Since Little Big revealed “Uno” in March last year, fans have been longing to see them on the Eurovision stage. However, after the cancellation of the contest, Russia’s Channel One has kept pretty silent about the prospects of the group going to Eurovision 2021. Now, following reports in Russian media that there will be a national song selection on March 8, a number of Eurovision stars — including Moldova’s 2021 act Natalia Gordienko, and Russian Eurovision maestro Philipp Kirkorov — have confirmed that they will be guests at the rumoured event.
Russia’s first national final since 2012?
Earlier this week, an unnamed source told Moscovian television channel 360° that Russia would announce its contestant on 8 March. The source did not exclude that the artist was already chosen nor that this act would participate in a national final. With regards to the artist, the source said it would be Little Big.
Only a few hours after the news was published, the country’s Eurovision 2004 contestant Yulia Savicheva revealed on Instagram that Channel One had invited her as a guest to Russia’s “selection round” on 8 March. With that, the “Believe Me” singer also said that she planned to support the “contestants”.
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With “contestants”, Yulia likely implies that Russia has either selected a group internally or that there will be multiple acts singing for a ticket.
Channel One has not confirmed anything related to this.
Natalia Gordienko and Philipp Kirkorov say they’re joining the Russian NF too
Moldova’s Eurovision 2021 hopeful Natalia Gordienko and her Russian superstar producer Philipp Kirkorov shared in a Clubhouse meeting that they are joining the party too.
Natalia is set to reveal her upbeat entry “Sugar” in Moscow on 4 March. The song reveal will be broadcast live on Moldova’s national television broadcaster.
Moldova’s team confirmed that the “Prison” hitmaker will perform her new Eurovision bid on Russia’s Channel One on the eve of 8 March. Channel One invited Natalia as a special guest for “some Eurovision action” as Philipp Kirkorov said in the Clubhouse meeting.
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Why are there doubts the Russian selection is happening?
Ever since the rumours arrived that Russia might be holding a national final, eyes brows have furrowed. Closed selections have dominated the country’s approach to Eurovision in the past few years.
The last time the Russian public had a say in the act dates back to 2012. Then, televoters overwhelmingly chose Buranovskiy Babushki.
Next to that, we haven’t seen a country announcing a national final just a few weeks before the submission deadline in over a decade.
Interestingly, Yana Churikova’s Eurovision talkshow addressed the topic of a Russian national final in its broadcast on 22 February. There, Yana emphasised that it has been such a long time since when the country last held a selection show.
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Next to that, Channel One’s flagship talkshow Vecherniy Urgant had some interesting interactions with the official Eurovision account on Twitter. In a three-tweet conversation, the two accounts shared some cryptic emojis. Last year, the talkshow debuted Little Big’s entry.
The Russian public broadcaster Channel One has kept silent.
What do you make of this information? Do you think Russia will hold a national final? Do you think Little Big are coming back? Let us know in the comments below!
It wasn’t a national final though, it was just two songs with an online vote ..
Given the show that Vecherniy Urgant aired for the last new year’s eve, I have the gut feeling that it will be Little Big with an Italian-inspired song. Google “Ciao, 2020!” if you don’t know what I am talking about.
This is so interesting! I cannot wait to see what will happen 😮 I am a huge fan of Little Big, and I would love to see them having the chance to represent Russia again but… I am excited for anything at this point ^^
Channel One has confirmed the national final and apparently also Little Big’s involvement in it. The TV promos in Russia features Dima Krasilov, the dancer who stole our hearts in the “Uno” music video. And cryptic tweets also seem to point in that direction.
So, yeah, it’s probably a song selection for Little Big with Julia Savicheva, Kirkorov and Natalia Gordienko as guests.
So Channel 1 confirmed they’re doing the national final, but they haven’t outright confirmed if they’ll be picking a song for Little Big or if they’ll be choosing from songs by multiple artists. So the Second Chance lineup shifts!
There’s also at least an off-chance that they’ll consider Bulgaria and Ukraine’s internal selection songs since they’re all publicly available.
Unrelated but the revamp and video of Karma are on the ESC channel.
It slaps hard.
At the moment this is my favourite alongside Ireland. Maps make me euphoric, Karma makes me nostalgic. I love them both.
The revamp can step on my foot and I’d say thank you
It must be Little Big at this point – no other act could be in a final announced this close to the event. I’ve made my peace with their participation and how the Belarusian and Azeri juries will give them 12 points across the board for no other reason other than them being Russian…
And all the other juries will give it to Sweden for the same reason.
Sweden have jury bait songs though…Little Big may have a song that could reasonably win the televote but Uno would’ve not deserved to do well with the juries.
Excellent article. One of the best that I have read here. Good job Renske
Yes, well-done!
Wow cool