Larisa Roxana Giurgiu (; born 5 January 2000), known professionally as Roxen (), is a Romanian singer who rose to prominence after being featured on Romanian producer Sickotoy's " You Don't Love Me" (2019), which reached number three in

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

and received radio airplay in several other countries. The singer's following singles, " Ce-ți cântă dragostea" and "Spune-mi", eventually peaked atop the national chart. Roxen was scheduled to represent Romania in the

Eurovision Song Contest 2020 The Eurovision Song Contest 2020 was planned to be the 65th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It would have taken place in Rotterdam, Netherlands, following the country's victory at the with the song "Arcade" by Duncan Laurence. The con ...

with the song " Alcohol You" before the event's

coronavirus disease 2019 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickly ...

(COVID-19)-related cancellation. Instead, Roxen was internally selected as the country's representative for the 2021 contest with the song "

Amnesia Amnesia is a deficit in memory caused by brain damage or disease,Gazzaniga, M., Ivry, R., & Mangun, G. (2009) Cognitive Neuroscience: The biology of the mind. New York: W.W. Norton & Company. but it can also be caused temporarily by the use ...

", but failed to progress from the first semi-final, finishing in 12th place.

Life and career

2000–2019: Early life and career beginnings

Born Larisa Roxana Giurgiu on 5 January 2000 in

Cluj-Napoca ; hu, kincses város) , official_name=Cluj-Napoca , native_name= , image_skyline= , subdivision_type1 = Counties of Romania, County , subdivision_name1 = Cluj County , subdivision_type2 = Subdivisions of Romania, Status , subdivision_name2 ...

, Roxen discovered a passion for music at the age of seven and took singing and piano lessons. Signed by

Global Records Global Records is a Romanian independent record label founded in 2008 by Ștefan Lucian. History Global Records's first signed artist was Inna in 2008, whose career has been spanning over 10 years. She has released a series of international ...

, the singer was featured on Romanian producer Sickotoy's " You Don't Love Me" in August 2019. The song attained commercial success in Romania, reaching number three on the country's Airplay 100 chart, and being playlisted by radio stations in several territories including France, the United States, Russia and Spain. Roxen's debut solo single " Ce-ți cântă dragostea" released later that year in November peaked at number one in Romania.

Music critics Music journalism (or music criticism) is media criticism and reporting about music topics, including popular music, classical music, and traditional music. Journalists began writing about music in the eighteenth century, providing commentary on w ...

have since regarded Roxen's primary genre as being

deep house Deep house is a subgenre of house music that originated in the 1980s, initially fusing elements of Chicago house with the lush chords of 1980s jazz-funk and touches of soul music. Its origins are attributed to the early recordings of Larry Heard ( ...

, and compared the singer's music style and appearance to that of

Dua Lipa Dua Lipa ( , ; born ) is an English and Albanian singer and songwriter. Possessing a mezzo-soprano vocal range, she is known for her signature disco- pop sound. Lipa has received numerous accolades, including six Brit Awards, three Gramm ...

and

Billie Eilish Billie Eilish Pirate Baird O'Connell ( ; born December 18, 2001) is an American singer-songwriter. She first gained public attention in 2015 with her debut single " Ocean Eyes", written and produced by her brother Finneas O'Connell, with whom ...

. In a București FM interview, Roxen cited

Beyoncé Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter ( ; born September 4, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Beyoncé's boundary-pushing artistry and vocals have made her the most influential female musician of the 21st century, according to ...

as a major inspiration.

2020–present: Eurovision and continued success

In early February 2020, it was reported that Roxen was one of three artists shortlisted to represent Romania at the

; broadcaster

Romanian Television Televiziunea Română (), more commonly referred to as TVR , is the short name for Societatea Română de Televiziune ("Romanian Television Society"; SRTV), the Romanian public television. It operates six channels: TVR1, TVR2, TVR3, TVR Info, T ...

(TVR) had collaborated with Global Records for the selection. On 11 February, the singer was revealed by TVR as the Romanian representative. The five songs for ''

Selecția Națională Romania has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 22 times since its debut in , and has placed in the top ten six times. Its best results were achieved by Luminița Anghel and Sistem in , and by Paula Seling and Ovi in , who both finish ...

''—" Alcohol You", "Beautiful Disaster", "Cherry Red", "Colors" and "Storm"—were released on 21 February. "Alcohol You" emerged as the winner of the national final on 1 March. However, on 18 March, the

European Broadcasting Union The European Broadcasting Union (EBU; french: Union européenne de radio-télévision, links=no, UER) is an alliance of Public broadcasting, public service media organisations whose countries are within the European Broadcasting Area or who ar ...

(EBU) announced the cancellation of the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 due to the

pandemic A pandemic () is an epidemic of an infectious disease that has spread across a large region, for instance multiple continents or worldwide, affecting a substantial number of individuals. A widespread endemic (epidemiology), endemic disease wi ...

of the

(COVID-19). Although TVR had considered retaining "Alcohol You" as a song for the

Eurovision Song Contest 2021 The Eurovision Song Contest 2021 was the 65th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Rotterdam, Netherlands, following the country's win at the with the song " Arcade" by Duncan Laurence. The Netherlands was set to host the ...

, EBU soon after announced that intended 2020 entries were not eligible for the following year. Roxen was nonetheless internally selected for the 2021 contest. In June 2020, the singer was hired as the brand ambassador for Romanian box-dye hair color product Loncolor Expert HEMPstyle, appearing on product packagings and in a commercial which prominently featured the ''Selecția Națională'' entry "Storm". Starting with the release of "How to Break a Heart" in July, Roxen had been benefiting from a promotional campaign for which Global Records partnered with

Warner Music Warner Music Group Corp. ( d.b.a. Warner Music Group, commonly abbreviated as WMG) is an American multinational entertainment and record label conglomerate headquartered in New York City. It is one of the " big three" recording companies and t ...

. In October, Roxen scored a second number-one single on the Airplay 100 with "Spune-mi". "

", Roxen's Eurovision 2021 entry, was selected by an internal jury panel and released on 4 March. It was performed in the first semi-final of the contest on 18 May 2021, but failed to qualify for the final, finishing in 12th place with 85 points. By January 2022, Roxen's collaboration with DMNDS and Strange Fruits Music on "Money Money" (2021) had reached the top ten on music charts in the

Commonwealth of Independent States The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) is a regional intergovernmental organization in Eurasia. It was formed following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. It covers an area of and has an estimated population of 239,796,010. ...

(CIS) and Russia. "Dincolo de Marte" (2021), a collaboration with

Randi Randi is both a given name, and a nickname in the English language, popular in North America and Norway. It is primarily a feminine name, although there is recorded usage of the name by men. It may have originated as a pet form of '' Miranda'' o ...

, was also successful, peaking at number two in Romania in April 2022. "UFO", the song that was placed behind "Amnesia" to represent Romania at Eurovision, was also a number-two hit in Poland and attained a

gold certification Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...

from the

Polish Society of the Phonographic Industry The Polish Society of the Phonographic Industry ( pl, Związek Producentów Audio-Video, ZPAV) is the trade organization that represents the interests of the music industry in Poland, and the Polish chapter of the International Federation of the ...

(ZPAV) in the country.

Personal life

At the age of 14, Roxen was diagnosed with

lyme disease Lyme disease, also known as Lyme borreliosis, is a vector-borne disease caused by the ''Borrelia'' bacterium, which is spread by ticks in the genus ''Ixodes''. The most common sign of infection is an expanding red rash, known as erythema migran ...

. Roxen is

vegetarian Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slaughter. Vegetarianism m ...

. As of June 2020, the singer resides in

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...

. At the beginning of the same month, Roxen was allegedly emotionally abused and

blackmail Blackmail is an act of coercion using the threat of revealing or publicizing either substantially true or false information about a person or people unless certain demands are met. It is often damaging information, and it may be revealed to fa ...

ed by an ex-boyfriend and obtained a

restraining order A restraining order or protective order, is an order used by a court to protect a person in a situation involving alleged domestic violence, child abuse, assault, harassment, stalking, or sexual assault. Restraining and personal protection or ...

against him after having made a complaint to the local police. In July 2021, the singer

came out Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBT people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity. Framed and debated as a privacy issue, coming out of ...

non-binary Non-binary and genderqueer are umbrella terms for gender identities that are not solely male or femaleidentities that are outside the gender binary. Non-binary identities fall under the transgender umbrella, since non-binary people typically ...

in a

TikTok TikTok, known in China as Douyin (), is a short-form video hosting service owned by the Chinese company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which can range in duration from 15 seconds to 10 minutes. TikTok is an international version ...

video, and eventually clarified that they identify with all pronouns. Roxen furthermore stated: "Since I was little, I feel like a boy in a girl's body. In my previous life I was really a boy".

Discography

Singles

As lead artist

As featured artist

Promotional singles

Guest appearances

Music videos

Notes

References

External links

* {{Authority control 2000 births People from Cluj-Napoca 21st-century Romanian singers Deep house musicians Global Records artists English-language singers from Romania Romanian non-binary people Romanian LGBT singers Living people Eurovision Song Contest entrants for Romania Eurovision Song Contest entrants of 2020 Eurovision Song Contest entrants of 2021 Non-binary singers LGBT Eurovision Song Contest entrants