Irina "Iru" Khechanovi (; born 3 December 2000), also known mononymously as Iru (stylised in

all caps In typography, all caps (short for "all capitals") refers to text or a font in which all letters are capital letters, for example: "THIS TEXT IS IN ALL CAPS". All caps may be used for emphasis (for a word or phrase). They are commonly seen in ...

), is a Georgian singer and songwriter. As a member of the girl group

Candy Candy, also called sweets (British English) or lollies (Australian English Australian English (AusE, AusEng, AuE, AuEng, en-AU) is the set of varieties of the English language native to Australia. It is the country's common language an ...

, she won the

Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2011 The Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2011 was the ninth edition of the annual Junior Eurovision Song Contest, and took place in Yerevan, Armenia at the Karen Demirchyan Sports and Concerts Complex. It was the first time in history of the Junior Euro ...

with the song "Candy Music". In 2023, she won the fifth season of ''

The Voice Georgia ''The Voice'' (), known in English as ''The Voice Georgia'', is a Georgian reality television show and singing competition broadcast on 1TV. From seasons one through three, the show was called ''The Voice of Georgia'' (, , ) and was broadcast ...

'', therefore winning the right to represent Georgia in the

Eurovision Song Contest 2023 The Eurovision Song Contest 2023 is the upcoming 67th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It is set to take place in Liverpool, United Kingdom, after , winner of the with the song "Stefania" by Kalush Orchestra, was unable to meet the demand ...

, to be held in

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, United Kingdom.

Biography

Khechanovi was born on 3 December 2000 in

Tbilisi Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), is the Capital city, capital and the List of cities and towns in Georgia (country), largest city of Georgia (country), Georgia, lying on the ...

. She is of

Armenian Armenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia * Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent ** Armenian Diaspora, Armenian communities across the ...

descent. As a child, she took part in various singing competitions. In 2011, on her eleventh birthday, she represented Georgia in the

Yerevan Yerevan ( , , hy, Երևան , sometimes spelled Erevan) is the capital and largest city of Armenia and one of the world's List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest continuously inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Y ...

, Armenia as a member of the girl group

. The group won the competition with 108 points. Candy JESC 2011

In 2019, Khechanovi was a participant in ''

Georgian Idol ''Geostari'' (Georgian: ჯეოსტარი) is the Georgian franchise of the Idol series, which airs on Rustavi 2. Georgia is the fifth former Soviet country to have acquired an ''Idol'' franchise after Armenia, Estonia, Kazakhstan, and Ru ...

''. In 2021, she released her debut solo single "No Jerk Around Me". In 2022, Khechanovi performed at the

Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2022 The Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2022 was the 20th edition of the annual Junior Eurovision Song Contest. The contest took place in Yerevan, Armenia on 11 December 2022, following the country's victory at the with the song "" by Maléna (sin ...

as part of a previous winners' medley. She had also co-written the song "I Believe" by Mariam Bigvava, the Georgian entry for that year's contest. The entry finished in third place. Later that year, Khechanovi was a participant in the fifth season of ''

''. She went on to win the competition on 2 February 2023, thereby winning the right to represent Georgia in the

. Her entry "Echo" was released on 16 March 2023, and she is set to perform in the second semi-final on 11 May 2023.

Discography

Singles

* 2021 – "No Jerk Around Me" * 2022 – "Not Like Today" * 2022 – "Tu mama" * 2023 – "Idea" * 2023 – "Echo"

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Khechanovi, Iru 2000 births Living people 21st-century women singers from Georgia (country) Eurovision Song Contest entrants for Georgia (country) Eurovision Song Contest entrants of 2023 Idols (franchise) participants Musicians from Tbilisi Pop singers from Georgia (country) Georgian people of Armenian descent The Voice (franchise) winners