Anja Kroeze

One of the favorites for the win is France, represented by Barbara Pravi. As one of the already placed finalists, she will perform live for the first time tomorrow. But who is she? Barbara Pravi (birth name Barbara Piévic) was born on April 10, 1993 in Paris, France. Her family consists mainly of artists and musicians. Paternal grandfather is Serbian. She has adopted the Serbian stage name Pravi (meaning: Real) as a tribute to her grandfather. She started her music career in 2014, after meeting French musician Jules Jaconelli. She started composing songs with Jaconelli. The following year, Barbara signed a contract with Capitol Music France. At the start of her professional recording career, she performed on the soundtrack of the French version of the Swiss film Heidi, then she was cast as Solange Duhamel in the musical show Un été 44 in November 2016, with songs written by Jean-Jacques Goldman , Charles Aznavour and Maxime Le Forestier. In 2017 Barbara released her first official single “Pas grandir”. The single was later included to her debut EP, which was released the following year. From 2017 to 2018, she performed in the 55 Tour, in support of French singer Florent Pagny. At the end of 2018, Barbara decided to change her music style by adopting a more traditional French chanson style. In addition to writing and composing her own songs, she has written for several other artists, including Yannick Noah, Julie Zenatti, Chimène Badi, Jaden Smith, Louane and Florent Pagny.  Barbara in 2017 In 2019 and 2020 she composed the French entries for the Junior Eurovision Song Contest; “Bim bam toi” for French teenage singer Carla in 2019 (5th place). “J’imagine”, performed by France’s Valentina, in 2020, became the first French entry to win Junior Eurovision. Barbara is very active in the fight against violence against women, as she herself has survived domestic violence. She has often contributed to music initiatives aimed at promoting charities related to women’s rights. She also participated in the recording of “Debout les femmes”, the official song for the French women’s liberation movement (Mouvement de Libération des Femmes). In previous years Barbara has been regularly asked by “France Télévisions” to be a candidate for the Eurovision Song Contest, but has always rejected it because she felt that she was not ready for it. Until 2020; She took part in the final on January 30, 2021 with the song “Voilà”, composed by herself together with Igit. She won the competition, and now represents France in the Eurovision Song Contest 2021 in Rotterdam. Barbara is in the top 3 in the polls. Tomorrow we will know if she manages to bring the profit to France. Good luck Barbara! In cooperation with: Eurovision Artists Photo-Videocredits: EBU  

Today we followed the press conference of Edsilia, Nikkie, Jan and Chantal, the hosts of this years Eurovision Song Contest. After last night’s first live show, the quartet was highly praised. They themselves experienced, especially the opening as emotional and wonderful: “When the doors opened, (and we had rehearsed it so many times), there was suddenly the real audience, the applause. It was fantastic. “ The four presenters with completely different backgrounds tell that each with their own talent completes the total picture of the qualities of the quartet. As Nikkie says: “When I need a moment of reassurance, I look at Jan, he has no nerves, Chantal teaches me: This is our house, with our rules, WE do this, and when I need the laugh of the day, then I look at Edsilia. ” She also says that in every dress she wears, the colors of the rain bloom flag have been incorporated, as an expression of support to the LGBTQI+ community. Jan told us that he was somewhat insecure in terms of language. He is used to speaking in Dutch and German, English is a bit more difficult for him. Often he wants to be too quick not to be left behind. He realizes that he must maintain his calm and his own pace in this, so as not to stumble over his own words. When asked whether he would like to participate again as an artist in the Festival, he replies in the negative: “I once had that ambition, but I left a number of years behind me. The Eurovision Song Contest is for young people, and I think I’m too old now ” To our question to Edsilla: You participated twice as an artist (she participated at eurovision in 1998 and 2007). What’s more exciting: Participate as a host, or as a singer? she replied: “My heart is with the artists. When I see them backstage I know how they feel. In my heart I am a singer, but this, I have never done anything as big as this, is really great ” Chantal picked up the moments with technical problems during the jury rehearsal and live show flawlessly. As a presenter of various live shows, she did not panic, but made the best of it. She confirms that she is the right person to handle these kinds of moments. She jokes: “In addition to “In de maneschijn ”I have rehearsed 80 songs for moments like this” The quartet comes across as relaxed and relaxed, and they look forward to the next live shows… Just like us.