010):
This is not so much me, I must admit. Not a bad song, but a bit too soft or smoothy for me.
Well, Russia isn’t known for great stuff in ESC after all. In fact, when I think of it, Russia is the ESC equivalent to FLI in FdlC. I hope that Mr. Putin won’t read this. It is still a 9/12 on my list. :)
It’s a shame. It’s the country who gave us Tchaikovsky, Shostakovich, Rimsky-Korsakov etc.
I still love “Primadonna” though. I know you are not so fond of it.
I loooooooved Rimsky-Korsakov when I was young. He was my first love in classical music. :) Shostakovich and Stravinsky are my favourite Russian composers now.
As for “Primadonna” … I do like the song but alas I don’t like Alla P. :(
Fair enough :-)
Speaking of Russian music: This is what Tchaikovsky sounds like when played by a renaissance orchestra:
LOL
Btw, I have always kept a distance when it comes to Tchaikovsky because he belongs to my sister. :)
#NorthernEuropeCalling #EasternEuropeCalling
Brother of my great- great- grandfather. :)
I feel very honoured to know you now. :)
Is it Finnish they are singing in?
Ah, it turned out to be Estonian, but it’s very close to Finnish anyway.
I often say that Mr. Kreek did pimp the original Gregorian chant with some symphonic elements and Estonian folksy flavours.
Hottest female voice around:
Listening to the other song atm. Beautiful :-)
I still try to introduce you to music from further south. :)
Very rusty. A bit of Gianna Naninni in it?
Indeed. But folk from Naples instead of rock. :)
Btw, Pietra loves to smoke while singing … :)
A bad habit, but it sometimes makes great art.
You could actually do really well with this one in the nostalgia edition. :P
And here’s Milva singing Thanos Mikroutsikos in Greek: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfvAH4kyEZw
My comment further down was supposed to be a reply to your Milva post. :)
The Diva. :) She was huuuge in Germany in the 80s. Btw, do you like Nena Venetsanou? And another btw … what do I need to do in order to post a link instead of the YT clip. (Excuse me but I am on the wrong side of 40 … LOL)
Yes,even though i’m not really familiar with her music.I really liked the song you posted.You just add the youtube link without clicking on the enter button first. :P
Thanks. Test:
Didn’t work … I must have got Dimitri wrong. LOL
G’night everyone. :)
It didn’t work.lol.The important thing is to check that the youtube link is on the same line with what you’ve written before.If it appears on the next line then the whole video will apppear on your post.
Test: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3r_hWAUK74
YEEESSSS. I got it. :) This day hasn’t been wasted.
I need to go to bed now. Good night.
Will wait for the song, but it seems Youddiph will remain as my favorite Russian entry ever for another year.
Good luck, Russia, and please send Youddiph in the future if she’s not busy with anything. ;-)
I’d rather a fluffy pop song than yet another super-dramatic ballad about peace from Russia, tbh. I quite enjoyed Russia 2011 and 2012, as silly as they were.
Grete Paia’s official audio:
love the mysterious verses but the chorus is somewhat of a letdown. i do think this will do well maybe even win. btw i heard the semi finals of EL this year wont have an audience because they are planning something special and then the final will be huge.
Oh,really?I didn’t know that.I agree on Grete’s song.Very nice verses and a lukewarm chorus.For now,i think i prefer Laura’s “Supersonic”.It’s worth noting that the 2 Sven Lohmus songs sound alike.The exact same style.But i believe Laura’s entry is a bit edgier.
“love the mysterious verses but the chorus is somewhat of a letdown”
SO TRUE!
sounds a lot like Sia’s Fire Meet Gasoline IMO.
It’s not “Päästke noored hinged” but it’s good enough. The whole theme is really good and quirky, it has the fairytale feel “Rockfeller Street” had. Sven Lohmus loves a bit of a fairytale mystery obviously.
It’s definitely not the best song of the line-up.Nice verses and an underwhelming chorus,imo.I prefer Laura’s song.What i like about Sven Lohmus songs is that his lyrics although a bit mainstream they’re always well-thought.I believe it’s worth mentioning it.
I agree about Sven’s lyrics. I would say my favourite at this point is “Play” from this year’s line up with Laura 2nd and Greta 3rd.
Unfortunately,Grete is 5th in my ranking atm.I prefer,Play,Seis,Ultrasonic and Strong by Anett Kulbin.I hope our friend from New York won’t read this comment.lol
http://escbubble.com/2015/12/stephanie-palazzo-disqualified-from-the-swiss-final/
LOL The only decent song …
Oh, the only song I kinda liked. :(
Does that mean we’ll get more Swiss cheese instead?
Have you listened to the replace song?It’s not that bad. :D
Please, Niclas, consider entering FdlC11; you will be missed if you don’t ;)
It’s a special nostalgia edition :)
You say so? Well, maybe then since it is nostalgia.
And Sweden is still up for grabs ;)
Eesti Laul song #13 Go Away Bird-Sally:
Hmm, I think this could be my favourite out of all Eesti Laul entries so far. My biggest concern is that this sounds very much like a pure radio song. I wonder how they will deliver it on stage.
wanted to add 30 year anniversary of Strawberry Switchblade song in Uk (and abroad), video of song was quite famous in 1985 at the time and also song (video is still considered a masterpiece today in terms of music videos), and besides, may have repercussions for Uk 2016 , watch this space :-)
I can see him performing standard Swedish song and doing well!! For me he is an artist in the same cathegory with Måns Zelmerlöw …..
IMO Mumiy Troll was the most outstanding entrant from Russia! I think BI 2 would be an epic choice from Russia for me……
I do not really care about glossy plastic. Good luck, Russia.
I’m… cautiously excited about this. Sure, it’s not gonna be high art, but it’ll hopefully be a fun step up from the ridiculous ballads of the last three years and the baking grannies of 2012. Good luck, Russia!
Update: Good bye, excitement.
Off topic. According to a post by HOD of Armenian delegation Iveta nearly was ignored by local composers! Shame….. And most likely song’s structrure willb be “from midtempo to uptempo”!
Oh my!It gets worse!Dimitris Kontopoulos and Philip Kirkorov are behind Sergey’s song.Responsible for the stage direction will be Fokas Evagelinos(Greece 04,05,09,Russia 08,Ukraine 08,Belarus 07,Azerbaijan 13,Russia 14).
http://esctoday.com/107320/russia-kirkorov-kontopoulos-and-fokas-behind-sergeys-entry/
Ugh and watch them get another Top 10 spot. :-/
Well I watched “Take It Off”, and my only reactions was “…and I thought gay propaganda was forbidden in Russia”
LOL
And he isn’t even hot imo …
As for the artist, it is clearly not one I can connect with in any case. Can he sing live?
As for the song, it can go either way. Kirkorov and Kontopoulos have both written songs that I genuinely like and songs that I don’t like at all. So I haven’t lost all hope just yet.
We’ve listened to worse…
True but i don’t really enjoy listening to his voice nor his accent.On a side note,after i watched some of his live videos,i can say that with both Deen and Sergey in the contest,we’re propably heading to one of the gayest contests in years. :)
He’s a bit boring as a singer, but at least he is not off-key like XXL or Double Date.
Oops. That should have been a reply to Dimitris.
I very much doubt that he will be singing still at ESC. Not with what Focas has in mind.
Shirtless he is quite the eye candy, but in this video where he tries to put on a show, the singing is pretty atrocious:
lo!He’s a more muscled version of Dima Bilan.However,Dima is a better singer.
Agree with Morgan that Take It Off vid clearly breaches propaganda rules lol.
Still quite fun and catchy and disagreee with Toggie, he’s quite hot tbf
Celebrate diversity!
I quite enjoying his song actually as I heard its snippet in Eurovision Ideals in Youtubesphere. He looks hot.
I prefer Dima!
Good Luck