He’s among a handful of artists who has managed to achieve two Top 3 finishes at the Eurovision Song Contest. And in both instances Russia’s Sergey Lazarev achieved that singing in English.
Now, less than a month after the grand final of Eurovision 2019, Sergey has premiered the Russian-language version of “Scream”.
He did so on June 12 as part of the celebration of Russia Day celebrations in Red Square. The day commemorates the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the declaration of state sovereignty of the Russian Federation.
Sergey marked the occasion on his Instagram. Here’s what he wrote in English.
“Scream” – the long-awaited premiere of the Russian version on the Day of Russia on Red Square !! I want to express a special thanks to the author of the Russian text Lara D’Elia @lara_delia for our many years of tandem! You, as always, could feel the whole meaning, the intensity and emotions of the English text, transfer it to Russian, reinforcing and conveying my thoughts and feelings … it is so difficult, but we succeeded again, judging by the reviews! Again, thanks for the strongest melody of Dimitris Kontopolos @dimitriskontopoulos and Philip Kirkorov @fkirkorov!
The official studio version on all digital platforms will be released very soon! In the meantime, watch the full performance from the Day of Russia, on my channel on Youtube.
Sergey’s pleased with the Russian version, which leads to an obvious question: Do you prefer “Scream” in Russian or in English? Let us know by voting in our poll below.
After that let us know in the comments section which version you prefer and why. And do you think that the Russian-language version would have done better? Given how juries seemed to mark down native language songs (Spain, Albania, etc…) it doesn’t seem like it would have helped.
It was overly dramatic in the first place . It belonged in some epic musical .
I actually said a couple of months ago that I would love for him to sing in russian if he returned to ESC. He sounds much more confident in russian than in english.
Give it time. He’ll be back in 2022, I guess.
His voice is flawless, live.
I prefer the russian version because it sounds softer and somehow more emotional. I didn’t get the lyrics anyhow 😀
Russia needs sing in russian again since Mamo (2009), but in 2012 sung in Udmurtian
The tolamchevys for 2020! Tell that to perviy kanal (channel one Russia)
why them? They dont even do music now, now it is more like a hobby for them
Mamo was mostly Ukrainian.
there is magestic russian instrumentals in this song, and the english made it feel generic.. In Russian more power & authentic!!
The question is will he come back again? 2 No.3 is already a big achievement.
Just below Cliff Richard.
it would have made no difference tbh, the song has zero commercial appeal as proven by its non-existent chart run so singing it in russian wouldn’t have hurt it at all. the performance was brilliant and that’s what sold the song to the voting audience
Russia will never win during 50/50 vote. This is not fair. Did Russia always won during 100% televote? No! If I were Russia, I would withdraw, let’s see how you do without a big country, mr. Sand. You will go back to 50’s ratings, and this can’t happen anymore, as much as you would like. Russia must protest like Turkey, because even though you think they have diaspora, they are also countries that jury will never let win.
Not true. Russia does good due to biased jury vote. Diaspora is nothing comparing to how pressured the jury is.
i want to know the heritage of Suzanne
It seems like” this Russian is making me stronger “?
If you get the comment then you are a true fan.
Why did you make me think of Tooji? I was fine without remembering that song.
Song: Cause I want (you) to stay (in your head)
Joe: Na na nananaa
Verka = ” Russia Good Bye” (Lasha Tumbai)
While you can do well singing in your own language, it’s proven time and time again singing in English is a major advantage. Your own language is a disadvantage. In the last 12 contests only 1 winner hasn’t been at least part sung in English. (Portugal 2017)
While Ukraine 2016 had the chorus in Turkish, the 4 verses were all in English.
I don’t think singing it in his native language would have helped his chances, but I’m glad he put this new version out.
Here’s something that isn’t really related to anything but I personally find cool and exciting if it pans out: Spain’s association of broadcasters from their various cities/autonomous territories has applied to join the EBU. It sounds like they meet the criteria, and if they’re admitted, those broadcasters could compete in Eurovision events that RTVE doesn’t compete in (so yeah, no Basque or Catalonian entries in ESC…yet). That being said: if RTVE trades off selection duties with them (like Belgium and Russia do) it could be SO COOL. Think about it! Each broadcaster could pick a representative and they could have… Read more »
Real winner even singing in chinese
<3
Still trying to figure out how this placed 3rd while being 4th in the televotes and 9th in the juries.
I like Sergey, but that song did not deserve to be in TOP 3, not even TOP 5!!
Russia has many neighbors, and some of them always gives 12 points no matter what
Very many of their neighbors give 12 televote points just because of the Russian diaspora (who vote For their own country) , not because they love Russia more than Europe.
LOL, Check Azerbaijan, jury gave 0 points to bookies favorites (Same as Russian juries) so Sergay could do better or have more chances to win
I don’t know much about Azerbaijan but Russia gets good televote points from Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Poland, Germany and many other countries only thanks to their diaspora.
I dont get for example the russians and lithuanians who always vote for their own country. Sholuld be banned
Their telephones should be somehow blocked by the countries their immigrants live in. Even voting for a neighbor is more acceptable than voting for your own country.
It was a fabulous entry! So much better than 2016 😛 (I know at least 2 persons who will downvote this, cause they hated it sksksksksk 😀 )
The only positive aspect about that song was the meaning and the fact that Sergey could show off his vocals, compared to his song in 2016, but other than that it was bland screaming. I honestly didn’t see the difference between “Scream” and “The Dream” by Roko. Had Roko sung Scream, it wouldn’t even have qualified, or had Sergey sung “The Dream’, we would have seen “The Dream” in the final instead of “Scream”. Sorry to say the truth. You can like the song, but honestly, ending up in the TOP 3 was just ridiculous, or the fact that it… Read more »
I am with you about your opinion on “Zero Gravity” @KESC. Absolutely 😀
Mathematically, it’s because of the polarisation of the jury and televote results. Artists that did well with juries did poorly with televote, and vice versa. Sergei did ok with both, so overall he moves up the scoreboard – ie, 6/10 from jury, 6/10 with televote = 12/20. 9/10 with jury but 2/10 with televote means 11/20 so lower than Sergei overall – classic examples: Czech Rep, North Macedonia, Norway, Iceland.
The real reason for this is Norway being hugely pulled down by juries !! The rest of the results are basically televote positions !! Netherlands (2-1) , Italy (3-1) , Russia (4-1) , Switzerland (5-1) !! It’s Norway which is the -1
Let’s not get into that – I think I upset a lot of people on another thread re: juries. But yes, you are right, the treatment of Norway was despicable.
Same way Duncan came 1st while televote put him 2nd and juries put him 3rd
I swallow hard
Yeahh like they did in 2018
2018 being an exception..
How did he came 3rd in televoting? All of this year’s top 5 songs have been charting 10+ countries after the contest expect SCREAM which has been on 2 charts only.
LOL have been charting?????? None of the songs is charting this year
Arcade charted 1st on itunes in 12 countries and in the top 100 on the European charts in 24 countries.. Soo check your facts first…
LOL
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arcade_(song)#Charts
You haven’t wrote about recent scandal between him and S. Loboda though. Supposedly it happened on recent MuzTV award show… The rumours keep spreading but he hasn’t apologised, they only unsubscribed each other on the instagram.
Wiwibloggs don’t write about anything anymore, they just pretend that after esc there’s no news. How lazy! News are everywhere.
Definitely. Countries seem to think singing in English is always better, but it so clearly is not. If you cannot speak English well and/or your English lyrics are poorly written, your entry will not do well. I don’t speak Russian, so I don’t know if the lyrics are as bad as the English ones were (which is also a plus for not singing in English — no one knows if your lyrics are bad or if you mess them up live), but the sounds of the Russian language fit so well with this moody melancholic song, I truly think it… Read more »
He should have not have sung this song in either Russian or English. For eight months, Sergey has been exploiting the topic of parting with his husband, whom he himself betrayed. This hypocritical song is no exception. Shame on Sergey.
For eight months? You mean Prosti Menya is also a breakup song for his husband?
No, it was much earlier and it has nothing to do with his hysband.
Who is his husband?
OMG. He did not come out yet, but at the same time openly exploiting the topic of separation from his husband? are you okay with mental health?
Definitely Russian – you could tell in his eyes that it somehow meant more to him, more authentic. Plus, because I don’t understand a word of Russian, when the words are coupled with the orchestral bit, it really elevated the mystique, the drama and the intensity for me. The English words are clunky and accented which for me spoil it a little.
However, there is no getting around that the shower scenes were a mistake! I doubt it would have won even in Russian.
NONE. Downvote me all you want but I still don’t like the song in whatever version it is released.
More powerful in Russian. I dream of the day ALL countries are obliged to sing in their own language.
Yes, denying the chance for singers to give visibility to minority languages or to just sing in their heritage language (like Norway 2011, which had some lines in Swahili). Just let each country choose the language they prefer to sing in.
You don’t have to dream, that rule existed, and back then UK and Ireland won because of the english language. Now they are shocked they don’t win anymore.
Being “obliged” as you say, would be the wrong way!
A ruling is never the answer. As others have said, it eliminates the visibility of minority languages and celebrating immigrant cultures. An encouragement to perform in native languages does not hurt though.
Well… at least valued and encouraged, unlike happened this year.
Its a boring song in either languages , his previous entry to the Esc was much better
Just why Russia doesn’t send songs in Russian?
It was my #2 song this year in English so it wouldn’t have made a lot of difference. Having said that, the verses sound much better in Russian rather than English. It wouldn’t have made a difference to the result though.
I’ve had the “Not so silent and innocent…” line in my head for so long, it will take me a while to get used to the Russian version. On the fence for now.
As a Russian I can confirm that the English lyrics make more sense that the Russian lyrics. But I prefer both. I think singing in Russian would be worse at Eurovision giving him a lower score.
What you wrote is quite interesting. Usually Sergey’s songs are more meaningful in Russian than in English (from what I got from the translations since I don’t understand Russian yet). Think about “Everytime” vs “?????????” for example.
But I must admit than it “feels” more special to hear it in his native language…even though, as William wrote, it may have hurt his final result this year ?
Yeah idk why they sing in english. i mean listen to tolmachevy sisters russian “shine” ( it calls half in russian version ) and compare it with shine the russian version has more emotion into it specially the chours and fits well for them bc they are twins they need each other while you listen to shine it so bland and unoriginal and somehow thx to late night talkshow i can un hear the refernce of the lyrics to the crimea. Plus they can’t speak english just like melovin and Julia like why even do that?????? I hope next time… Read more »
Hands down better in Russian, especially as it’s his native language and seems more natural, genuine and special to foreign ears. They send Russian songs in Junior ESC and do well, why not in the ESC??
Sorry, but have to disappoint you a little bit: Buranovskiye Babushki did not sing in Russian. It was Udmurt – one of the minorities’ languages spoken in the Russian Federation. Babushki are from the region where it is spoken. So, the last time we heard Russian at ESC was 2009 with A. Prikhodko’s song. She’s actually Ukrainian, and the song had some lines in Ukrainian as well.
The english lyrics just don’t sound right, plus the Russian language is beautiful. Still think he got the best result he could.
Yes to me it seemed he was singing “but a tear is a quiet things”. I don’t think the English lyrics were good enough. That was an invitation for the juries to vote down.
Without jokes: Sometimes I wonder why I am always the “rebell”, which means I often have another opinions as the majority… Russian is interesting, but I prefer the English version to sing along XD Sorry for existing!
I was doing a workout yesterday and You Are the Only One, in Russian came in and I sang the English version at the top of my lungs.
Yes!
Russia should send every Eurovision song in Russian. Its so nice language and it sounds perfect in every song. I dont understand their obsession with English songs.
There’s no comparison – it’s much better in Russian. Sergey has quite a strong accent when he sings in English, and the lyrics in both of his Eurovision entries had some really cheesy forced rhymes. He’s got a great voice though, and the song sounds great in Russian.
I got goosebumps listening to the Russian version while English version is just kinda nice
sounds better in Russian