Stefania Liberakakis (; born 17 December 2002), known simply as Stefania, is a Greek-Dutch singer, voice actress and

YouTuber A YouTuber is an online personality and/or influencer who produces videos on the video-sharing platform YouTube, typically posting to their personal YouTube channel. The term was first used in the English language in 2006. Influence Influe ...

. She is a former member of the girl group Kisses, which represented

the Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

in the

Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2016 The Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2016 was the fourteenth edition of the annual Junior Eurovision Song Contest, which took place at the Mediterranean Conference Centre, in Valletta, Malta. This was the second time that Malta have hosted the Jun ...

. In 2020, she was internally selected to represent

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...

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 "

Supergirl Supergirl is the name of several fictional superheroines appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The original, current, and most well known Supergirl is Kara Zor-El, the cousin of superhero Superman. The character made her fir ...

", but this edition of the contest was later cancelled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

. The Greek broadcaster ERT decided that Liberakakis would represent Greece in the 2021 contest, this time with the song " Last Dance", with which she finished in tenth place.

Career

Early career

In 2013, Liberakakis was a contestant in the third season of ''The Voice Kids'' in the Netherlands. She joined Team Borsato after her

blind audition In a blind audition the identity of the performer is concealed from the judges so as to prevent bias. The performance takes place behind a curtain so that the judges cannot see the performer. Blind auditions have become standard in symphony orchestr ...

, but was eliminated in the battle rounds. She then joined the children's choir ''

Kinderen voor Kinderen (, ) is a Dutch children's choir maintained by public broadcaster BNNVARA. Since 1980 the choir has released one album of new children's songs each year, and is probably the only act from the 1980s with consecutive albums in the top 40 char ...

'', which she left after two years.

2016: Junior Eurovision Song Contest

In 2016, Liberakakis auditioned for ''

Junior Songfestival (, ) is a Dutch televised music competition for children, held annually since 2003. It is the children's version of the . The winner of the contest goes on to represent the Netherlands in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest (), an international ...

'', the Dutch

preselection Preselection is the process by which a candidate is selected, usually by a political party, to contest an election for political office. It is also referred to as candidate selection. It is a fundamental function of political parties. The presele ...

for the

Junior Eurovision Song Contest The Junior Eurovision Song Contest (often shortened to JESC, Junior Eurovision or Junior EuroSong) is an international song competition which has been organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) annually since 2003. It is held in a diff ...

. She was internally chosen to represent the Netherlands in the

Valletta Valletta (, mt, il-Belt Valletta, ) is an administrative unit and capital of Malta. Located on the main island, between Marsamxett Harbour to the west and the Grand Harbour to the east, its population within administrative limits in 2014 wa ...

as part of the girl group Kisses. The group performed the song " Kisses and Dancin'" and placed 8th out of 17 entries.

2017–2019: Solo career and acting

In 2018, Liberakakis released her first solo single named "Stupid Reasons". In 2019, she released three more singles: "Wonder", "I'm Sorry (Whoops!)" and "Turn Around". In June 2019, she performed a cover of the song "

Con Calma "Con Calma" ( English: "Calmly") is a song by Puerto Rican rapper Daddy Yankee featuring Canadian rapper Snow. The single was released on January 24, 2019, by El Cartel Records alongside a music video directed by Marlon Peña and filmed in Los ...

" (together with Konnie Metaxa and Ilenia Williams) at the

MAD Video Music Awards The MAD Video Music Awards is a Greek award show presented by the MAD TV. The awards honor the year's biggest achievements in music, voted by the viewers of Mad television. Winners receive an authentic Mad designed award with the graphics of that ...

, which was broadcast on Greek television. From 2018 onwards, she stars as Fenna in the TV-series '' Brugklas'' ( English: ''The First Years''). She also starred in the Dutch movies '' Brugklas: De tijd van m'n leven, De Club van Lelijke Kinderen'' (as singer) and ''100% Coco New York'' (as Lilly).

Eurovision Song Contest 2020 and 2021

In late 2019, Liberakakis was named as a potential candidate to represent

in the

to be held in

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"Ne ...

, the Netherlands. On 3 February 2020, it was confirmed by broadcaster ERT that she had indeed been selected to succeed

Katerine Duska Katerine Duska ( el, Κατερίνα Ντούσκα; born 5 November 1989) is a Greek-Canadian singer and songwriter. She represented Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest 2019 with the song " Better Love" which was released on 6 March 2019. ...

as the Greek representative. She would have performed the song "

" in the second semi-final on 14 May 2020. However, on 18 March, the EBU announced the cancellation of the contest due to

. On the same day, ERT announced that Greece will participate in 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 ...

, with Stefania as the country's representative. In the 2021 Contest, Stefania participated with the song " Last Dance", which was released on 10 March 2021. She performed the song in the second semi-final, in which she also qualified for the final, on 20 May 2021. Stefania was accompanied on stage by dancers George Papadopoulos, Nikos Koukakis, Markos Giakoumoglou and Costas Pavlopoulos, while Fokas Evangelinos was the choreographer and the artistic director of the entry. Stefania performed in the final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2021, where she finished in 10th place.

Personal life

She was born to Greek parents, Koula and Spyros Liberakakis, in

Utrecht Utrecht ( , , ) is the fourth-largest city and a municipality of the Netherlands, capital and most populous city of the province of Utrecht. It is located in the eastern corner of the Randstad conurbation, in the very centre of mainland Net ...

, Netherlands. Her family originates from Thourio and Sofiko, small villages in Evros,

. She is niece of the Greek actor Yannis Stankoglou. Between October 2018 and April 2021, she was in a relationship with fellow Dutch singer Jannes Heuvelmans, who represented the Netherlands in the

Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2017 The Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2017 was the fifteenth edition of the annual Junior Eurovision Song Contest, organised by the Georgian Public Broadcaster (GPB) and the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). It took place on 26 November 2017 at th ...

as part of the boyband FOURCE.

Discography

Singles

As lead artist

As part of Kisses

Filmography

Television

Film

References

External links

Official website

YouTube channel
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Stefania 2002 births Living people Musicians from Utrecht (city) Greek women singers Greek actresses Greek voice actresses Dutch women singers Dutch actresses Dutch voice actresses Dutch YouTubers Junior Eurovision Song Contest entrants for the Netherlands Eurovision Song Contest entrants for Greece Eurovision Song Contest entrants of 2020 Eurovision Song Contest entrants of 2021 The Voice Kids contestants Modern Greek-language singers Female YouTubers