MELOVIN will take part in the national selection for Eurovision for the third time and has a great chance of winning
MELOVIN became one of the favorites in the national selection for Eurovision. In an exclusive interview with Telegraph, the singer explained what radical changes had taken place in his life, what tattoo he got in honor of his father, and why he dyed his hair and changed his image.
– Having dyed your hair white, you returned to your first image. What is this metamorphosis connected with?
– I spent almost six months undergoing active psychotherapy, which I turned to after panic attacks and some other life difficulties that I did not talk about. But fans find some clues in my music about what is happening in my personal life. Also, I gave up alcohol after I found out I have diabetes.. And this shocked me too. I realized that I was by no means on the path where I began to destroy myself. It became clear to me that I want to be a person who is outside of time and space. Therefore, I asked myself the questions: why are you destroying yourself so much, who hurt you so much? Or did you hurt yourself so much that you stopped respecting yourself? Therefore, I decided in this way, by dyeing my hair, to show that I had undergone a metamorphosis. I feel like that now and I don’t want any shocking. Something started to seem wild to me now. The metamorphosis for me is that before shocking, negative expression and coldness were like a cocoon for a butterfly. This was necessary for my own understanding of who I really am, who I see myself in the future. I realized that I wanted to be myself and didn’t want to play roles.
– You have a tattoo of a glass of wine on your finger. Did you make it after you were banned from drinking alcohol?
– No, it happened before. My father makes wine at home. You understand – Odessa, a private house where grapes grow. When I wrote the New Year's song “Magnificent Moment”, which contains the line “With daddy's wine.” It was after this that I decided to fill a glass of wine as a sign that it was the father. And I did it on my thumb because it's like a sign of great power. I wanted to capture him this way, because his love for life lies in his craft. Because it’s not so much about wine, but about creating a family circle, warmth, these get-togethers. It was not alcohol that united us, but his love for us all to get together.
– You shocked many with your message that you have diabetes. Are you already using insulin?
– No, I don’t have type 1 diabetes. I have MODY diabetes, which is transmitted genetically. The only thing that baffles me is his reproductive rate. I understand that if I want to have a child, he will have diabetes. You need to be prepared for this, but this is about the distant future. But it still eats me up. I talked to my doctor about it and found out more.. You can live with this, but I had to greatly change my life and diet, eating habits and give up alcohol. And also to ensure that there is less stress, because it has a huge impact. Recently I was so stressed that my blood sugar rose to nine. Why do I need it? At the same time, the stage does not stress me, only some life things. I always have medicine with me. God grant that the moment will come when I won’t need them and I’ll just eat right. For now, only drug therapy.
– If you win the national selection and go to the main competition, how much space can there be in your act to show Europe what kind of war we are having?
– I am against this phrase – music is outside of politics. I was once a fool and thought so. Firstly, because I was young and did not know what politics was. Secondly, this obsessive phrase that there is no politics at the table. And you sit there like a moron and really don’t understand anything about what’s going on. You don’t even understand that you were once Russified, and it wasn’t even your choice. I will never shout: “Why not at the state level!” I am only responsible for my life. As for the performance at the competition, my song “Dreamer” is about dreams. We dream of victory. Dreams are special for everyone. Therefore, it can be interpreted in different ways. Of course, all Ukrainians dream of one thing. But Europeans will not understand this and will not think about war, because they have their own dreams. But with the help of press meetings held at Eurovision, you can draw parallels and remind people that we are at war and people can influence our dreams to come true.
– After you have come out, are you ready for the fact that during the national selection the presenters can joke about it a lot?
– I'm sure this won't happen. We are now the focus of attention in Europe, so no one will allow this to be done from the stage live to the wider public. They allow themselves to do this on YouTube on certain channels or TV series that have a lot of sexism. It seems that they want to raise people to be some kind of cattle. I'm against cancel culture because it doesn't work. But I am for people to engage in their own development and understand that now this is not ok. We already live in the 21st century. Yes, people have the right not to accept something. But let's not insult each other. For example, I'm not a religious person, but I don't yell at someone not to go to church. In the case of orientation, it is not my choice to be bisexual. I would not like to live my whole life and constantly hear insults addressed to me.
– After all this fell on your head, do you regret that you announced it to the whole country?
– When you remember that we are all mortal and the day “X” will always come, then this is the only thing we know in our lives 100 percent. This makes everything else in life very small and insignificant.. I am for living life beautifully and brightly so that there is something to remember. So that my path inspires dreamers like me. Once upon a time as a child, I would go up to the fence at night, so no one could see, with a notepad and pen and sign autographs for myself.. I liked to visualize what I could be like when I grew up.. No matter how much we say: “Don’t make yourself an idol,” we are still spying on something from someone. Therefore, the most important thing is to ensure that the nation and the people around us are healthy. To have respect for each other.
– When you participated in the two previous national selections, you had the most powerful fan base. How powerful is it now, will it help you win again?
– I think there is another person who needs to be asked this question this year since his fan base is larger. This is YAKTAK. Therefore, finally, I will be calm, because they will not say about me that these Melovinators voted for me. But I say this with self-irony. Because he’s great, he perfectly hit the bull’s eye of his target audience. And that's cool! I was not raised in a coordinate system of envy.