Listen: Ukraine’s Eurovision 2024 representative, Jerry Heil, and Eurovision 2023 host, Julia Sanina, have released a new song called “WABI-SABI” that presents a deep message about Ukrainian reality.
Jerry Heil, Ukraine’s representative at Eurovision 2024, and Julia Sanina, Eurovision 2023 host, have unveiled a unique music video for their new song “WABI-SABI”. The song draws inspiration from the Japanese philosophy of “wabi-sabi”, which embraces change and finds beauty in imperfection.
The video aims to reflect the deep meanings of modern reality in Ukraine resulting from the Russia-Ukraine war through music and visual art. The video also features the art of “kintsugi”, which repairs broken pottery using gold. This repair symbolizes the transformation of loss and pain into something positive, beautiful, and valuable.
Emerging Stronger from War
Jerry Heil comments on the choice of this art form in the video, describing how one can emerge stronger from war, like broken vessels receiving new forms thanks to gold:
“Today, you can’t find a single Ukrainian without mental or physical trauma. It’s a new reality we must accept, and in this reality, new understandings of beauty also emerge.”
Julia Sanina adds:
“As we pick ourselves up from the ruins, like a broken vase, we become even stronger, even more beautiful. We become different and learn to love ourselves as we are now. This is an art that we are all learning as a society because we will never be who we were before.”
A Symbol of Hope and Resilience
The video also features Julia Grigorieva, a graduate of the “Superhumans” center, which rehabilitates Ukrainians physically and mentally affected by the war. Her presence in the clip symbolizes a new reality, strength, and beauty that arise even in the most difficult times.
“WABI-SABI” aims to be more than just a musical creation, but also a powerful message to anyone going through a difficult time, reminding that beauty can be born even from the darkest places.
About Jerry Heil and Julia Sanina
Jerry Heil represented Ukraine at Eurovision 2024 alongside Alyona Alyona, where they finished third. Prior to Eurovision 2024, the singer participated in the Ukrainian national final in 2020 with the song “Vegan”, which placed sixth and last in the final, and in 2023 with the song “When God Shut the Door”, which reached third place.
Julia Sanina is a Ukrainian singer, best known as the lead vocalist of the band “The Hardkiss“. The band is no stranger to the Eurovision world, having reached second place in the Ukrainian national selection in 2016 with the song “Helpless”. She later served as a judge on the Ukrainian version of the TV show “X Factor”. As part of the collaboration between the UK, which hosted Eurovision 2023, and Ukraine, which won Eurovision 2022 but couldn’t host due to the war, it was decided to include a Ukrainian host, and Julia Sanina was chosen to co-host the competition alongside three British presenters.
Ukraine in Eurovision 2024
Jerry Heil and Alyona Alyona represented Ukraine at Eurovision 2024 with the song “Teresa & Maria.” The duo won the Ukrainian national selection “Vidbir 2024” and finished third in the Eurovision final with 453 points.
Their entry is notable for being the first since 2002 to place in the top 5 while performing second in the running order, a position traditionally considered challenging in Eurovision statistics.
Source: meta.ua
Eurovision 2025: This will be Ukraine’s 20th participation in the Eurovision Song Contest. Ukraine joined the competition in 2003 and has won it three times. Ukraine’s last victory was in Eurovision 2022 with the song “Stefania” performed by Kalush Orchestra.
