Sergey Lazarev brings 'Scream' to the Eurovision 2019 stage

07 May 2019 at 12:02 CEST

Sergey Lazarev - Scream (Russia 2019) Thomas Hanses

Sergey Lazarev has completed his first rehearsal of 'Scream', showing Europe how the staging for this year's Russian entry will look. The stage is dark, with meteors, lightning and thunderstorms that swirl around multiple Sergeys through the use of mirrors. The mirrors also become screens for Sergey to stand behind and from there the 'reflections' move on their own.

Sergey Lazarev will take to the stage 13th in the second Semi-Final on Thursday 16 May at Expo Tel Aviv in Israel.

About Sergey Lazarev

Russian star Sergey Lazarev is back at the Eurovision Song Contest and hoping to go a little better than his third place finish in 2016 with You Are The Only One when he won the televote. Sergey is already a seasoned veteran of the stage and screen with a successful career dating back to 2002. His first solo album was released in 2005 and since then, he has gone on to win almost every pop music award in Russia. Sergey has voiced lead characters in animations including Prince Arthur in 'Shrek The Third' and mentored new music talent as a judge on 'The Voice of Ukraine' as well as maintaining his own success as a music star.

READ MORE: Sergey Lazarev's participant page

What happens on stage?

Sergey is the latest 2019 Eurovision Song Contest participant to appear on stage dressed all in white, just as Dima Bilan wore in 2008 when he delivered Russia's only Eurovision victory at his second attempt. Sergey's outfit contrasts well with the dark staging at the start of his performance, with meteors flying across the behind many Sergey Lazarev's. He is multiplied 8 times by mirrors on stage.

As the song progresses, the mirrors become screens. We see Sergey as rain pours down, while reflections of him appear in different poses in the mirrors. The meteors are replaced with rainfall against a black backdrop before clouds swirl and lightning strikes.

The performance is a departure from the Scream music video, where he narrates the story of a princess and her prince. In the video he is invisible presence, helping to protect her as they save each other and overcome demons.