All change in Russia — or near enough, anyhow. With the reveal of the music video for their Junior Eurovision entry, Russia have made it apparent that Sofia Fisenko will no longer be the sole artist. Instead, she’s now the lead singer of the group Water of Life Project. The title of the song “Zhivaya voda” has been reborn as the more Anglicised “Water of Life“.
Water of Life Project – “Water of Life”
The decision to switch from a solo artist to a group entry comes as a surprise.
Sofia was the resounding victor in both the pre-contest online voting and at the Russian national final.
Perhaps nodding to her success and the will of the people, Sofia clearly remains the lead singer of the group, so she’s not been completely hard done by. She’s definitely the focus and we’d expect to see the same on stage in Malta.
Interestingly, as recently as yesterday Sofia’s Instagram account continued to show her performing the song solo.
Sofia didn’t need any help singing, but her fellow group members help push the song forward with a lot more power. We’re almost getting a Sympho-Nick vibe, albeit with less theatricality. We’ll assume that means the group will ditch the backing dancers who competed at the national final, which is likely for the best.
The song still serves tribal realness, though. The production seems a little tighter, but there’s no other notable changes to the music itself. The other big change comes in the final chorus, where the group now sings in English. This isn’t anything new for Russia at Junior Eurovision: both Mikhail Smirnov and Alisa Kozhikina did the same.
It looks like Russia are once again taking JESC very seriously. The music video is slick and polished — it really looks expensive. The girls sound good in harmony, so let’s hope this continues on stage in Valletta.
What do you think of the changes that Russia have made? Do you like the group, or do you wish that Sofia had gone solo to Malta? Let us know in the comments section below.
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I’d like to see the group release a version of the entire song in Russian (even if it’s not going to be performed at JESC). Also, what about something on the lines of “Sofia Fisenko + Co” (like 2010, with Peter Nalich and Friends) for the group?
she possess classic Ukrainian surname. maybe that’s the reason why Russians decided to pack her into group? to avoid daunting from Ukrainians who always tease Russians as voiceless and talentless when it comes to music? if solo Ukrainian girl will win, you can imagine what Ukrainians would say to congratulate Russians with their “victory” 🙂
Another thing I am getting tired of is the endless romantic love theme of the Russian JESC entries. After 3 years of dream related songs, there is another that could just as easily be called Dreaming or dreamer. And the lyrics are unforgivably cheesy–such as “look at me, [I am] living water” or “my little heart beats” (the form of the word heart used here is diminuitive) or “with you I am not afraid” addressed obviouly to the boy, who is object of her affection…. this is so out of date. And also sympthomatic that in a totalitarian state there… Read more »
Amazing song and much better than Russia’s adult Eurovision entry. This would be a well-deserved winner! 🙂
I really like it even better now and it’s likely I am going to roote for my country at Eurovision for the 2nd time this year.
@Polegend Godgarina
The comparison is a bit strange, isn’t it=))
I’m not bothered by the number of girls singing in the competition, but I’m slowly starting to be fed up with those “we are stars, we are shining” lyrics. Especially that I can see NOTHING about stars in the original lyrics (correct me if I’m wrong). I would prefer a purely Russian version. Other than that, it’s one of my favourites so far and I like the voice harmonies in the revamp.
They are my favourite now!
It seem’s they basically added backing vocalist to Sofia to make a group. It’s still my favourite song so far, though I prefered the original. Hopefully Sofia can still do her vocal like at the NF because she sounded on point and the jury will eat it up.
Much better than Sergey. They better slay with this experimental bop, but it may be too risky and ahead of its time for the general public.
I took some time for me, but I love this now. The videoclip is very beautiful and professional and I like they still centered on Sofia the most.
Oh yeah… but “Water of Life sung by Water of Life Project”
Uh. i think they should’ve thought of a better name for the group… lolol
@olvresc
I agree. The English part is like idk kind of weird wording… oh well still nice tho 🙂 still my #1
Everyone is angry with the strong number of solo female artists – 50% on esc, 90% on jesc. People are bored with the same entries, Ebu knows, that this hegemony destroys their competitions, national TVs know, that originality can bring the success. Why I should choose solo female like other countries, if I can choose girl band = category where is small number of rivals. So it is absolutely unsurprising. In next 3 years ebu will make quotes. 1/3 solo female, 1/3 solo male, 1/3 bands and countries will change every year something different. And viewers will be happy.
I think that they decided that Sofia needs help for the live performance and added the girls. With the vocals being the key component for the jury vote, I am sure they know what they are doing. Very strong competition this year-and we have not heard yet from Malta, Italy, Armenia, Georgia, Poland, Ausralia, Ireland and Israel…
This is a Russian folk song. It definitely needed to be polysonic. Now it is more harmonic.
Entirely Russian version of this would be better. I prefer the original version, but maybe this will sound better live. I’d be happy to see a Russian win this year. And I really hope that Australia will not win.