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"My Słowianie" ( English: We Slavs), also known as "My Słowianie – We Are Slavic", is a song by Polish record producer
Donatan Witold Marek Czamara (born 2 September 1984 in Kraków), better known by his stage name Donatan, is a Polish musician, music producer and sound engineer. Donatan along with Teka co-created RafPak. Life and career Donatan was born to a Russian ...
and singer Cleo. It was released on 4 November 2013 as a digital download. The song reached number two in the Polish Airplay Chart. It at the
Eurovision Song Contest 2014 The Eurovision Song Contest 2014 was the 59th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Copenhagen, Denmark, following the country's victory at the with the song "Only Teardrops" by Emmelie de Forest. Organised by the European B ...
in
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, Denmark, where it reached 14th place overall. The performance generated mild controversy for its suggestive elements.


Background and release

The song was a parody of Polish stereotypes, aimed at internal conservatism and external images of Poland as being backwards and behind-the-times. It was recorded in Kraków Gorycki & Sznyterman. Mixing and mastering was done by the Delight band member, Jarosław "Jaro" Baran. The song is available in two versions; the Polish as "My Słowianie" and the English as "Slavic Girls" that was prepared for international music TV channels. "Slavic Girls" was played e.g. in Austria, Germany, Hungary and the UK. The song was performed in a mix of these two languages at Eurovision. However, Donatan, who acts as the producer of the song, was not on stage at the event.


Music video

The music video was released on 4 November 2013 and was directed by Piotr Smoleński. The video was shot in the Museum of Agriculture ( Muzeum Rolnictwa) in
Ciechanowiec Ciechanowiec (; )JewishGen Locality Page - Ciechanowiec, Poland
, f ...
. The video features the Song and Dance Ensemble of the Warsaw University, "Warszawianka". The video hit 15 million views on
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in less than three weeks. In May 2014, the music video received more than 44 million views for the Polish version and about 6 million views for its English version (together on VEVO and official Eurovision profile on YouTube), so "My Słowianie" became the most popular Eurovision song in history according to Internet views. The video stars model Kamila Smogulecka who is also known as Luxuria Astaroth.


2014 Eurovision performance

My Słowianie was chosen as Poland's entry for the
Eurovision Song Contest 2014 The Eurovision Song Contest 2014 was the 59th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Copenhagen, Denmark, following the country's victory at the with the song "Only Teardrops" by Emmelie de Forest. Organised by the European B ...
in
Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...
, Denmark. The performance featured dancers in traditional Polish costumes. Two of the performers were displaying significant
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, one of whom was churning butter and the other washing clothing with a washboard, both with suggestive movements. The self-parody came top of televoting in Ireland and the United Kingdom, but came last in both jury panels, therefore gaining no points overall from the two countries.Dean Vuletic, ''Postwar Europe and the Eurovision Song Contest'' page 169 Laura Wright, an English singer on the United Kingdom's 2014 Eurovision jury panel, commented "I'd say it was soft porn. It was two boobs too far for me. I was shocked to see something like that on a family show." This has caused controversy as Poland was ranked 5th in the public televote, with 162 points (top marks from the
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,
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,
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and
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). The staging was parodied again during
Eurovision Song Contest 2023 The Eurovision Song Contest 2023 was the 67th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Liverpool, United Kingdom, as , the winner of the with the song "Stefania (song), Stefania" by Kalush Orchestra, was unable to host the eve ...
where
Mel Giedroyc Melanie Clare Sophie Giedroyc ( , ; born 5 June 1968) is an English actress, comedian and television presenter. With Sue Perkins, she has co-hosted series including ''Light Lunch'' for Channel 4, '' The Great British Bake Off'' for the BBC an ...
, who is of Polish descent, in a traditional dress, was seen churning butter in the background of one of the segments.


Charts


See also

*
Poland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2014 Poland was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 2014 with the song "My Słowianie, My Słowianie – We Are Slavic" written and performed by Donatan and Cleo (Polish singer), Cleo. In December 2013, the Polish broadcaster Telewizja Polska ...


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:My Slowianie Songs in Polish Eurovision songs of Poland Eurovision songs of 2014 Articles containing video clips 2013 songs Internet memes introduced from Poland