We have to hope that it won’t get nul points. The singer may be Russian and the chorus overblown but the song originates from Scotland.
John Ballard, a songwriter from Glasgow, is the unlikely mastermind of Russia’s bid for glory at the Eurovision Song Contest in eight days’ time.
Few in Scotland may have heard of Ballard, 64, but his songs have sold millions worldwide and he is part of the team behind Sergey Lazarev’s You Are The Only One, the hotly tipped favourite at this year’s competition in Stockholm.
Ballard has lived in Sweden since the 1970s having given up a place at the University of Aberdeen for the music industry. Since then he has pursued a successful music career as one of the songwriters and producers for groups including the Swedish pop band Ace of Base, which have sold 30 million albums worldwide. He even had his own TV show.
He also has Eurovision pedigree. This will be his third attempt at the title after coming second in 2013 with Azerbaijan’s entry Hold Me and seventh in 2014 with Shine, another Russian song.
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The roots of his latest entry are in Scotland; the chorus is inspired by an old song by the late Scottish folk singer Hamish Imlach.
“As a lyricist I’m sitting thinking what to write and I remembered Hamish Imlach’s Zoological Gardens, and it starts exactly the same as this — this suits this Russian guy down to the nail,” Ballard explained. “It just felt right and the Russians loved it.”
To the Swedes, however, his work for another country feels like a betrayal. “The Eurovision Song Contest for most countries in Europe is like the World Cup,” he said. “There are flags, it’s so patriotic.
“In Sweden, I’m a well-known name in the industry so they are not really chuffed about me writing something for the Russians that is turning out to be a favourite.”
Writing for foreign bands has its perks. He has accumulated more than 200 gold, platinum and diamond records that adorn the walls of his Tuff Studios complex in Gothenburg.
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It also presents a unique challenge. “When you are writing songs, you’ve got to choose words with syllables they can pronounce. Originally the song was called Ticket to the Moon. But there was no way they could pronounce it. I wrote various lyrics backwards and forwards. Every syllable has got to be right. They learn the lyrics phonetically.”
He likes the UK’s hope, You’re Not Alone, performed by the duo Joe and Jake, but believes that the country needs to do more to embrace Eurovision.
“The opinion here is that the UK are not really interested any more, they never spend much time or effort. I think that’s a shame. We discovered pop music.”
If Britain is struggling next year Ballard would be happy to help. “I’d love it, that would be a dream come true.”