He’s the Eurovision 2008 winner, whose career only seems to be growing and growing. And last week Dima Bilan gave his fans an early Christmas present with the release of his ninth solo studio album Egoist (Selfish).
Featuring September’s single “Derzhi” (“Hold”) and ten other tracks, the album sees a slight shift in musical direction for the Russian singer.
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In a press release, Dima notes that “having crossed the threshold of my 35th birthday, I surrendered to my thoughts, listened to myself and felt the need to “roll over” and start on a new page.”
He adds that the new album “is a musical journey inside of myself, the search for my true ‘I’.”
The majority of tracks on Egoist tackle the laid-back whisperpop style currently dominating global music charts. Unfortunately, the songs that make up Egoist don’t quite reach the heights of the chart-topping songs from the likes of Julia Michaels, Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez.
The stand-out track of the album is no doubt the lead single “Derzhi”. As we noted in our initial review, the contemporary pop song is “vibrant, catchy and easy to dance to”. And this is exactly where the rest of the album falls down.
Dima Bilan – Egoist
While a perfectly pleasant listen, to non-Russian speakers the remaining tracks lack personality and fall rather flat — eventually all blending into one. While certainly not as lethargic as some of his back catalogue, it doesn’t quite reach the heights of singles such as 2016’s “V tvoyey golove” (“In Your Head”). It would have been great to have had a number of songs on the album more along the lines of this catchy electropop track, where Dima’s character really shines through.
This is nothing against Dima’s songwriting, having composed two of the album’s songs himself: “Ray” (“Paradise”) and “Zhut'” (“Horror”). No doubt the album will find its audience in Russia and neighbouring countries, with Dima’s career still bound to grow from strength to strength. After all, the music video for his recent collaboration with fellow Russian heartthrob Sergey Lazarev, “Prosti Menya”, managed to pass one million views on YouTube within only four days of its release.
So, what do you think of Dima’s new album Egoist? Do you like the change in musical direction, or do you prefer some of his other recent hits? Let us know in the comments section below!