How foreigners reacted to Manizha (MANIZHA)

On March 8, 2021, it became known that Manizha will represent Russia at the Eurovision Song Contest. MANIZHA is an author and performer, an independent musician: at the competition, the girl will represent the country with the song “Russian Woman” (Russian Woman). This was decided by the viewers of the First Channel by SMS-voting conducted live. However... not everyone liked the contestant's candidacy... For example, Valentina Matvienko and Vladimir Zhirinovsky criticized both the contestant herself and her song about Russian women... Why? Actually, let's discuss this in more detail, and also find out the reaction of foreigners to our singer and her number "Russian Woman"!

A little about MANIZHA

In March 2021, by live audience voting, the singer Manizha was elected as a Eurovision 2021 contestant: the girl will represent Russia at the international music competition with the song "Russian Woman"! However… such a decision of the viewers of the First Channel caused a flurry of hateful comments on the Internet… Some were hurt by the Tajik roots of the Russian contestant, others – by the message of her number… “Couldn’t you find Russians?” / "The vote was rigged!" - such comments rained down on the girl ... It got to the point that the public began to demand the replacement of the performer from Russia! “It would be better if Little Big went to the contest…” — social media users write. Some journalists and critics speak very unflatteringly about Manizh: for example, Yuri Kotenok called the singer an “immigrant” who made her career “on the agenda of minorities ...” At the same time, many defended the singer, expressing words of support and wishes of good luck at the competition.

Many literally attacked the girl after she openly stated that she supports minorities. Manizha is an ardent human rights activist - she is against domestic violence! She wants to help people, in particular, the fairer sex: “It is important for me to help girls and women not be afraid to be themselves ...” - says the singer.

The meaning of the song "Russian Woman"

The song "Russian Woman" has already become one of the noisiest tracks on the Internet! And, unfortunately, not because everyone likes it so much ... Many listeners and critics called the MANIZHA number for Eurovision "absurd" and even "offensive" for real Russians. In her song, Manizha talks about the "transformation of female identity in Russia over the past few centuries." There were also hidden subtexts here, for example: “You are already over 30, hello, where are your children?” / You are generally beautiful, but you can lose weight ... ”All this is also a reference to minorities, namely women who are fighting for gender equality. It can be said that this is a kind of irony ... Manizha sings of the strength and beauty of Russian women, and encourages them to be independent of public opinion! Only a few appreciate it...

The reaction of the conservative stratum of society

At the moment, a serious investigation is underway in Russia regarding the extent to which the lyrics of the song are legal ... The commission investigating serious crimes said that they received a request from a government agency about "possible illegal statements contained in the song "Russian Woman""! And this is far from all the difficulties that MANIZHA will have to face ... The Union of Russian Orthodox Women calls on the government of the Russian Federation to ban the music video for the song "Russian Woman", and also change the name! It follows from the letter that in this way Manizha "destroys the foundations of the traditional family", and also "provokes hatred of men from Russian women." In addition, the website “Veterany Vesti” expressed its protest: a letter to Alexander Bastrikin was published on it, which states that the song “Russian Woman” was written by the singer specifically with the aim of “offending and humiliating the dignity of Russian women ...”

The song was criticized by Valentina Matvienko and the senators: the Chairman of the Federation Council commented that she did not understand “what it is and what it is about”, and also added that it would not hurt to check how the First Channel vote was held:

https://youtu.be/Q3oFUxL3T-Q

Liberal Democratic Party leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky also criticized Manizha: “I don’t think this will have a positive impact on the image of Russian women and Russia as a whole!”

https://youtu.be/hIbWhQjWrQk

However, there were also those who expressed words of support... For example, Iosif Prigozhin did not hide the fact that the meaning of the song remained incomprehensible to him. He also added that, in his opinion, Manizha’s chances of winning are very small ... But with all this, the music producer described Manizha as a performer who “sings Russian folk cool despite her roots!”

The reaction of foreigners

“Foreigners like it, but the Russian people do not” - no matter how paradoxical it may sound, but it really is. For some reason, the foreign audience took Manizha's number with genuine delight! Perhaps this is due to the fact that not every foreigner will understand the true meaning of the song about Russian women? Who knows... Nevertheless, foreign listeners noted both the vocal and external data of the performer, as well as the dynamism of the track itself! Actually, let's see!

And also the reaction of the Ukrainian listener, let's see:

Conclusion…

In her interview, MANIZHA stated that her goal is to demonstrate the generosity and openness of Russia in the competition:

“For me, participation in this competition will be a great opportunity to share with this vast world what is really important for me, important for every Russian woman ... I was born in Tajikistan, but Russia became my home ... I grew up here, I was brought up here. And I want everyone to know how generous and unlike everything else Russia is ... "