Following the success of two consecutive singles reaching number one on the charts, Balan decided to shift his focus to the Eastern European market. In the summer of 2010 he recorded lyrical song "Lepestkami Slez" as a duet with Vera Brezhneva, who he had met in New York. The song, Balan's first in Russian, was released on October 29 and became his third consecutive number one single in Russia. Its music video was shot by Ukrainian video director Sergei Solodky and earned over 24 million views on YouTube, becoming the most watched Russian-language music video in the history of Russian music. The song was nominated for Best Duo at the awards for Russian music channel RU.TV in 2011. He won a Golden Gramophone Award, Russia's most prestigious music prize, for his single "Lepestkami Slez" at the 16th Golden Gramophone awards ceremony in the State Kremlin Palace in Moscow. The artist was nominated for the Best Romanian Act for the fourth time at the 2010 MTV Europe Music Awards.