If you thought Sergey Lazarev has gone quiet since taking part in this years Eurovision with the dramatic entry “Scream,” you couldn’t be more wrong. After coming third in the competition, the singer returned back to Russia, unleashing a new album during late summer. While I haven’t talked about the release on the blog as yet. I had my ears over the new tracks upon release in August. It has been my hope Sergey would unleash something spoken in English from the latest collection because the entirety of the “Ya Ne Boyus” (“I’m Not Afraid“) album, has been sung in Russian. I thought my lucky day had come after noticing that a video for the title track “I’m Not Afraid” had arrived, not least because of the English title it had been given. Again, it seems my hopes have been thwarted, as it turns out the video features the song once again sung in Russian.
The good thing about watching a music video is that it can be a useful tool, helping to transcend language barriers. And Sergey is always a particularly good bet, for creating a visual treat. A fact, that can be backed up his numerous visual pieces and that I can comfortably be assured about. It does not matter, I don’t understand one word of Russian. As I figured out from the film clip, the track is encouraging everyone to be their authentic selves. In a choreographed dance routine, we see women and men being treated as equals, and the LGBTQ community represented. Body positivity and ageism are also covered.
As I watched the video, the first thought which popped into my head was, how much of the style of it was reminding me of the Dua Lipa clip, which was made for “IDGAF.” Having now watched through Sergey’s video multiple times leads me to conclude that both clips really do translate more than a passing resemblance to one another. The song although a good electronic-pop effort probably isn’t one of Sergey’s, strongest. This time, it is the music video which more than compensates, bringing the release up to speed.
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