Julia Samoylova recently revealed to wiwibloggs that she and her husband decided to select a Eurovision entry from another composer, rather than going with one of their self-penned works.
And Rambler.ru has now revealed the identity of one composer behind her to-be-revealed song: Leonid Gutkin, the former bass player of the famed Russian rock band Autograph.
Leonid is no stranger to Eurovision. In 2013 he oversaw the songwriting team behind Dina Garipova’s “What If”, and he later worked on ESC tracks for Polina Gagarina (“A Million Voices”) and Lidia Isac (“Falling Stars”). Those first two tracks both placed in the Top 5 at Eurovision.
Julia previously confirmed another heavyweight in her posse: the stage director Alexei Golubev. He’s the sought-after mind behind roughly 300 music videos for some of Russia’s biggest stars, including Dima Bilan, Alsou and Valeria.
He also oversaw Polina Gagarina’s highly regarded stage show at Eurovision 2015, which saw her place second in the televote and third with the jury.
Add it all up and it’s clear that Moscow isn’t coming to play — they are coming to slay.
Long wait for Julia
For months Eurovision fans wondered aloud whether Russia’s Channel 1 would make good on its promise to send Julia to Eurovision 2018 following Ukraine’s ban on the singer last year. There had been such a long silence from the broadcaster that fans were skeptical when Julia announced her participation on Facebook on January 26, and again when her management confirmed to us that she was, indeed, singing at Eurovision.
Channel 1 finally and officially confirmed her participation in a statement published on January 29.
“The decision was made last year after [the broadcaster] was forced to withdraw from Eurovision 2017,” the statement reads. “Julia has already started preparing for the contest.”
Just hours before that the blonde singer teased fans with images she described as “training for Eurovision”, along with the news that she was working with Polina Gagarina’s Eurovision stage director.
“This is the start of the training for Eurovision!” the ebullient singer wrote on her Facebook page. “At Last! Met our team with Director Alexei Golubev, discussed the future number. The song has already been chosen, so now we work.”
In an e-mail message sent to wiwibloggs, her management said:
“Julia and her husband offered several songs of his own composition but decided to choose a song of other authors. The Russian broadcaster has confirmed Julia’s participation. Now is preparing for the contest, recording a song and staging a show program.”
That followed on from the January 13 news that Julia had prepared two songs as potential Eurovision entries. Julia was said to have co-written two songs with her husband/manager Alexei Taran (a romantic who likes to read her poetry under the moon). They involved themes of outer space.
Are you excited? Do you think that Russia is hungry for a win after last year’s drama? Let us know in the comments box below.
GET MORE RUSSIA EUROVISION NEWS
Russia just should leave the ESC for good. It won’t be missed anyway
“they are coming to slay” – Then why does the usual Russian “dream team” (Kirkorov and his greek friends) reportedly work with a participant from another country?
I’m honestly hoping Russia flop just to put this fiasco behind them and to give other countries a shot to score well instead of leeching the televote with some garbage about peace
Probably another change the world and bring piece to it cheese fest as usual. Not hoping for much.
Oh man…i want her to do an uptempo song, not because im sick of ballads, but because it would be unpredictable and amazing
I’m impressed. This should be very good. I’m happy for Julia, and can’t wait to hear the song.
They’ll surely be able to pull another “Together we can change the world forever” kitsch fest. What will be truly interesting is to see how she’ll be able to pull it off in the live performances.
Looking forward to what gets put together.
Also very much looking forward to *not* having to hate on another Russian performer, and having to hate on the Russian broadcaster for picking another Russian performer, after so many months of ostentatiously promising the slot to Samoylova.
Samoylova is going to Lisbon. What are you complaining about? That she was not confirmed earlier? ESC fans always find a reason to hate Russia.
I’m complaining about the fact that literally EVERYONE in Russia for the past six months has been acting like the broadcaster hadn’t ostentatiously promised the slot to Samoylova for month upon month early last year, then went silent for half a year. The fact that EVERYONE in Russia has been treating the 2018 field as wide open, and absolutely NO ONE said “oh, I can’t possibly be in the running, the slot’s already reserved for Julia”, spoke volumes. Like I said, I’m *extremely* pleased that I don’t have to despise an alternate performer, nor despise the broadcaster for stupidly choosing… Read more »
What if this is another scheme to make Julia look like a victim?
Staging and quality of song means nothing if the performer is weak.
Just because she’s disabled doesn’t mean she’s weak.
Her vocals were weak last year, as bad as her English. I’m sorry but that’s a fact. Hope she can brings something better.
I’m expecting another “peace and love” song from them. Like always.
Tell this to Blanche, Lordi or Verka Serduchka 🙂