"You Are the Only One" is a song recorded by Russian singer

Sergey Lazarev Sergey Vyacheslavovich Lazarev ( rus, Серге́й Вячесла́вович Ла́зарев, , sʲɪrˈɡʲej vʲɪtɕɪˈslavəvʲɪtɕ ˈlazərʲɪf; born 1 April 1983) is a Russian singer. He is most famous for his singing career, when ...

with music composed by

Philipp Kirkorov Philipp Bedros Kirkorov (, ; ; born 30 April 1967) is a Bulgarian-born Russian pop singer. Kirkorov's career began in 1985 with participation in the Soviet musical TV show "Wider Circle". Since 2000, he has maintained public interest in his pe ...

and

Dimitris Kontopoulos Dimitris T. Kontopoulos (; born November 9, 1971) is a Greek composer. Personal life Dimitris Kontopoulos was born in Athens, Greece on November 9, 1971. After graduating from the Ziridis school, he continued his studies in film scoring at Berkle ...

and English lyrics written by John Ballard and Ralph Charlie. It in the

Eurovision Song Contest 2016 The Eurovision Song Contest 2016 was the 61st edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Stockholm, Sweden, following the country's victory at the with the song "Heroes (Måns Zelmerlöw song), Heroes" by Måns Zelmerlöw. Organis ...

held in

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

. The song was released as a digital download on 5 March 2016.You Are the Only One - Sergey Lazarev
/ref> On 28 July 2016, Lazarev released a Russian version of the song, entitled "Pust' ves' mir podozhdyot" (, "Let The Whole World Wait").

Background

Conception

"You Are the Only One" was composed by

and

, the same team behind " Shady Lady", who placed second in for ; with English lyrics by John Ballard and Ralph Charlie.

Selection

All-Russia State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company The Russian Television and Radio Broadcasting Company (RTR) or Russian Television and Radio Broadcasting Company, also known as Russia Television and Radio, is a national State media, state-owned broadcaster which operates many television and ...

(VGTRK) announced

as their performer for the of the

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), often known simply as Eurovision, is an international Music competition, song competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) among its members since 1956. Each participating broadcaster ...

. The following day, it was announced that Lazarev's was decided upon by the editorial board of VGTRK with the executive producer of the

Russia-1 Russia-1 () is a state-owned Russian television channel, first aired on 14 February 1956 as Programme Two in the Soviet Union. It was relaunched as RTR on 13 May 1991, and is known today as Russia-1. It is the flagship channel of the All-Russia ...

channel, Gennady Gokhshtein, revealing that a song produced by Philipp Kirkorov had also been selected. On 5 March 2016, VGTRK released "You Are the Only One" as along with its music video which features

Vladislava Evtushenko Vladislava Evtushenko (; born May 1, 1996) is a Russian actress, dancer, model, and beauty pageant titleholder who was placed as the 1st Runner-up of Miss Russia 2015 and appointed as Miss Universe Russia 2015. She represented Russia at the Miss ...

, Miss Universe Russia 2015.

Promotion

After its selection, Lazarev took part in a concert tour of Russia where he performed "You Are the Only One" for the first time during his concert in

Kursk Kursk (, ) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and the administrative center of Kursk Oblast, Russia, located at the confluence of the Kur (Kursk Oblast), Kur, Tuskar, and Seym (river), Seym rivers. It has a population of Kursk ...

on 20 March 2016. A performance of the song was also presented to the Russian audience for the first time during the Russia-1 programme '' Tantsi so zvezdami'' on 27 March. On 3 April, he performed during the ''Eurovision Pre-Party'', which was held at the Izvestia Hall in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

. He also made several appearances across Europe to specifically promote "You Are the Only One" as the Russian Eurovision entry. Between 11 and 13 April, he took part in promotional activities in

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( or , ; ), sometimes rendered as Tel Aviv-Jaffa, and usually referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the Gush Dan metropolitan area of Israel. Located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline and with a popula ...

, Israel and performed during the ''Israel Calling'' event held at the Ha'teatron venue. Between 13 and 14 April, he took part in promotional activities and provided interviews in Malta. On 17 April, he completed promotional activities in

Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...

, Serbia and recorded a performance for the talk show programme ''

Veče sa Ivanom Ivanovićem ''Veče sa Ivanom Ivanovićem'' () is a Serbian late-night talk show, created and hosted by Ivan Ivanović. It was initially premiere-broadcast on Prva Srpska Televizija, from 14 May 2010, before moving to Nova S Nova is a cable television n ...

'', which aired on Prva Srpska Televizija on 18 April. On 18 April, he made promotional appearances in

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

, Greece where he attended a meet and greet during a party organized by the Oikotimes website and he performed during the

MAD TV ''Mad TV'' (stylized as ''MADtv'') is an American sketch comedy television series created by David Salzman, Fax Bahr, and Adam Small. Loosely based on the humor magazine '' Mad'', ''Mad TVs pre-taped satirical sketches were primarily parodie ...

Madwalk 2016 music and fashion show.

Eurovision

On 10 May 2016, the first semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest was held in the

Globe Arena Avicii Arena, originally known as the Stockholm Globe Arena and previously as the Ericsson Globe, but commonly referred to in Swedish simply as Globen (; ), is an indoor arena located in Stockholm Globe City, Johanneshov district of Stockholm ...

in Stockholm hosted by (SVT) and broadcast live throughout the continent. Lazarev performed "You Are the Only One" ninth on the evening and qualified for the grand final. After the grand final it was revealed that it had received in its semi-final 342 points, placing first. On 14 May 2016, he performed the song again in the grand final eighteenth on the evening. The Eurovision performances featured Lazarev in front of a projection screen that displayed 3D images that he interacted with. He posed, climbed, and laid in the middle of the projection screen as various effects were projected. He was dressed in a black costume and performed choreographed movements together with the backing performers, who were also dressed in black. The stage director for the performance was Fokas Evangelinos. On stage, Lazarev was joined by five backing vocalists/dancers: Jennie Jahns, Alvaro Estrella, Johan D. Seil, Daniel Gill, and Adam Svensson. At the end of voting, the song had received 491 points placing third, winning the public televote.

Aftermath

Lazarev did a version of "You Are the Only One" in duet with

Elena Paparizou Helena Paparizou (; ; born 31 January 1982) is a Swedish-Greek singer, and television personality. Born and raised in Sweden to Greek parents, she launched her singing career in Sweden in 1999 as a member of the laïko (Greek folk music) and Eur ...

during the Home concert series to replace the .

Track listing

Charts

Weekly charts

Release history

Legacy

Nicki French version

"You Are The Only One" was also recorded and released in 2019 by

Nicki French Nicola Sharon French (born 26 September 1964) is an English singer. She is best known for her 1995 dance cover version of "Total Eclipse of the Heart", which reached the Billboard Hot 100, US and UK Singles Chart, UK top 5, and for representin ...

who herself entered the

Eurovision Song Contest 2000 The Eurovision Song Contest 2000 was the 45th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest, held on 13 May 2000 at the Globe Arena in Stockholm, Sweden and presented by Kattis Ahlström and Anders Lundin. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union ( ...

for the United Kingdom. French's version appears on the EP "Let's Play That Song Again" with production by Matt Pop.

References

{{Authority control Eurovision songs of Russia Eurovision songs of 2016 2016 songs 2016 singles Songs written by John Ballard (record producer) Songs written by Dimitris Kontopoulos Songs written by Philipp Kirkorov Sergey Lazarev songs English-language Russian songs