The fictional and flamboyant Alexander Lemtov caught the attention of Eurovision fans in the recently released movie Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga. The Russian character was played by actor Dan Stevens, but many have wondered about the man who supplied that sonorous and on-point voice. Well he is Erik Mjönes and he has given us the live performance of the “Russian” number we’ve been craving. Rawr!
Erik Mjönes performs “Lion of Love” live
The performance took place in the Swedish entertainment program “Lotta på Liseberg”, an annual sing-a-long show that takes place in Gothenburg, on the west coast of Sweden, every summer. The show is named after the host Lotta Engberg, who represented Sweden in Eurovision back in 1987.
The performance oozes campy charisma and you can see some similarities with the act from the movie.
Erik himself starts off behind a sea of black feathers and when revealed sports a glittery black jacket and a golden patterned shirt, which resembles the costume that Lemtov wore in the movie. The dancer’s sparkling pants pop on stage and even though no one is shirtless the sex appeal is most definitely there. You go boy!
The dance moves give us a cabaret feel and one might think of Denmark’s DQ performing “Drama Queen” at Eurovision back in 2007.
Just like in the movie, Erik’s voice is everything. His operatic projection gives the song its curious tone and theatrical vibe. All we need is the burlesque dancers to complete the magic.
“Lion of Love” was written and composed by Savan Kotecha, Johan Carlsson and Rami Yacoub. The Swedish-American collaboration has won plaudits from fans of the movie, who praise it for sounding like a song you might actually hear at Eurovision.
The Wiwi Jury — our in-house panel of music unprofessionals — gave the song a score of 8.17/10. That suggests it would indeed have a fairly good chance of making it in the real contest.
What do you think of Erik Mjönes’ performance? What do you think of the song? Tell us in the comments below.
Love Erik’s voice, and Dan’s performance. An incredible piece of music, so kudos to the writers of this song. What a great combo!
NICE!
Ooh I’m willing to bet they are gonna try to get him to participate in melo 2021 now!
This is fun! I believe it also means an actual Eurovision maestro is playing on this version, since I think longtime Swedish conductor Curt-Eric Holmquist usually plays keyboards for Lotta pa Lisberg.
Vocals were terrible in this live performance
My gosh, quit being a hater! He can sing live period!
stunning!