Her dream of singing at the Eurovision Song Contest in 2017 was snatched from her just weeks after she earned the honour. But Julia Samoylova — Russia’s Eurovision 2018 singer — will finally have her moment in Lisbon with “I Won’t Break”. The electro-tinged power ballad is more contemporary and current than her 2017 song “Flame Is Burning”. But thematically this entry builds on the latter, once again conjuring up strong feelings of perseverance and hope.
For Julia, the theme works on numerous levels. If you’re looking at this through the Eurovision lens, you may say it is a response to the trying months she had ahead of Eurovision 2017, when she was summarily banned from entering host country Ukraine, all the while being put under the microscope by international media and the Eurovision fandom, both of whom frequently had harsh words.
But, perhaps more significant, is the fact the song could relate to Julia’s well-documented struggles with her health and how she has persevered through all of them. As the “I Won’t Break” lyrics make clear, challenges — whether they’re physical or emotional or a mix of the two — can motivate and liberate if you have the right perspective.
“The memory I knew, the things I’ve been through and everything I do has got me living by the minute,” she sings. “And now that I’m in it, now that I’m in it…I won’t break.”
I Won’t Break LYRICS — Julia Samoylova
Music & Lyrics: Netta Nimrodi/Leonid Gutkin/Arie Burshtein
My heart is in command
No longer in the dark
My castle in the sand
Is now made of stone and rock
The memory I knew
The things I’ve been through
And everything I do
Has got me living by the minute
And now that I’m in it
Now that I’m in it…
I won’t break
I won’t break
When it comes to emotions
From the deepest of oceans
Coming straight from my heart
I won’t give in to the motions
Those so called broken wings
Are soaring to the sky
I’ve flown with kings and queens
With freedom in their eyes
I won’t break
I won’t break
When it comes to emotions
From the deepest of oceans
Coming straight from my heart
I won’t give in to the motions
Cause even in the darkness
Cause even in the darkest night
Cause even in the darkness
I can see a light
Cause even the darkness…
I won’t break
(Cause even in the darkness
Cause even in the darkest night
Cause even in the darkness
I can see a light)
I won’t break
Cause even in the darkness…
My heart is in command
No longer in the dark
I won’t break
(Cause even in the darkness
Cause even in the darkest night
Cause even in the darkness…
My heart is in command
No longer in the dark
