…but this is either trolling on the highest level, or a grave miscalculation from Russia.
First of all Yulia is sitting atop a MOUNTAIN on stage – perhaps to symbolise looking down on everyone (given she is at the pinnacle of this contest) *or* someone at C1R has said: “You know what Yulia, why don’t we do something very clever with our staging so they hardly see your wheelchair?”.
I’m not sure in which camp I sit.
There are three backing singers behind the mountain but, to be fair, they might as well have not been there, because the camera didn’t focus on them very much at all. The distraction is further completed by two ballet dancers mincing (a boy and a girl for clarity) around the front of her.
The lack of camera focus on anyone important vocally in this song is striking. The vocal that we all heard at the Moscow Preview Party has improved, a bit, but the harmonies still sound somewhat disjointed … as though Yulia is not singing parts of the song and letting the backing singers carry the load.
It’s an uncomfy watch, and I’m still of the opinion that it shouldn’t qualify because of a lack of quality.