Little Big's Big Little Moment

Eurovision is canceled this year due to the situation with the coronavirus pandemic, but the hype around Russia’s selection isn’t dying down.

The music video for Little Big’s contending song, “Uno,” was the most popular on Eurovision’s official YouTube channel, with more than 4 million views. It’s no surprise that the group’s song is doing so well: in the first 16 hours of being on Eurovision’s channel, the song became the leader in terms of the number of likes and views.

Although Little Big only technically represented Russia for about a week before Eurovision was canceled, the group is still on the rise.

Little Big was founded in St. Petersburg in 2013. According to the group’s SoundCloud page, they are a “collaboration between a video maker, musicians, little and big individuals, models, a make-up artist, a clown millionaire and a writer,” who are joined together for their love of “satirical buffoonery” mixed with pop culture.

While everyone is disappointed that Eurovision will not be held in its traditional format this year, most would agree that canceling it was the right decision. In a post on their Instagram account, Little Big said that canceling the competition was “the only right decision in the emerging situation.”

There is some good news, though – instead of hosting the competition as usual, Eurovision will broadcast the music videos from all contestants on their YouTube channel. In this way, Eurovision will be more of a virtual concert than a competition.

Music producer Boris Barabanov said he believes that Little Big still has a bright future ahead of them, including potentially representing Russia next year at Eurovision. However, even if Little Big is selected for next year’s contest, Eurovision administrators announced that this year’s songs are ineligible for the 2021 contest. That means Little Big wouldn’t be able to use “Uno” again, but with this group’s creativity and eclectic style, who knows what they might come up with next!

Little Big is already showing off their creativity, even in self-isolation. According to group frontman Ilya Prusikin, the group is spending time outside the city working on new material. But that’s not all Prusikin has been working on: he has been painting in a style he calls “hyperrealism,” which he promised is a new way to entertain his followers.

The group is also inspiring creativity in others. A group of balalaika players in Perm recorded their own anti-virus cover of “Uno” called “Coronavirus, adios!” In Novokuznetsk, residents recorded another cover of the song featuring measures to prevent the spread of coronavirus, changing the chorus to “Wash your hands more often.”