"Russian Woman" (russian: Русская женщина, Russkaya zhenshchina, stylised in

all caps In typography, all caps (short for "all capitals") refers to text or a font in which all letters are capital letters, for example: "THIS TEXT IS IN ALL CAPS". All caps may be used for emphasis (for a word or phrase). They are commonly seen in ...

) is a song by Russian-Tajik singer

Manizha Manizha Dalerovna Sangin (''née'' Khamrayeva; russian: Мани́жа Дале́ровна Санги́н (Хамра́ева); tg, Манижа Далеровна Ҳамроева; born 8 July 1991), known professionally as simply Manizha, is ...

, independently released as a

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

on 19 March 2021. The song represented Russia in the

Eurovision Song Contest 2021 The Eurovision Song Contest 2021 was the 65th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Rotterdam, Netherlands, following the country's win at the with the song "Arcade" by Duncan Laurence. The Netherlands was set to host the , ...

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...

, the Netherlands, after winning the national final '' Evrovidenie 2021 – Nacionalniy Otbor''. To date, this is the last Russian entry in the Eurovision Song Contest, after the country was excluded from the .

Background

Controversy

Many Russian viewers took offense to a singer of Tajik descent singing about Russian women and to the singer's activism for

LGBT rights Rights affecting lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people vary greatly by country or jurisdiction—encompassing everything from the legal recognition of same-sex marriage to the death penalty for homosexuality. Notably, , 33 ...

and

women's rights Women's rights are the rights and entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st centuries. In some countries, ...

, and left hate comments on the video and her

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account, demanding that she drop out of Eurovision.

Yelena Drapeko Yelena Grigoryevna Drapeko (russian: Еле́на Григо́рьевна Драпе́ко; born 29 October 1948) is a Soviet and Russian theatre and film actress. She has appeared in more than 30 films and television shows since 1972. She is a ...

, First Deputy Chairman of the

State Duma The State Duma (russian: Госуда́рственная ду́ма, r=Gosudárstvennaja dúma), commonly abbreviated in Russian as Gosduma ( rus, Госду́ма), is the lower house of the Federal Assembly of Russia, while the upper house ...

Committee on Culture, suggested banning Manizha from performing in Eurovision under the Russian flag, commenting also that Eurovision offered no cultural value and was too politicized and pro-LGBT.

Eurovision Song Contest

The song was selected to represent

Russia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2021 Russia participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2021 in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. The Russian broadcaster Channel One Russia (C1R) organised a national selection to determine the Russian representative. , this was Russia's final entry at th ...

, after

was selected through ''Evrovidenie 2021 – Nacionalniy Otbor''. The semi-finals of the 2021 contest featured the same line-up of countries as determined by the draw for the 2020 contest's semi-finals. Russia was placed into the first semi-final, held on 18 May 2021, and passed into finals. The final was held on 22 May 2021, and the song got 9th place with 204 points.

Charts

Release history

References

{{Authority control 2020 songs 2021 singles Russian-language songs Eurovision songs of 2021 Eurovision songs of Russia Songs with feminist themes Songs written by Ori Kaplan