Valentina Tronel (born 6 April 2009), known as simply Valentina, is a French teenaged singer best known for winning the

Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2020 The Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2020 was the 18th edition of the annual Junior Eurovision Song Contest, organised by Telewizja Polska (TVP) and the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). The contest took place on 29 November 2020, and was held in ...

. In 2016, she took part in the French version of ''The Voice Kids''. Since 2018, she has been part of the child musical group

Kids United Nouvelle Génération Kids United was a French people, French singing group between 2015 and 2021 that consisted of six, later five, children born between 2000 and 2009. It was created to support UNICEF campaigns and is sponsored by Hélène Ségara and Corneille (si ...

, with whom she has recorded the albums (2018) and (2019). She represented France in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2020 with the song "", and went on to win the competition, becoming the first French entrant to win 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 ...

Biography

Valentina was born in

Rennes Rennes (; br, Roazhon ; Gallo: ''Resnn''; ) is a city in the east of Brittany in northwestern France at the confluence of the Ille and the Vilaine. Rennes is the prefecture of the region of Brittany, as well as the Ille-et-Vilaine department ...

, the capital of

Brittany Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo language, Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, Historical region, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known ...

, northwestern France, and lives in Thorigné-Fouillard. She has an older brother.idéo- EBENE MAGAZINE"> Her mother is an Italian-language teacher and her father is a

real estate agent A real estate agent or real estate broker is a person who represents sellers or buyers of real estate or real property. While a broker may work independently, an agent usually works under a licensed broker to represent clients. Brokers and agen ...

. From her early childhood, Valentina was surrounded by music: she said; "I grew up in a family where everyone sang: my mother angin bars, my father id

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Over a ...

impressions. ..Music has always been part of my life.". She said she was probably two and a half when she sang her first song. Her mother sang her to sleep with Italian songs and the first songs Valentina sang were Italian.

Career

In 2016, Valentina took part in the fourth season of '' The Voice Kids France'' (2017) but she was rejected at the blind auditions stage. Valentina was the show's youngest contestant that season, she was seven when she applied for the show and when her blind audition was recorded, and eight on 2 September of the following year when the show was broadcast. In 2018, Valentina joined the child musical group

, which is a "new generation" of the group

Kids United Kids United was a French singing group between 2015 and 2021 that consisted of six, later five, children born between 2000 and 2009. It was created to support UNICEF campaigns and is sponsored by Hélène Ségara and Corneille , two Francophon ...

. According to , her offer of a place there was due to her appearance on ''The Voice Kids'' but according to Valentina, she and her mother sent a video of Valentina singing Kids United songs in response to an Internet advertisement for a music project; they later discovered the advertisement was for Kids United Nouvelle Génération and that Valentina had been selected for the second round. As its youngest member, Valentina has become a mascot for the group. As of 2020, she has recorded two albums with the group; was released in August 2018 and in November 2019. On 22 June 2021, the production has announced the end of the ''Kids United'' adventure and the cancellation of the final ''Best of Tour''.

2020 Junior Eurovision Song Contest

On 9 October 2020,

France Télévisions France Télévisions (; stylized since 2018 as ) is the French national public television broadcaster. It is a state-owned company formed from the integration of the public television channels France 2 (formerly Antenne 2) and France 3 (former ...

announced it had selected Valentina to represent France with a song titled "" at the

, which was held in Warsaw, Poland, on 29 November. On 16 October, the song was released as a

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

and a music video was unveiled on the same day. As of 26 April 2021, the video has received nearly 12 million views. Valentina won the contest with a score of 200 points, 48 more than second-placed Kazakhstan and 67 more than third-placed Spain. This was France's first victory at the contest.

Musical style and influences

Valentina's idol is

Ariana Grande Ariana Grande-Butera ( ; born June 26, 1993) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Her four-octave vocal range has received critical acclaim, and her personal life has been the subject of widespread media attention. She has received ...

, who she said is "very pretty" and "has a wonderful voice". Her favorite of Grande's songs is "

Love Me Harder "Love Me Harder" is a song by American singer Ariana Grande and Canadian singer the Weeknd from Grande's second studio album, '' My Everything'' (2014). It was written by the Weeknd, Max Martin, Savan Kotecha, Peter Svensson, Ali Payami and Belly ...

". Valentina also likes the music of

Celine Dion Céline Marie Claudette Dion ( ; born 30 March 1968) is a Canadian singer. Noted for her powerful and technically skilled vocals, Dion is the best-selling Canadian recording artist, and the best-selling French-language artist of all time. Her ...

, that of French artists

Maître Gims Gandhi Bilel Djuna (; born 6 May 1986), better known by his stage name Maître Gims () and more recently just Gims (, ; sometimes stylized as GIMS), is a Congolese-French rapper, singer and songwriter. He grew up in France and currently lives i ...

, Louane,

Patrick Fiori Patrick Fiori (; born Patrick Jean-François Chouchayan, 23 September 1969) is a French singer of Armenian descent. Biography Beginnings Fiori was born to a French-Armenian father (Jacques Chouchayan) and a Corsican mother (Marie Antoinette Fi ...

Dadju Dadju Djuna Nsungula (; born 2 May 1991), better known by the mononym Dadju or at times Prince Dadj, is a French singer. He was signed to the label Wati B and in 2017 signed with Polydor Records of Universal Music Group. He was a member of the m ...

., and that of Breton artist

Nolwenn Leroy Nolwenn Le Magueresse (; born 28 September 1982), known by her stage name Nolwenn Leroy (), is a French singer-songwriter, musician and actress. Originally classically trained (violin and opera singing), she rose to fame after winning the second ...

, whose voice, she says, she "just loves". Apart from singing, Valentina also raps in French. She also sings in Italian, in particular songs by her mother's favorite singer

Laura Pausini Laura Pausini (; born 16 May 1974) is an Italian singer. She rose to fame in 1993, winning the newcomer artists' section of the 43rd Sanremo Music Festival with her debut single "La solitudine", which became an Italian standard and an internat ...

. At her blind audition for ''The Voice Kids France'' in 2016, Valentina also performed a Pausini song called "".

Discography

Studio Albums

* ''Plus loin qu'un rêve'' (2021) * ''Plus loin qu'un rêve (Édition de Noël)'' (2021)

Singles

Filmography

*2017:

The Voice Kids ''The Voice Kids'' is a version of ''The Voice'' TV series franchise in which children participate. Versions The first such variation was ''The Voice Kids'' from the Netherlands, which was followed by other international variants: : Franchise wit ...

(season 4) — candidate *2020:

— winner *2021: PAW Patrol: The Movie – Liberty

References

External links

Valentina profile
on the Junior Eurovision official website {{authority control 2009 births Living people 21st-century French women singers Child pop musicians Junior Eurovision Song Contest entrants Junior Eurovision Song Contest winners French child singers French pop singers Breton musicians The Voice Kids contestants Kids United members French women rappers Musicians from Rennes