Belarus’ Nadezhda Misyakova really impressed our Junior Eurovision jury, earning perfect scores from seven of our 13 jurors. They described her song as “pure magic” and said she “delivers the song brilliantly”. She was already one of our favourites. Now that she’s spoken with our New York correspondent Sopon, we love her even more. In the interview below, Nadezhda talks about her love of swimming, what it was like to meet Belarusian Eurovision legend Koldun and her JESC 2014 song “Sokol”.
Hey Nadezhda! Can you introduce yourself to our readers?
Hello my name is Nadezhda Misyakova. I am 14 years old, live in Minsk and currently study in ninth grade at school. I also attend a gymnasium and a music school and enjoy playing the piano.
What are your hobbies?
In my spare time, I love meeting interesting people and listening to new, positive music, mostly pop, and artists like Lana Del Rey, Ani Lorak, Polina Gagarina, Pelageya. In addition to music I love to dance and to write poetry. I am a rather good pupil, and my favorite school subjects are Russian literature, English and chemistry.
What do you want to be when you grow up?
It is difficult now to answer this question. But I am absolutely sure it should be something interesting where I can be creative.
What does your song mean to you?
This song means a lot for me. I wrote in two years ago. It’s based on a beautiful Slavic fairy tale, “Finist, The Bright Falcon”. In the end we decided to record it professionally, just for ourselves.The main hero — a girl named Maryushka — is looking for a bird – an independent bright falcon, who eventually turns into a handsome young man. It was my favorite story when I was a little girl, and as you can see, I still love it now.
Why did you want to sing your song in Belarusian, rather than Russian?
Belarusian and Russian are both our national languages. But yes, you are right: In Malta I will be performing the Belarusian language version of the song, since first of all I represent Belarus as a country. Before the selection, I was advised to try and translate it (the song was originally made in Russian), just to compare the sound. Together, with my teachers and family we decided that in Belarusian it sounds more interesting. And it works! But I also perform the song in Russian.
How will the performance in Malta be different from the one in the national final?
In the performance, we used the Belarusian national musical instrument called “gudy”. According to the text of the fairy tale, the girl has worn 3 iron staves, while looking for a falcon. I would not want to jump the gun. I can only say that we are now actively working on our performance. Therefore, some changes are possible.
What was it like meeting Koldun?
It was a great experience. He is really cool, super professional and a good friend. He gave me a lot of advice and I plan to use it of course.
The theme of this year’s contest is extreme sports (such as zipline, rock climbing, etc.). Do you do any extreme sports?
I love swimming very much and maybe in Malta I will find some time to relax. I know there will be a swimming pool in our hotel.
Your song is scoring particularly well with our jury, and more than half the jurors (including myself) gave you a perfect score. Do you think it will do just as well in the contest?
Wow! Thank you very much! It is very important to me. I will try to do my best during the show. But to be honest now I don’t think about any placement. I just believe that the most important thing is to perform with dignity and to represent my country at such a large competition on the highest level!
Have you heard the other songs yet, and do you have any favorites?
Yes, and I think all songs are very good. I like all participants!
Do you have a message for wiwibloggs and its readers?
Dear readers and journalists of wiwibloggs, thank you very much for your questions! You are very kind! Please watch JESC 2014 and support all artists. Don’t forget to vote for us! We need you support and perform for you!
I love her and I hope she does well not only in Malta, but after. Would love to see her come back to the adult contest down the road maybe give Belarus its first win.