Rudenko - Everybody

February 27, 2013 Critic Jonni 0 Comments

Rudenko, real name Leonid Rudenko, is a Russian DJ. He hit the UK charts in 2008 with this song and it's flirtatious music video, managing to score number 24, and yes I do remember buying the single. Since then he has released more singles and there's a possible album around the corner, however everyone just remembers this song, and none of his other singles have charted in the UK at all. If I had to guess why that is then I would be pointing at the video, it was shown a lot on the music channels, and I guess people loved the video just as much as the song and bought it.

"Everybody" was written by Leonid Rudenko, Kelly Barnes and Alexander Pearls. Kelly Barnes provided the vocals for the song, but after searching on the Internet, I am still not sure who she is, and whether she has sung on any other songs. She is also not the person lip-syncing in the video. Which is also what happened in Wiley Featuring Ms. D's "Heatwave". So who is she? The song is obviously isn't implicit in the meaning, and so I shall not go there since if you don't get it, I'm sure the video will help you with that.

Right, so the video links in well with the song, of course it does. Except it may be a lot more typical than you may think. As From Above, with their song "Not The Same Girl" is pretty similar but with more narrative and Little Mix also did it with "DNA", not only that but Danny & Freja's "If Only You" takes this to a new high. I'm sure there is more examples, but it suggests that we are totally fine with showing girls kidnapping guys and possibly torturing them (take that in any sense you wish). Yet some videos are banned such as Britney Spears' "Criminal" due to the showing of guns... Sometimes I can't quite get my head around the UK's decisions on some music videos.

The main dancer, who also lip-syncs to the music, is Charleene Rena. She is now known as 11ven, and trying out a singing career. She's a good dancer, and extremely sexy too, however I can see why she would want to move away from that line of work, especially since the reaction from this music video alone, and I guess there's worse about.


The choreography is expressive and all in sync, the commonality of a guy strapped to a chair is shown obsessively through-out various music videos, on the other hand this music video goes all out and makes it much more flirtatious and almost S&M if you want to take it there. And surely the ending suggests such a thing.

Overall a song that is quite daring but worked and should've pushed this guy into fame, instead he's only known for this song and it's music video, and sometimes people haven't got a clue who sung the song but remembers this video. The music video is equally daring, and links with the song perfectly. The only thing I don't like is that the person who's lip-syncing is not the person who provided the vocals.