March 8, 2021

It was the best kept secret of this year’s Eurovision Song Contest: what is Russia gonna do? Only at the beginning of the show, last year’s contestants-to-be Little Big announced that they would not represent Russia in Rotterdam. Singer Ilya Prusikin said they decided this together with broadcaster Channel 1. However, his body language makes us think that this is a big disappointment for him. On Instagram they thank their fans for the huge support for “Uno”. Those were the contestants: Manizha, “Russkaya Zhenshchina”, 39,7% 2Mashi, “Bitter words”, 35,7% Therr Maitz, “The future is bright”, 24,6 % It is clear, Tajik-born Manizha won with the song “Russkaya zhenshchina” (Russian woman).

Tonight, at 18.00 CET, Russia will have its national final. You can watch it here. The contestants are… And that is where the problem starts. We don’t know anything about the contestants. Russian broadcaster Channel 1 keeps everything secret. We only know rumours. One of the rumours is that Little Big is somehow involved in the show. But whether they will perform as guests or as participants is still a question. Several sources mention them as contestants, while others say they will not participate. Last year, Little Big was supposed to be the Russian contestant with the song “Uno”. Popular  Russian singer Alexander Panayotov is another name that is mentioned. And even the name Maruv, the singer who was supposed to represent Ukraine in 2019, is one of the artists rumoured. Is there anything we dó know? Yes, there is. Philipp Kirkorov and Natalia Gordienko will perform in the show, but not as participants.