“The participant of the National Selection for Eurovision stated that he does not have the goal of promoting the creativity of artists from the Russian Federation.”, — write: www.unian.ua
The participant of the National Selection for Eurovision stated that he does not have the goal of promoting the creativity of artists from the Russian Federation.
ENLEO commented on his statement that Ukrainian songs are a “kolkhoz” and noted that at the time he was talking about “sharovarshchyna” / Instagram screenshotUkrainian musician ENLEO, known for the songs “Another Love”, “Take Me to the Temple”, gave an official comment on the scandal of listening to Russian music during the war. The participant of the National Selection for “Eurovision-2025” explained his position regarding the creativity of Russian singers, and also answered why he called Ukrainian songs “kolkhoz”.In December of this year, the TikTok blogger published a video with Nikita Leontiev (real name ENLEO), in which he admitted that he listens to Russian songs from time to time. In particular, tracks by Oxxxymiron, LSP and Markul were on his playlist that day. Then, in his justification, he noted that Oxxxymiron had left the Russian Federation and did not support the war in Ukraine. However, this did not save him from the wave of hate that flooded the network.
Two weeks after the scandal, the singer got in touch and commented on the incident on his Instagram. He emphasized that he did not aim to promote the music of the aggressor country, and also noted that no new Russian songs have appeared in his playlist for almost 10 years. However, this does not mean that he did not listen to Russian rappers. The musician confirmed that his playlist included songs that appeared in the video. ENLEO added that this scandal was indicative for him and became a lesson.
“This situation became an important lesson for me. I won’t make excuses, it’s true, I did listen to songs by Russian artists the day before that video, but I want to note that since 2015, not a single Russian song has appeared in my Apple Music library, it was only a story of auditions, but I, as an artist, am responsible for my actions. My goal was never to promote Russian music, promote Russian culture, that’s why that for me, as an artist from Mariupol, Russia has been an absolute evil since 2014. I understand the indignation about this situation, I hope it will be an impetus to think again about what we fill our information space with,” said Leontiev .
In addition, Nikita commented on his other scandalous statement. In one of the last interviews, he called Ukrainian music a “kolkhoz” and said that there are only a few artists in Ukraine that he listens to. According to him, at that time he spoke about the so-called “sharovarshchyna” in music, and, they say, now he is “inspired by Ukrainian performers.”
“Unfortunately, my words were simply taken out of context, because I had in mind superficial template material, which you and I managed to call “sharovarshchyna”. Of course, I love Ukrainian music and am inspired by Ukrainian artists. For me, Ukrainian music is my life, and I always want to do it,” the musician said.
We will remind you that ENLEO has briefly commented on this scandal before. Then he said that he was going through a difficult period because of the hate he received online. Although the artist does not know for sure, he believes that the incident affected the absence of his name in the shortlist of the National Selection.
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