Russia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016

Eurovision Song Contest 2016
Country  Russia
National selection
Selection process Internal Selection
Selection date(s) Artist: 10 December 2015
Song: 5 March 2016
Selected entrant Sergey Lazarev
Selected song "You Are the Only One"
Selected songwriter(s) Philipp Kirkorov
Dimitris Kontopoulos
John Ballard
Ralph Charlie
Russia in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄2015 • 2016

Russia will participate in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016 with the song "You Are the Only One" written by Philipp Kirkorov, Dimitris Kontopoulos, John Ballard and Ralph Charlie. The song will be performed by Sergey Lazarev who was internally selected by the Russian broadcaster All-Russia State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company (VGTRK) to compete at the 2016 contest in Stockholm, Sweden. Lazarev's appointment as the Russian representative was announced on 10 December 2015, while the song, "You Are the Only One", was presented to the public on 5 March 2016.

Background

Prior to the 2016 Contest, Russia had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest nineteen times since its first entry in 1994.[1] Russia had won the contest on one occasion in 2008 with the song "Believe" performed by Dima Bilan. Russia's least successful result has been 17th place, which they have achieved in the 1995 contest with the song "Kolybelnaya dlya vulkana" performed by Philipp Kirkorov. Following the introduction of semi-finals for the 2004 contest, Russia has, to this point, managed to qualify to the final on every occasion. In 2015, Russia was the runner-up at the Eurovision Song Contest, placing second with the song "A Million Voices" performed by Polina Gagarina.

For the 2016 Contest, the Russian national broadcaster, All-Russia State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company (VGTRK), will broadcast the event within Russia and organise the selection process for the nation's entry. Since 2008, the Russian participation in the contest alternates between two broadcasters: Channel One Russia and VGTRK. VGTRK confirmed their intention to participate at the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest on 30 September 2015.[2] Russia has used various methods to select the Russian entry in the past, including national finals and internal selections. Since 2013, both Russian broadcasters have been selecting the Russian entry through an internal selection, a method that was continued for their 2016 participation.

Before Eurovision

Internal selection

On 10 December 2015, VGTRK announced that they had internally selected Sergey Lazarev to represent Russia in Stockholm.[3] The announcement occurred during the First Russian National Music Awards, where Sergey Lazarev was named "Singer of the Year".[3] Lazarev's selection as the Russian representative was decided upon by the editorial board of VGTRK with the executive entertainment producer of the Russia-1 channel, Gennady Gokhshtein, revealing that a song produced by Philipp Kirkorov had also been selected.[4] Lazarev previously attempted to represent Russia at the Eurovision Song Contest in 2008, placing fourth in the national final with the song "Flyer". Russian media later reported that Lazarev would work with Kirkorov and Dimitris Kontopoulos in order to create his contest song, while choreographer Fokas Evangelinos was selected to develop the stage presentation for the entry.[5] Kirkorov previously represented Russia in 1995 as well as composed the 2007 Belarusian entry, the 2008 Ukrainian entry and the 2014 Russian entry, while Kontopoulos had previously collaborated with Kirkorov on all of his composing efforts in addition to composing the 2009 Greek entry and the 2013 Azerbaijani entry.

The Russian song, "You Are the Only One", was presented to the public on 5 March 2016 through the release of the official music video on YouTube.[6] The music video, directed by Konstantin Cherepkov, features Miss Universe Russia 2015 Vladislava Evtushenko.[7] "You Are the Only One" was composed by Philipp Kirkorov and Dimitris Kontopoulos, with lyrics by John Ballard and Ralph Charlie; Ballard and Charlie previously co-wrote the lyrics for the 2013 Azerbaijani entry and the 2014 Russian entry. The song was also presented on the same day during the Russia-1 evening news programme Vesty v Subbotu.[8]

Promotion

In the months prior to his performance in the Eurovision Song Contest, Sergey Lazarev took part in a concert tour of Russia where he performed "You Are the Only One" for the first time during his concert in Kursk on 20 March 2016.[9] A performance of the song was also presented to the Russian audience for the first time during the Russia-1 programme Tantsi so zvezdami on 27 March.[10] On 3 April, Lazarev performed during the Eurovision Pre-Party, which was held at the Izvestia Hall in Moscow and hosted by Dmitry Guberniev.[11]

Sergey Lazarev also made several appearances across Europe to specifically promote "You Are the Only One" as the Russian Eurovision entry. Between 11 and 13 April, Lazarev took part in promotional activities in Tel Aviv, Israel and performed during the Israel Calling event held at the Ha'teatron venue.[12] Between 13 and 14 April, Lazarev took part in promotional activities and provided interviews in Malta.[13][14] On 17 April, Lazarev completed promotional activities in Belgrade, Serbia and recorded a performance for the talk show programme Veče sa Ivanom Ivanovićem, which aired on Prva Srpska Televizija on 18 April.[15][16] On 18 April, Sergey Lazarev made promotional appearances in Athens, Greece where he attended a meet and greet during a party organized by the Oikotimes website and he performed during the MAD TV Madwalk 2016 music and fashion show, which was hosted by Despina Vandi.[17][18]

At Eurovision

Sergey Lazarev during a press meet and greet

According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big 5" (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom) are required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete for the final; the top ten countries from each semi-final progress to the final. The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) split up the competing countries into six different pots based on voting patterns from previous contests, with countries with favourable voting histories put into the same pot.[19] On 25 January 2016, a special allocation draw was held which placed each country into one of the two semi-finals, as well as which half of the show they would perform in. Russia was placed into the first semi-final, to be held on 10 May 2016, and was scheduled to perform in the first half of the show.[20]

Once all the competing songs for the 2016 contest had been released, the running order for the semi-finals was decided by the shows' producers rather than through another draw, so that similar songs were not placed next to each other. Russia was set to perform in position 9, following the entry from San Marino and before the entry from Czech Republic.[21]

The two semi-finals and the final will be broadcast in Russia on Russia-1 and Russia HD with commentary by Dmitry Guberniev and Ernest Mackevičius.[22]

Semi-final

Sergey Lazarev will take part in technical rehearsals on 2 and 6 May, followed by dress rehearsals on 9 and 10 May.[23] This includes the jury show on 9 May where the professional juries of each country will watch and vote on the competing entries.

The Russian performance features Sergey Lazarev performing in front of a projection screen that displays 3D images that Lazarev interacts with.[24][25] The stage presentation includes Lazarev posing, climbing and laying in the middle of the projection screen as various effects are displayed. Lazarev is dressed in a black costume and performs choreographed movements together with the backing performers, who are also dressed in black. The stage director for the performance was Fokas Evangelinos. On stage, Lazarev will be joined by three backing vocalists, Jennie Jahns, Alvaro Estrella and Johan D. Seil, and two dancers, Daniel Gill and Adam Svensson.[26]

Voting

Voting during the three shows will be conducted under a new system that will involve each country now awarding two sets of points from 1-8, 10 and 12: one from their professional jury and the other from televoting. Each nation's jury will consist of five music industry professionals who are citizens of the country they represent, with their names published before the contest to ensure transparency. This jury will judge each entry based on: vocal capacity; the stage performance; the song's composition and originality; and the overall impression by the act.[27] In addition, no member of a national jury was permitted to be related in any way to any of the competing acts in such a way that they cannot vote impartially and independently. The individual rankings of each jury member as well as the nation's televoting results will be released shortly after the grand final.[28]

Split voting results

The following five members will comprise the Russian jury:[27]

References

  1. ↑ "Russia Country Profile". EBU. Retrieved 12 February 2015.
  2. ↑ Jiandani, Sanjay (30 September 2015). "Russia: RTR confirms participation in Eurovision 2016". esctoday.com. Retrieved 10 December 2015.
  3. 1 2 Brey, Marco (10 December 2015). "Sergey Lazarev to represent Russia!". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 10 December 2015.
  4. ↑ "Сергей Лазарев может выступить на "Евровидении-2016" с песней Филиппа Киркорова". tass.ru. Russian News Agency TASS. 11 December 2015. Retrieved 11 December 2015.
  5. ↑ Garara, Zakaria (12 December 2015). "Russia: Dream Team to Collaborate on Sergey Lazarev's Song". wiwibloggs.com. Wiwibloggs. Retrieved 15 April 2016.
  6. ↑ Lazarev, Sergey. "Sergey Lazarev - You are the only one (Eurovision 2016 Russia)". YouTube. Sergey Lazarev. Retrieved 5 March 2016.
  7. ↑ Brey, Marco (5 March 2016). "Russia: "You Are The Only One" presented". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 15 April 2016.
  8. ↑ Granger, Anthony (15 February 2016). "Russia: Song Reveal Moved To March 5". eurovoix.com. Eurovoix. Retrieved 23 February 2016.
  9. ↑ Vasilyev, Mikhail (21 March 2016). "Russia: Sergey Lazarev slays in first live performance of "You Are The Only One"". wiwibloggs.com. Wiwibloggs. Retrieved 15 April 2016.
  10. ↑ Laufer, Gil (27 March 2016). "Russia: Sergey Lazarev performing his Eurovision entry on Dancing with the stars". esctoday.com. Esctoday.com. Retrieved 15 April 2016.
  11. ↑ Granger, Anthony (3 April 2016). "Tonight: Russian Eurovision Pre-Party". eurovoix.com. Eurovoix. Retrieved 7 April 2016.
  12. ↑ Roxburgh, Gordon (14 April 2016). "First ever preview party held in Israel". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 14 April 2016.
  13. ↑ "Лазарев отменил выступления из-за проблем со здоровьем". dni.ru (in Russian). Dni.ru. 13 April 2016. Retrieved 15 April 2016.
  14. ↑ Montebello, Edward (14 April 2016). "Interview: Sergey Lazarev speaks about coming together!". escxtra.com. escXtra. Retrieved 15 April 2016.
  15. ↑ Pribak, Nenad (18 April 2016). "Sergej Lazarev govori za OGAE Srbija". evropesma.org (in Serbian). OGAE Serbia. Retrieved 18 April 2016.
  16. ↑ "Veče sa Ivanom Ivanovićem i muškarcima - No.308". prva.rs (in Serbian). Prva Srpska Televizija. 18 April 2016. Retrieved 18 April 2016.
  17. ↑ Konstantopoulos, Fotis (29 March 2016). "Meet & Greet με την Έλενα και τον Sergey στην Αθήνα". avmag.gr (in Greek). Antivirus Magazine. Retrieved 15 April 2016.
  18. ↑ "Το No1 φαβορί της Eurovision, Sergey Lazarev, μόλις έφτασε στην Ελλάδα για το Madwalk 2016 By Aperol Spritz!". mad.tv (in Greek). MAD TV. 14 April 2016. Retrieved 15 April 2016.
  19. ↑ Jordan, Paul (21 January 2016). "Semi-Final Allocation Draw on Monday, pots revealed". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 25 January 2016.
  20. ↑ Jordan, Paul (25 January 2016). "Allocation Draw: The results!". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 25 January 2016.
  21. ↑ Jordan, Paul (8 April 2016). "Running order of the Semi-Finals revealed". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 8 April 2016.
  22. ↑ Belikova, Ekaterina (5 May 2016). "Лайфу стали известны имена российских комментаторов конкурса "Евровидение-2016"". life.ru (in Russian). Life.ru. Retrieved 6 May 2016.
  23. ↑ "Media Activities" (PDF). eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 3 May 2016.
  24. ↑ Brey, Marco (2 May 2016). "First day of rehearsals at the Globe Arena". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 3 May 2016.
  25. ↑ Nilsson, Helena (6 May 2016). "Day 5 at the Globe Arena". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 6 May 2016.
  26. ↑ Jiandani, Sanjay (27 February 2016). "Russia: Sergey Lazarev presents his International Dream Team". esctoday.com. Esctoday.com. Retrieved 15 April 2016.
  27. 1 2 "Here are the judges for Eurovision 2016!". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. 29 April 2016. Retrieved 29 April 2016.
  28. ↑ Jordan, Paul (18 February 2016). "Biggest change to Eurovision Song Contest voting since 1975". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 18 February 2016.

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