It turned out that this fundamental decision was made by the musicians many years ago.
Experience That Changed the Approach to Competitions
Back in 1996, "Okean Elzy" participated in the music festival "Pearls of the Season" in Kyiv. At that time, each band could score a maximum of 120 points, but the jury usually refrained from giving the highest or lowest scores. "OE" earned 118 points and were confident in their victory. However, another band – "Stop-Step" received the same score.
The main prize of the competition was the opportunity to record a full album in a professional studio. "Okean Elzy" hoped to either win this award or share it with their competitors. However, the organizers made an unexpected decision – they awarded the victory to another group, even though the scores were identical.
As a consolation prize, "Okean Elzy" received something else – each member of the band got a tracksuit.
How the Musicians Used the "Prize"
This moment became pivotal for the band. As Vakarchuk recalls, they sold three tracksuits at the Lviv market, and gave the fourth one to sound engineer Valeriy Papchenko as an advance for the studio recording. The money they earned allowed the musicians to rent a studio and record a single. However, this track was never officially released.
Final Decision: No More Competitions
From this experience, the musicians learned another important lesson: they would no longer participate in competitions where they had to compete for places. Since then, "Okean Elzy" has consistently adhered to this principle – even "Eurovision" will not make them reconsider their decision.
"No matter how tempting the opportunity or goal may be, we have not changed and will not change this decision," emphasized Vakarchuk.