Russia: Little Big’s lead singer Ilia Prusikin says he would be “totally up” for competing at Eurovision 2021

Their the punk-pop-rave group that were all set to represent Russia at Eurovision 2020 with the song “Uno”. Unfortunately, we won’t get to see Little Big on stage in Rotterdam this year following the contest’s cancellation. But, in an interview with Forbes Russia, the group’s front-man Ilia Prusikin has stated he would very much be up for competing at the contest in 2021.

Additionally, since they haven’t made it to Eurovision this year, the group have invited the public to help them recreate the magic with Quarantinovison 2020.

Ilia Prusikin on Eurovision 2021 participation

Last week, Ilia Prusikin – Little Big’s lead singer – sat down for a remote interview with Forbes Russia. Amongst the topics covered was the band’s possible participation at Eurovision 2021.

The interviewer posed the question to Prusikin over whether the group will put their names forward to represent Russia at the contest next year, and whether they will keep trying to participate in Eurovision or give up on that dream.

The Russian star responded by saying things are uncertain at the moment, as they don’t know which Russian broadcaster will be in control of the entry next year – VGTRK and Channel One take responsibility in alternate years, with Channel One having been in charge for 2020. However, if the opportunity came up, Prusikin would be up for participating at Eurovision 2021:

“Listen, the thing is, that nothing is clear now. This year, Channel One [financed] Eurovision. I think. No, I’m sure. Next year it can be Russia channel. So it’s not clear whether someone else or we will go. If it’s us, then I’m totally up for it. Because I think as we tried, but it didn’t work out due to [superior forces].”

The singer went on to add that he wouldn’t be disappointed if Little Big don’t end up competing next year. Ilia believes that there are many talented artists in Russia who should be given the opportunity to wave the country’s flag at Eurovision:

“Sending us again would be a bit wrong I think, because we ourselves are against [staying unchanged], and here it’s like – so we didn’t go, so let’s send us again? It’s not like we don’t have enough artists who can go. We have a lot of cool artists.”

“We tried and did what we could, which seemed to turn out good. Well, we got unlucky, but life goes on. We got what we wanted from this contest, and we would like for other artists to get it [media exposure] as well. I think you need to give way to the others, too.”

At the present time, neither Russian broadcaster has publicly confirmed their intention to participate at Eurovision 2021, or which artist they might select if they do. Thus, we will have to wait a little longer to see whether Ilia Prusikin and Little Big get their chance to perform on the Eurovision stage.

Little Big launch Quarantinovison 2020

While Little Big’s future at Eurovision may be uncertain at the moment, the group are still making the most of the extra time they’ve been given following the contest’s cancellation. They’ve set up Quarantinovison 2020 along with the comedy YouTubers from KlikKlak.

The group hope that the project will help bring a little light into people’s weeks as they spend their time in lockdown.

At the start of the month, the group called upon the public to write a song and shoot a one-minute clip on a mobile phone at home. After uploading to instagram with the hashtag #Карантиновидение2020, the best videos will be judged by a jury.

The first heat of the competition was uploaded on 11 April, which saw the individual members of Little Big also submit their own videos for consideration. Amongst the jury voting on the songs was Russia’s Eurovision 2015 participant Polina Gagarina. She was joined by rapper Morgenstern and comedian Garik Kharlamov.

The subsequent heats are set to be uploaded in due course, but the group have already received over 15,000 submissions from the public.

Since they unfortunately can’t show all of them in the main competition, Little Big and KlikKlak recorded a separate reaction video to some of the songs that have been submitted.

Further episodes of Quarantinovison 2020 will be uploaded to the KlikKlak YouTube channel in due course.

Considering the artistic creativity that has already come out of the coronavirus lockdown, no doubt there’ll be some interesting and fun songs to help brighten up everyone’s mood over the next few weeks.

What do you make of Ilia Prusikin’s comments? Do you want to see Little Big at Eurovision 2021? And have you submitted an entry for Quarantinovison 2020? Let us know in the comments below!

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