Russia 2019: All you need to know about Sergey Lazarev and his entry “Scream’
Every year the responsibility of Russias Eurovision participation is taken by two broadcasters on rotation basis annually. Channel One was responsible this year, to be followed by VGTRK next year .After weeks of rumors and dozens of reports Fans’ most anticipated official announcement of Sergey Lazarev as the next Russian representative at the 64th edition of Eurovision Song Contest became official as soon as the Russian broadcaster, Channel One confirmed that Sergey was chosen internally to represent once again the country. Sergey will be making his comeback with his song “Scream”
A few words about Sergey Lazarev
Sergey Lazarev was born in 1983 and is a celebrated Russian singer, actor and TV presenter. He started getting involved with drama and singing before the age of 10 as a member of a kids’ choir. When he was 14 he receives his first award foe participating in a Musical. Several awards followed music festivals for underaged while in 1996 he wins the first prize in the competition Bravo Bravissimo in Italy.
Later he becomes member of the group “Neposedi” in which the years 1997-1999, Julia Volkova and Lena Katina, aka t.A.T.u (Esc 2003 Russia) were members too before making their own group. At the age of 17, Sergey formed the group Smash!! along his friend Vlad Topalov. The group had won in 2002 the first prize at the New Wave Festival in Jūrmala while in 2003 the released a cover of George Michael’s super hit “Faith. At the end of 2004 Smash!! split up at the peak of their success, hereafter Sergey Lazarev pursued a solo career.
His first solo album Don’t Be Fake became a bestseller. After his first album’s success he released his second album entitled “Tv Show“, which included the hit “Shattered Dreams” meeting great success in the U.K με το οποίο έκανε επιτυχία και στο Ηνωμένο Βασίλειο. In 2010 Sergey signed a record contract with Sony Music Entertainment. The same year he releases his 3rd album entitled “Electric Touch” . In 2013, 2017 and 2018 he went on with new albums that met major success.
Regarding his career in Theater , in 1999 he attended a school of drama and as a student he took part in the play “Romeo and Juliet” as the first role . For his debut role as Romeo he won an award in the category “Best Love Scene“. In 2004 he graduated from the Moscow Art Theatre while as a professional actor he came back to the theater scene by taking part in several musicals. In 2005 he wins 5 theatrical awards by his participating in the known musical “Lend me a tenor“.
Sergey won the most prestigious music and theater awards in Russia. In 2015 Sergey Lazarev won all possible Russian music awards, including the First Russian National Music Award as the Best Singer of the Year. The tickets for his 2016 tour The Best in more than 55 cities in Russia were sold out almost immediately after announcement.
Sergey Lazarev tried to participate at the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest when he competed in the Russian national final with his entry Flyer, but lost out to Dima Bilan who went on to represent Russia in Belgrade and gave Russia its 1st Eurovision victory.
In 2016 he was selected via an internal selection in order to fly the Russian flag at the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest in Stockholm with the entry You’re the only one and despite topping the televoting scoreboard he finished in the overall results in third place.
The entry “Scream”
The song that Sergey Lazarev will perform in Tel Aviv representing Russia and will be marking his 2nd Eurovision participation is entitled Scream. Sergey Lazarev isn’t returning alone but he is be back with the whole so called Dream Team that was behind his first Eurovision participation and entry You’re the only one. Namely, Philipp Kirkorov and Dimitris Kontopoulos are signing the composition of the song, while the lyrics are written by Mary Sharon Vaughn. Fokas Evangelinos will be responsible of the staging while the man on the vocals will be once again Alex Panayi and part of the creative team Ilias Kokotos.
The videoclip was directed by Konstantin Cherepkov. His song has been recorded in Moscow with the Moscow Philarmonic Orchestra at the Mosfilm Music Studios.
The four names of the acts that will be backing up vocally Sergey Lazarev during his performance of the Russian Eurovision 2019 entry ” Scream” have been unveiled. Adam Svensson, Jennie Jahns, Eric Segerstedt and Simon Lingmert will be the four backing vocalists on the Eurovision stage alongside with Sergey next May in Tel Aviv. Adam Svensson has served as a backing vocalist in Melodifestivalen and Simon Lingmert as well. On the hand, Eric Segerstedt has participated in Melodifestivalen, as member of EMD back in 2009, and alongside with Tone Damli as a duet in 2013. However, only Jennie Jahns has experienced the Eurovision stage in the past as part of Azerbaijan’s delegation.
Sergey Lazarev – Scream
Music : Philip Kirkorov & Dimitris Kontopoulos
Lyric : Sharon Vaughn & Dimitris Kontopoulos
No, I can’t stay here longer
You cannot make me cry
So, I will leave you to wonder
What will become of our lives
I’ll swallow hard, fall apart
Break and bleed but you won’t see
Tears won’t fall
While pride stands tall
Maybe they can’t be heard or seen
But tears aren’t quiet things
They scream, they scream, oh
They scream, oh
Though my throat is on fire
My eyes will be liars
And they’ll try to stay drier
Until you turn away
I’ll swallow hard, fall apart
Break and bleed but you won’t see
Tears will fall, I hear them all
They scream (Scream, they scream)
They scream, oh
Not so silent and innocent
Acid rain from your fingerprints
Echoes, rivers of loneliness
Hitting the walls of my heart
They scream, oh (Not so silent and innocent, acid rain from your fingerprints)
They scream, oh (Echoes, rivers of loneliness, hitting the walls of my heart)
The Eurovision Sotry so far
Russia debuted in Eurovision in 1994 and has gone on to be one of the most successful countries in the contest. Since the mid-00s Russia has had a string of strong results including their first and only victory in 2008. Dima Bilan won the contest in Belgrade, Serbia with the song “Believe” taking the contest to Moscow in the following year. In 2015 and 2016, Russia finished in 2nd and 3rd place respectively in the final.
Julia Samoylova represented Russia in the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest with the song I won’t break. She was also selected to compete in the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest as a representative of Russia with the song A flame is burning, however due to some problems with the Ukrainian authorities, the country decided to withdraw ahead of the competition.
