When nine-year-old Isabella Levina Lueen had just won Jugend Musiziert, the acclaimed German music competition for children and adolescents, she couldn’t imagine it would be the start of her professional career.
Years later, better known as Levina, she was chosen out of 2,000 singers to represent her country in the Eurovision Song Contest in Kyiv.
She will perform in the grand final on May 13.
Levina realized what her true passion was pretty early – she was only 11 then. Performing in a musical show in a large opera house, young singer had a feeling it was a special moment.
“I thought it was amazing and wanted to do it more often,” she told the Kyiv Post.
It took time before Levina made a career out of her childhood hobby. However, a couple of days before the grand final of the Eurovision, she is sitting in the room of a Kyiv hotel with a queue of journalists behind the door, who are waiting for their turn to ask questions.
The singer’s participation in the world’s biggest singing competition started spontaneously.
“I was sitting at home doing some work for the university when I received a message from my friend that there’s an option to apply for German selection online. So I sent a link to a video where I’m singing,” she said.
In two weeks Levina got invited to an audition and later was selected for the TV show. German audience fell in love with her deep husky voice and individuality and gifted the singer a ticket to Ukraine, where Eurovision 2017 takes place.
The contestant says she feels welcomed in Kyiv.
“People are super nice, friendly and seem to be happy about the song contest taking place in the city,” she said.
Levina had a chance to get acquainted with this year’s representative of Ukraine, the band O.Torvald. She thinks they stand out from other performers.
“They’re funny and ‘anti’, very different,” she said.
Visiting the capital of Ukraine, Levina was fascinated by the architecture and the colors of the buildings.
“We had a little city tour and everything was pastel – light blue, light green, light yellow. It almost seemed like Southern Europe. Very beautiful,” she said. “I was also surprised there are so many beautiful churches,” German contestant added.
Levina says the motto of Eurovision 2017 “Celebrate Diversity” appeals to her a lot, as she is German, who lives in London and has numerous friends with different nationalities, religion views, backgrounds, and sexualities.
She believes that it is important not only to respect other people’s differences but also learn from them and share an experience.
There is a lot of discussion around the song “Perfect Life” that German singer will perform as it reminds of the famous hit “Titanium” by David Guetta and Sia released in 2011.
Levina’s song was written by the multiple platinum award-winning American songwriter Lindy Robbins and her team, who are now accused of plagiarism. Robbins worked with such celebrities as the Backstreet Boys, Shaggy, Demi Lovato, Jason Derulo, and mentioned before French DJ David Guetta.
Though the contestant understands the reason of the discussions, she says she is not really worried about it.
“Perfect Life” is a special song to Levina that sounds completely different, she says. She prefers to be focused on that rather than overthinking the unpleasant situation.
Staying positive, the singer hopes to break Germany’s chain of defeat as it has taken the last place in the Grand Final two last years in a row.
“I definitely want to change the placement of Germany. That’s the plan,” she said.
While staying in Ukraine, Levina tries to have a good time and enjoy every moment.
“If you are stressed and overwhelmed, the whole thing just flies past you and you don’t really remember it,” she said.
The contestant says she wants to be happy with the performance.
“I want to know I’ve done a good job and I’m proud of it,” she told the Kyiv Post.
