Season Finale "Spotify: Mic Check": Ukrainian Rapper Oleh Psiuk

 Music isn't simply an entertainment medium. It also has the ability to inspire, motivate and energize.

In perhaps no other nation in the world can music play such a pivotal role as in Ukraine. Under attack by Russia, an authoritarian regime with visions of resurrecting its empire, the nation is fortunate to have Ukrainian rapper and frontman of Kalush Orchestra Oleh Psiuk. The band’s sound mixes old Ukrainian folklore with contemporary hip-hop.

 Spotify has just released the final episode of the year in its original podcast series, Spotify: Mic Check. - a series aimed at connecting fans with the world’s biggest creators from around the globe through exclusively intimate conversations. 

Fresh off their 2022 Eurovision Song contest win for the Ukrainian power anthem “Stefania,” Kalush Orchestra frontman Oleh Psiuk sits down with Spotify: Mic Check for an intimate conversation on winning Eurovision, returning to his home country during the Russian invasion, giving back to his country and receiving support from President Zelenskyy amidst a tumultuous time.

Earlier this year, Spotify pledged its support for Ukraine by rebranding its Music of Ukraine playlist as UNITED24: Music For Ukraine, featuring a special video message from  President Zelenskyy. The playlist also includes a donation link within the app to support the organization  UNITED24 - a global initiative to support Ukraine that was launched by President Zelenskyy. 

For more information on Spotify’s commitment to supporting Ukraine, you can check out Spotify’s For The Record blog. 

 Available to stream for free exclusively on Spotify, please see below for interview highlights in the episode.

• Oleh Psiuk on coming home from winning Eurovision and experiencing the Russian invasion. 
• “The day the war began, we were returning from the city of Dnipro to Kyiv. We were on tour and had performed earlier that night. We were driving through Boryspil, and we were there. We heard the explosions. It was also on the news. It was five in the morning. We understood our influence as musicians, and we’ve tried to be useful in that respect.”

• Oleh Psiuk on receiving support from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyyadmidst the Eurovision Song Contest and impending war with Russia.
• “On the eve of Eurovision, our President Zelenskyy made a video where he said, “guys, come on and show your best at Eurovision.” And I realized that the president during the war shot a video directed at me. I think it's very important. Actually, Eurovision has always meant a lot to Ukrainians, but during the war it was followed even by Ukrainians who didn’t know about our band, maybe, and didn’t know about Eurovision. But it was important to everyone how we would represent our country this year.”

• Oleh Psiuk on returning to Ukraine and uniting his country after winning Eurovision.
• “It has been and will always be important. And when we returned to Ukraine a few days after the victory, we really noticed that we managed to actually raise the spirits of Ukrainians. We were met by people abroad, at the border in Lviv, at numerous locations, and they just gathered together there and sang with us, and I saw how it was important for people.”

• Oleh Psiuk on Kalush Orchestra giving back to their country financially after Eurovision.
• "After Eurovision, we thought “what else could we do to help Ukraine?” and realized that this was a newsbreak, and we had a real chance to make a big deal with the trophy. That's how it happened. We sold it for nine hundred thousand dollars, and we also sold my Eurovision bucket hat for eleven million hryvnia. It turned out to be a kind of double contribution, and we’re happy that we managed to help our country this way."

 You can listen to Spotify: Mic Check here.