Amid immense hype, Sergey Lazarev revealed “Scream” – his entry for Eurovision 2019 – back in March. Amid mounting expectations for his staging, Sergey has performed the song on Channel One’s Evening Urgant show. The star will soon be heading to Tel Aviv ahead of his first rehearsal next week.
Having missed most of the major Eurovision pre-parties (sans Moscow), most fans are still unaware of what Sergey has in store for Tel Aviv. Responding to the reaction to his entry, Sergey said “in the situation with Scream, everything is the same [as 2016]. Some were taken to hostility, others were liked, goosebumps, it’s a beautiful epic ballad.”
Regarding speculation about his staging, he said the following:
I admit, we had a deliberate move to make an “unformatted” song that will stand out from the others presented at Eurovision, because there must be uniqueness in the song. It must be what distinguishes it from others. In fact, she is a soundtrack to any blockbuster, but you will see the performance will be more epic than movies.
Sergey talking about his staging for Scream
Who is Sergey Lazarev?
Sergey Vyacheslavovich Lazarevis a Russian singer, dancer and actor. He was a child prodigy, winning awards by the age of 14. He rose to fame as a member of the group Smash!!. Following the group’s split in 2006, he has singer pursued a successful solo career. In 2008, he took part in the Russian national final in 2008 with his song “Flyer”. By the time he made it to Eurovision 2016 in Stockholm, he had already released four studio albums.
Sergey is again working with the “Dream Team”: composer Dimitris Kontopoulos, choreographer Fokas Evangelinos, vocal coach Alex Panayi and Russian superstar Philipp Kirkorov. Together, they are hoping to surpass his success from the 2016 contest.
Russia at the Eurovision Song Contest
Russia has been struggling at Eurovision over the past two years. In 2017 they were forced to withdraw and in 2018 they failed to qualify to the final, for the first time since the introduction of the semifinals.
Before this Russia was one of the heavyweights of the contest. Russia won the contest in 2008, when Dima Bilan represented the country with “Believe”. They also finished second three times, in 2006, 2012 and 2015.
In 2016, Sergey represented Russia with the song “You Are the Only One“. He qualified to the final from the first semifinal and won the semifinal by getting almost 100 points more than Armenia on the second place. In the final, Russia won the televote with 361 points. However, after placing only sixth with the juries, their final result was third place.
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