Another act has been chosen for the Junior Eurovision Song Contest (JESC), which takes places on 21 November in Sofia. Russia, one of the most successful countries in JESC, has selected rising star Mikhail Smirnov (Михаил Смирнов) to sing and defend an impressive record. With one win (2006) and two runners-up (2009 and 2010), there are high hopes for November.

Mikhail, or Misha to his friends,  was selected through a televised national final. Eighteen songs took part, and there was a 50/50 televoting/jury split to decide the winner. Almost 100,000 televotes were received, and eventual runner-up Maria Mirova being (narrowly) the public’s favourite. The seven-member jury included Philipp Kirkorov and Julia Savicheva – who you may know from the senior ESC, and Alisa Kozhikina, who sang for Russia in the 2014 JESC in Malta. The song is called Mechta/Мечта and means ‘Dreams’. Coincidentally, the titles of Russia’s previous two JESC entries were also based around the word ‘Dream’.

Misha is 12 and from Moscow. He’s been an actor for a few years, and he was also a finalist in the Russian children’s version of ‘The Voice’. So Misha’s got a good pedigree behind him, and this should stand him on good stead in Sofia.

Here’s his winning performance. What do you think about it?

https://youtu.be/C4V8Qg7_YYM

Author: John Stanton

Source: Junioreurovision.tv