I don't mean to rub salt in an old wound, but I randomly started re-listening to Samoylova and I'm still sad the Russian team did absolutely everything they could to not qualify in 2018.
More than giving her a manufactured entry (from their same tired songwriters) she couldn't sing properly and unsuitable staging that did her no justice, rejecting all her own songs was a clear sign they wanted a car crash to happen.
Samoylova could have sung her own material that 1) doesn't require vocal belts or gymnastics and 2) is way more modern, edgy and catchy than anything Russia has sent this whole decade.
I wanted her to sing something moody along the lines of "Taken By A Stranger", and it turns out she released exactly what I wanted right after the contest. I bet that song was among the ones she submitted for Lisbon. Her material is right up my alley.
What a wasted opportunity for once we had an artist with an interesting musical personality. It's also a loss for the Russian team who could have avoided a failure had they played their cards right, but I guess they are out of touch with anything out of the musical-theatre song/Kirkorov-schlager/X-factor ballad mould.
Apart from Samoylova's dream being crushed, which I'm sad about because she couldn't show her artistry at all, my endless rant about the people in charge still stands: there are so many talents in their country that could rejuvenate Russia in the contest, but instead we are given tired soulless music from the same old teams that is just decent enough to come top 10. I don't believe for a hot second Russia can win again - in this day and age with juries involved - by not re-thinking their approach. At first, I thought they were desperate to get a second victory, but apparently not, or does one have to be part of the broadcasters' tiny clan to be considered worthy? They're wasting everyone's time with their narrow-minded antiquated ideas about what to send to the contest imo.