Russian Singers and Pop Music

Eurovision's Next Winner?

May 21, 2010

A few months ago Lena Meyer-Landrut, 18, was singing in the fall. Now she has an album, three hit singles and is to represent Germany at the Eurovision Song Contest in Oslo. She's already had three Top Five hits in the German charts this year. Lena has won German hearts, but can she enrapture Europe?

Like some otherworldly space ship, the cast and crew of the top-ranking German-language telly show, "Wanna Bet?" has landed on the outskirts of Salzburg in Austria. The show, one of the most successful in Europe, offers an entertaining mixture of passable people making outlandish bets (hence the title) and celebrity interviews and performances. And today the show's hundreds of troupe members and technicians are invading the city. Security staff patrol the area, would-be audience members row at the front entrance to the venue. Backstage, some of the highest-profile members of the entertainment industry are all hands on deck.

Russian soprano Anna Netrebko, the balladeer behind some of the most popular operatic albums in Europe, has just finished her sound check. Oscar-winning British actress Emma Thompson is picking up her backstage archaic. Pop singer Shakira, rock icon Beth Ditto of the band Gossip and composer Andrew Lloyd Webber are in whisker and make-up. And Lena Meyer-Landrut is sitting on a sofa in her dressing room, awaiting her turn. In a Stygian cocktail frock, grey knit cardigan and large, black glasses, with a somewhat wide-eyed look, Meyer-Landrut comes across more like an intern for the show than someone who is about to present on it.

Source: Spiegel Online

T.A.T.U. - Gomenasai

TATU - Gomennasai. A Japanese title for a Russian song in English.

Russian Pop music


I discovered Russian pop music in 2003 in the middle of Siberia in Novosibirsk. It was pouring out from the private busses, from the markets and from weekend parties. I could not avoid it. I obtained a CD. Since then until recently, my exposure to Russian pop were limited to two CDs. I can’t really understand Russian. Perhaps this helped to enjoy the songs all the more.

Then came You Tube. Russian pop music has exploded into the living rooms with access to the internet for those who would bother to search for Russian pop. Apart from the music being Russian, is there much of a difference to such music compared to EuroAmerican pop (shortened to Europop) in English, except the obvious linguistic difference? I don’t know. Contemporary Russian pop music seems to have learned everything from its Western counterpart and there is not much stylistic difference in instruments or tunes generally – this music is basically Russia’s answer to your standard poptastic hit parade. But I certainly prefer to think that this music forms its own genre – best dubbed Russian Pop for absolute simplicity. Unfortunately, whereas there are some excellent Russian male artists I have only researched if that is the word, the female ones. What makes Russian pop music so absorbing?

OK, I’ll be frank. The women on Russian pop videos are often more attractive, more feminine, more traditional and more everything compared to the Europop selection. Their videos are stunning. Generally women in Russia (that I met) were more cultured, more educated and seemed to respect the respectable – they were extremely hospitable. There are more of them as pop artists, there is more variety and it is more irrepressible. Finally, my enjoyment is perhaps all the greater as they just sound like lovely women, but I don’t have to bother to or can’t understand what they say. They say that music can be more relaxing if the brain does not have to interpret the music, so classical can be more relaxing. Perhaps foreign language pop has the same effect.

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