Today, the 15th edition of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest will take place in Tbilisi, Georgia. Over the years, 227 songs from 37 different countries have been performed at the contest. Some of the participants have gone on to have successful careers in the music industry. Let’s have a look at some of those people who became “the international stars of the future”:
In 2003, the very first Junior Eurovision Song Contest was held in Copenhagen. Representing FYR Macedonia were Marija Arsovska and Viktorija Loba with “Ti ne me poznavaš”. While the duo only finished 12th on the night, Viktorija’s career was just beginning.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNw0ZuMav5w
Viktorija has released many successful singles since her Junior Eurovision appearance, including “Opium” in 2016. She attempted to represent her country at Eurovision 2015, but only finished in Skopje Fest with “Edna Edinstvena”.
At the 2004 contest in Lillehammer, María Isabel won the contest for Spain with “Antes muerta que sencilla” with 171 points, a record score which would not be broken until 2015.
María Isabel’s victory propelled her fame in Spain and Latin America. She released five albums between 2004 and 2010 and presented the children’s show Los Lunnis. After going on a hiatus to focus on her education, she returned to the spotlight in 2015 with her sixth album “Yo Decido”. She attempted to represent Spain in Eurovision 2016 with “La vida solo es una” but finished fourth in the national final.
At the 2006 contest in Bucharest, Molly Sandén placed third with “Det finaste någon kan få”, which remains Sweden’s best result in the contest to date. Her backing singers and sisters, Frida and Mimmi, also went to represent Sweden in 2007 and 2009 respectively.
Molly has been active in the music industry ever since. She has participated three times in Melodifestivalen, most recently in 2016, when she finished sixth with “Youniverse”. She recorded a Swedish version of “You Are The Music In Me” from High School Musical 2 with Ola Svensson and voiced Rapunzel in the Swedish dub of Tanlged, in which she starred alongside Eurovision 2015 winner, Måns Zelmerlöw.
Nevena Božović represented Serbia in the 2007 contest in Rotterdam and placed third with “Piši mi”. This is still Serbia’s best result in the contest.
Nevena returned to the spotlight in 2009, when she participated in the Sunčane Skale Festival with “Ti”. In 2012, she placed second in the televised singing contest “Prvi Glas Srbije”. She formed the group Moje 3 with the other two finalists of the programme, Sara Jovanović and Mirna Radulović. The group then represented Serbia at Eurovision 2013 with “Ljubav je svuda”, making Nevena the first ever artist to take part in the Junior and adult Eurovision Song Contests as a main artist.
Also at the 2007 contest, Lisa, Amy and Shelley were representing host country the Netherlands with “Adem in, adem uit”. They finished in eleventh place.
The sisters released two albums between 2007 and 2011. After a brief hiatus, they participated in the fifth season of The Voice of Holland under the new name OG3NE. The trio went on to win the show, becoming the first trio to do so on any version of The Voice worldwide. They represented the Netherlands in this year’s Eurovision Song Contest, ten years after their Junior Eurovision appearance, with the song “Lights and Shadows”. Like in Rotterdam, the sisters finished eleventh once more.
_______________________________________________________________
Sixteen countries will take part in the 15th edition of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest this year, including returning country Portugal, who haven’t participated since 2007. The contest will take place at the Olympic Palace in Tbilisi, Georgia on Sunday 26th November 2017 at 16:00 – 18:00 CET. This is the first time Georgia has hosted any Eurovision event. Helen Kalandadze and Lizi Pop, who represented Georgia in the 2014 contest with “Happy Day” will host the show. The Virus, who were the Georgian representative in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2015 with “Gabede”, will perform during the interval.
The participating countries are:
Eurovoix will bring you the latest news from the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2017 throughout this week.
Neil is from Ireland but currently lives in Belgium. He has has been an editor for Eurovoix since May 2017. He has been following the Eurovision Song Contest since 2005 and attended every contest as press since 2019. He also follows other Eurovision contests, such as the Junior Eurovision Song Contest, which he has watched since the very first edition in 2003.