Russia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2020
| Eurovision Song Contest 2020 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Country |  Russia | |||
| National selection | ||||
| Selection process | Internal selection | |||
| Selection date(s) | Artist: 2 March 2020 Song: 12 March 2020 | |||
| Selected entrant | Little Big | |||
| Selected song | "Uno" | |||
| Selected songwriter(s) |
| |||
| Finals performance | ||||
| Final result | Contest cancelled | |||
| Russia in the Eurovision Song Contest | ||||
| ||||
Russia originally planned to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 with the song "Uno", performed by Little Big. The entry, written by Denis Tsukerman, Ilya Prusikin and Viktor Sibrinin, was selected internally. The group was also internally selected by the Russian broadcaster Channel One Russia (C1R). However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the contest was cancelled.
Background
Prior to the 2021 contest, Russia had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 22 times since its first entry in 1994. Russia had won the contest on one occasion in 2008 with the song "Believe" performed by Dima Bilan. In 2016, Russia finished third with the song "You Are the Only One" performed by Sergey Lazarev, who would later return to represent his country again in 2019 with the song "Scream", also finishing in third place.[1]
Before Eurovision
Internal selection
The Russian entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 was internally selected by the selection committee consisting of representatives of Channel One Russia (C1R) and music industry professionals.[2] Among acts rumoured by several Russian media sites to be considered by the broadcaster were Aleksandr Panayotov, Little Big, Polina Gagarina and Zivert.[3][4] On 2 March 2020, C1R announced Little Big as the Russian entrant at the Eurovision Song Contest 2020.[5] The song selection consisted of two songs: "Tacos" and "Uno".[6] In the end, the song "Uno" was chosen to represent Russia and was released on 12 March 2020 together with the official music video.[7]
At Eurovision
The Eurovision Song Contest 2020 was due to take place at Rotterdam Ahoy in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, with two semi finals on 12 and 14 May and the final on 16 May 2020.[8] Russia were due to compete in the first half of the first semi final on 12 May.[9] However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the contest was cancelled.
References
- ^ "Russia Country Profile". EBU. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
- ^ Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: "Телехранитель / "Голос. Дети" после скандала. Танцевальная революция. Евровидение // 09.02.20". YouTube.
- ^ "Russia's national final: These eight artists are among the most rumoured participants". 8 March 2021.
- ^ "Гагарина или Little Big: кто представит Россию на «Евровидении»" [Gagarina or Little Big: who will represent Russia at Eurovision] (in Russian). Gazeta.ru. February 3, 2020. Retrieved 2022-08-12.
- ^ "Russia's Little Big reveals 'Uno' song and music video". Eurovision.tv. 2020-03-12. Retrieved 2022-04-15.
- ^ "🎙БЕЗ ДУШИ: Илья Прусикин | Конец КЛИК-КЛАК, секрет LITTLE BIG, Евровидение, СОНЯ, ИРА и ДОБРЫНЯ" – via www.youtube.com.
- ^ "Russia's Eurovision 2020 song released: Little Big – "Uno"". Eurovisionworld. 12 March 2020. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
- ^ "Rotterdam to host Eurovision 2020!". eurovision.tv. 30 August 2019. Retrieved 2021-01-29.
- ^ "Which country performs in which Eurovision 2020 Semi-Final?". eurovision.tv. 28 January 2020. Retrieved 2021-01-29.