He scored the most points in the public vote back in 2016, claiming to be the public’s winner, Sergey Lazarev is set to make a comeback to the Eurovision Song Contest, this year. After wowing us with a mighty LED wall that he climbed whilst singing the awesomely catchy song “You Are The Only One”, could Russia be on for winning Eurovision 2019?
Sergey Lazarev is a massive household name in Russia and has been for a number of years. He’s mostly known for representing Russia at the Eurovision Song Contest 2016, as we have stated, with the song “You Are The Only One” where he came third behind Australia’s Dami Im with “Sound Of Silence” (second) and Ukraine’s Jamala with “1944” (winner). Since then, he has been building up his career, releasing some incredible tracks which show off his vocal skills and his dedication to music overall, as well as an unforgettable collaboration with Dima Bilan, who represented Russia at Eurovision in 2006 and 2008, coming second in the former with the song “Never Let You Go” and winning in the latter with the song “Believe”. Could Sergey Lazarev follow suit and make 2019 his win?
Well, if his 2015 performance is anything to go by, Sergey Lazarev is prepared to bring his all on stage. He lacked in jury points, back then, so we’re sure he’ll bring a better song that truly shows off his vocal range, this year, whilst also giving us an unforgettable stage performance – or so we hope.
Russia failed to make it through to the Grand Final last year, where their representative was Julia Samoylova, who placed 15th in her Semi-Final with the song “I Won’t Break”. The country hopes to qualify this year, and with bringing back Sergey Lazarev, they’re guaranteed to go through – they may even win. With only one win behind them, over their 20 years of competing, Russia hopes 2008 repeats itself and they claim the top spot, like they did when Dima Bilan won for them with “Believe”.
To win, Sergey Lazarev will have to gain the most points out of all 42 competing entries. Announced acts so far are Srbuk for Armenia, Tamta for Cyprus, Jonida Maliqi for Albania, Eliot for Belgium, Miki for Spain, Serhat for San Marino, Duncan Laurence for The Netherlands, Tamara Todevska for FYR Macedonia, Michela Pace for Malta, Bilal Hassani for France, Lake Malawi for the Czech Republic, PÆNDA for Austria, Darude feat. Sebastian Rejman for Finland. and Michael Rice for the United Kingdom. The other countries are expected to reveal their acts in the forthcoming months.
The 2019 Eurovision Song Contest will be hosted at the Expo Tel Aviv in Israel after Netta won last year with the song “Toy”. The two Semi-Finals will take place on 14 May and 16 May with the Grand Final taking place on 18 May. A total of 42 countries will compete in the contest.