EQ Interviews Russian Sensation Sergey Lazarev

So if you haven't noticed, I have been going on and on (probably a little too much) about how much I love Sergey Lazarev's music and it shouldn't come as no surprise to you that I bugged the heck out of him for a little interview in which he finally conceded and took some time to chat with me in the middle of his busy touring schedule. 

You should know that Sergey is one of Russia's biggest superstars who has his sights set on crossover success and I probably won't stop talking about him until he's as big as let's say, Paolo Nutini.  Call me obsessed, call me an uber fan now - it's all good.  Just make sure you get your hands on as much of his great pop music as you can.  Download 'Shattered Dreams' right now and check out his brand new (and somewhat comical take on fame) pop-tastic video to 'TV or Radio' below.  Enjoy EQs!

Hello Sergey and welcome to EQ.  So tell us, what made you decide to cover 'Shattered Dreams' by Johnny Hates Jazz?  It's a rather brilliant cover version of a song needing resurrection if you ask us!
Thanks, I really appreciate your opinion!  I covered it after I heard a dance demo of it and I really liked the track... and decided - why not?!

Any plans to do any promo in the UK?  We'd love to see you perform on our little island...
I did a couple of performances there already, but mainly for Russian audiences. I will definitely come back in the end of this year or beginning of 2008.

Well, count us in if you're visiting!  Is it true you used to be in a band with Tatu?
Yes, Julia and Lena are old friends of mine, especially Julia.  We met when we were 10 years old and sang in a children's band called "Neposedi" - its like a Russian version of the Mickey Mouse club.

We also heard you used to be in a boyband called Smash!! in Russia...Are Russian teenage girls as crazy for boybands as they are here in the UK?
Yes, Smash!! started my career in pop music.  For three years I sang together with my childhood friend Vlad Topalov.  It was a lot of fun, we were very popular and girls indeed went nuts for us!  Unfortunately it was not very satisfying in terms of finances - for thirty shows a month I used to get something like 1000 pounds. I didn't care at first, but then lots of other unpleasant things came along after that... so I decided to split and go alone.

Good decision if you ask us.  Now 'Fake' is an absolute gem of a pop song that we somehow missed along the way - what was it like filming the very wet video for this song?
When we shot this video, it was boiling hot outside - something that happens very rarely in England, but I was lucky I guess - I was actually pretty happy to be wet and the girls in the video had a lot of fun as well!

I bet they did!  So tell us about your last album 'TV Show'.  Is there a theme going on?  Can we get this album if we want to give it a whirl here in the UK or America?
I am not sure you can buy the album outside of Russia for now. There is a theme, connected to a bunch of TV shows that I took part in - the biggest of them was "Dancing on Ice" where I took 2nd place, and "Circus With The Stars", where I won!  There as aspects of those performances that are going to be reflected in my live show...

Oh really!  Very curious about that!  Now, you obviously have a thing about your hair.  How long does it take to style those lovely locks of yours?
Actually its my hair stylist who has a thing for my hair!  I myself would never change it at all if she wasn't telling me all the time - "lets try this, lets try that"... another great thing about her is that I don't have to worry about my hair at all - I wash it and that's it.

'Everytime' is such a beautiful piece of pop perfection.  Can you tell EQ readers what's this song about?  Did you have fun filming the video for this one?
'Everytime' was recorded when I wasn't feeling too happy.  Its actually about a broken relationship.  The video for this song is the only one of my videos that's actually made in Russia.  It was pretty tiring to shoot it because we had to do it at night because of my busy schedule.

Great - that's it.  Thanks for chatting with us Sergey and we do hope to get to see you live at some point - we wish you the very best and hope you won't be a stranger to our little pop/electro blog.  Any parting words for our EQ readers?
Thanks so much for your support.  I hope I won't disappoint you in the future!  Best luck and love to all!

And thank you Mr. Lazarev...let's take a look at your new video to 'TV or Radio' shall we...

More Sergey Lazarev on EQ

Sergey Lazarev video vault on EQ

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