Russia: Julia Samoylova talks about Eurovision, upcoming album and book

Russia

by Roy Knoops April 10, 2018 11:00 am 783 views

Russia’s Eurovision 2018 entrant Julia Samoylova sheds light on her performance in Lisbon, and is set to release an album ánd a biography.

Julia Samoylova from Russia is preparing for her Eurovision-adventure in Lisbon, Portugal. The enigmatic singer wants to make her country proud, do her best as an artist with a disability and looks forward to interacting with her fellow participants.

In a recent interview, Julia Samoylova shed light on her plans for the Eurovision stage and also revealed plans for her album and a biography.

In Lisbon

The Russian artist will represent her country with the song I won’t break, a dedication to the strength of human will-power, a composition by Arie Burshtein, Leonid Gutkin and Netta Nimrodi. She is looking forward to her stay in Lisbon:

It is important for me to participate, to sing as good as I can, to enjoy my stay in Portugal, and interact with the participants.

Julia Samoylova plans to deliver a convincing stage performance:

I will have a remarkable team alongside – the composers of the song. They will be supporting me as back-up singers.
The singer is confident that jury’s and public will assess her performance independently, not lingering on her banned Eurovision 2017 participation or focussing on her disability:
I am not thinking about it at all. Portugal was assessed objectively. Salvador Sobral took to the stage alone, without any wings and acrobats – and simply sang well. And everybody liked him. A participant in the song contest simply must be sincere, genuine, bring light and do his job – sing well. There is surely no politics involved in it.

 Forthcoming album in May, book release in April

Besides preparing for Eurovision, Julia Samoylova has two other exciting ventures on her agenda: her album and a book about her remarkable life. The album is planned to be released in due time:
We hope it will be released in May.
As to the style of the album, the artist stated that many songs will be in line with I won’t break, and she describes it as follows:

With drive and vigor.

Prior to her album release and her Eurovision performance, Julia Samoylova is set to release a book with autobiographical material about her life, titled An usual out-of-the-ordinary story. The book is dear to her, yet also brings a lot of emotions with it:

This is very emotional, as I speak a lot about myself in it, about my life.

Source: tass.com/society

Yulia Samoilova

Who is Julia Samoylova?

Julia Olegovna Samoylova (alternatively spelled Yuliya or Yulia Samoilova, Ukhta, Komi Republic, former Soviet Union, 1989) is a Russian singer-songwriter.

In her childhood she was diagnosed with spinal muscular atrophy, manifesting in a loss of function in her legs and depending on the use of a wheelchair – which has become a symbolic icon of Julia Samoylova’s artistry and perseverance.

Julia Samoylova began her singing career in a restaurant in her hometown Ukhta, performing for the local oil workers. She founded the band TerraNova in 2008, which performed alternative music, and also studied psychology. TerraNova disbanded in 2010.

Her mainstream breakthrough happened in 2013 when she participated in season 3 of the show Faktor A, Russia’s equivalent of The X Factor, and finished in second place. In 2014, Julia Samoylova performed during the opening ceremony of the Winter Paralympics.

Eurovision 2017

In March of 2017, Russian broadcaster Russia-1 announced that they had selected Julia Samoylova to represent the country at the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 in Kyiv, Ukraine.

However, as it became known that Julia Samoylova had performed in the annexed region Crimea in 2015, which violates Ukrainian law, the singer was banned from entering Ukraine for three years – and thus would not be able to perform at Eurovision 2017.

The dispute resulted in the withdrawal of Russia from Eurovision 2017, and the country did not broadcast the contest. Because of the incident the EBU revised the rules regarding Eurovision-participation, to avoid similar situations in the future.

At Eurovision 2018

Julia Samoylova will perform I won’t break from position 6 in the first half of Semi-Final 2 on Thursday 10 May 2018.

 

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