Nina Kraljić (; born 4 April 1992) is a Croatian singer-songwriter and voice actress. She is known for winning season one of '' The Voice – Najljepši glas Hrvatske'' and for being a finalist in the

Eurovision Song Contest 2016 The Eurovision Song Contest 2016 was the 61st edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Stockholm, Sweden, following the country's victory at the with the song "Heroes (Måns Zelmerlöw song), Heroes" by Måns Zelmerlöw. Organis ...

with the song "

Lighthouse A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of physical structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lens (optics), lenses and to serve as a beacon for navigational aid for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways. Ligh ...

". Kraljić is the winner of the Croatian Porin award for Croatia's best new act of 2016. Her debut album ''

Samo Samo (–) was the founder and sole ruler of the first recorded political union of Slavs, Slavic tribes, known as Samo's Empire ("realm", "kingdom", or "tribal union"), ruling from 623 until his death in 658. According to Fredegarius, the only ...

'' was released on September 30, 2016.

Life and career

Early life and career

Nina Kraljić was born in

Lipovljani Lipovljani () is a municipality in Croatian Slavonia in the Sisak-Moslavina County. Population The municipality has a population of 3,455 (2011 census), in the following settlements: * Kraljeva Velika, population 471 * Krivaj, population 307 ...

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

on 4 April 1992 to Željko and Irena Kraljić. She has a younger sister Tena. Kraljić's first TV appearance was in 2009 when she entered ''

Supertalent ''Supertalent'' is a Croatian reality television Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring ordinary people rather than professional actors. Reality televis ...

'', the Croatian version of ''

Got Talent ''Got Talent'' is a British talent show TV format conceived and owned by Simon Cowell's Syco Entertainment. It has spawned spin-offs in over 60 countries, in what is now referred to as the 'Got Talent' format, similar to that described by Frema ...

''. She placed tenth in the final stage of the competition. When Kraljić was 14, she left her family to develop her musical expression. She studied

opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...

at a music academy and

Croatian studies Croatian studies or Croatistics (; ; ; ) is an academic discipline within Slavic studies which is concerned with the study of Croatian language, literature, history and culture. Within Slavic studies it belongs to the South Slavic subgroup. Besid ...

at the Faculty of Philosophy in

Rijeka Rijeka (; Fiume ( �fjuːme in Italian and in Fiuman dialect, Fiuman Venetian) is the principal seaport and the List of cities and towns in Croatia, third-largest city in Croatia. It is located in Primorje-Gorski Kotar County on Kvarner Ba ...

. She is openly

bisexual Bisexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior toward both males and females. It may also be defined as the attraction to more than one gender, to people of both the same and different gender, or the attraction t ...

2015–present: ''Samo''

Kraljić competed in the first season of Croatian version of '' The Voice – Najljepši glas Hrvatske''. During her participation she performed the song "

Beneath Your Beautiful "Beneath Your Beautiful" is a song by British musicians Labrinth and Emeli Sandé. Written by Labrinth, Mike Posner and Sandé, it was promoted as the sixth single from Labrinth's debut album, '' Electronic Earth'' (2012), and is included a ...

", "Što te nema", and the Macedonian

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk horror ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Fo ...

song " Zajdi, zajdi, jasno sonce". Her voice was also recognized by Jacques Houdek, who mentored her to victory, with Kraljić receiving roughly 1 million votes in the final round. She later released her debut single "Zaljuljali smo svijet" (''We Swung the World'') in June 2015, a modern ballad with ethnic elements. On 24 February 2016, it was announced by

Hrvatska radiotelevizija ''Hrvatska radiotelevizija'' ( HRT), or Croatian Radiotelevision, is a Croatian public broadcasting company. It operates several radio and television channels, over a domestic transmitter network as well as satellite. HRT is divided into three ...

that Kraljić would represent

in the

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

. On 9 March 2016, she released her 2016 contest song "

". On 17 March 2016, Kraljić won the prestigious Croatian music award Porin for the Best Upcoming Artist in Croatia for 2015. She led Croatia to the Eurovision Song Contest final after for the first time after seven years, coming tenth in the first semi-final with 133 points, and 23rd in the grand final with 73 points. Her debut album ''

'' (''Only'') was released on 30 September 2016. Kraljić presented herself as a songwriter with two songs "Lullaby" and "Lay You Down" in English. On 19 August 2016, she announced a collaboration with the Croatian composer Matija Dedić on the song "Što te nema" (''Why Are You Not Here'') also featured on the album. In December 2020, Kraljić was announced as one of the fourteen finalists of Dora 2021. She performed the song "Rijeka" (''River'') which she co-wrote together with Hana Librenjak and Miki Solus and ended up in second place behind Albina with " Tick-Tock". Kraljić also had some technical difficulties during her performance in Dora 2021 and deleted some of her social media profiles.

Filmography

Film

Television

Discography

Studio albums

Singles

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kraljic, Nina 1992 births Living people People from Lipovljani 21st-century Croatian women singers Croatian pop singers Croatian voice actresses Croatian sopranos Universal Music Group artists The Voice (franchise) winners Bisexual women musicians Bisexual singers Bisexual actresses Croatian LGBTQ actors Croatian bisexual women Croatian LGBTQ singers 21st-century Croatian LGBTQ people LGBTQ women singers Eurovision Song Contest entrants