Sibel Redžep (, ; born 12 December 1987) is a Macedonian-born Swedish pop singer. She is known from the Swedish television show '' Idol 2005'', where she was the second runner up. She was also a semi-finalist of ''

Idol 2004 The first season of Sweden's ''Idol (Sweden), Idol'' premiered in August 2004 and continued until its grand finale on 26 November, when 26-year-old Daniel Lindström from Umeå was crowned winner. Auditions Auditions were held in the Swedish citi ...

'', where she placed fourth in her group but didn't make it to the finals. Before she joined the show she lived in

Kristianstad Kristianstad ( , ) is a Urban areas in Sweden, city and the seat of Kristianstad Municipality, Scania County, Sweden with 41,198 inhabitants in 2023. Since the 1990s, the city has gone from being a garrison town to a developed commercial city, ...

, Sweden. Sibel speaks Swedish, Turkish, Macedonian, English, French and a little Chinese and German. She was also the background vocalist for the 2009 hit single " It's Alright, It's OK" by

Ashley Tisdale Ashley Michelle Tisdale (born July 2, 1985) is an American actress and singer. During her childhood, she was featured in over 100 advertisements and had minor roles on-screen and in theatre. She achieved mainstream success as Maddie Fitzpatric ...

Early life

She was born in

Radoviš Radoviš ( ) is a city in the Southeastern statistical region, southeastern part of North Macedonia. It is the second largest city in the southeastern region. The city is the seat of Radoviš Municipality, which is spread on the bottom of Plač ...

in the mountains of southeastern

North Macedonia North Macedonia, officially the Republic of North Macedonia, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe. It shares land borders with Greece to the south, Albania to the west, Bulgaria to the east, Kosovo to the northwest and Serbia to the n ...

, then

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

, to an ethnic Macedonian Turkish family. Her family lived in the nearby small Macedonian village of Topolnica. In 2004, 16-year-old Redžep entered Swedish talent contest ''

Idol Idol or Idols may refer to: Religion and philosophy * Cult image, a human-made object that is venerated or worshipped for the deity, spirit or daemon that it embodies or represents * Murti, a devotional image of a deity or saint used during puja ...

''. She sang "

Beautiful Beautiful, an adjective used to describe things as possessing beauty, may refer to: Film and theater * ''Beautiful'' (2000 film), an American film directed by Sally Field * ''Beautiful'' (2008 film), a South Korean film directed by Juhn Jai-h ...

" by

Christina Aguilera Christina María Aguilera ( , ; born December 18, 1980) is an American singer-songwriter, actress and television personality. Recognized as Cultural impact of Christina Aguilera, an influential figure in music and having received Public imag ...

, reducing the usually hard-faced judge

Peter Swartling Peter Swartling (born 18 November 1964) was one of the Swedish judges on the TV talent show '' Idol'' on TV4. He made it clear that he wouldn't participate in the fourth season of '' Idol'' due to him being forced to commute between Sweden and ...

to tears. The following year, she was beaten to the final by

Agnes Carlsson Agnes Emilia Carlsson (born 6 March 1988), known Mononymous person, mononymously as Agnes, is a Swedish singer. She rose to fame as the winner of Idol 2005, the second season of the Idol (Sweden), Swedish Idol series. She was then signed to Sony ...

and Sebastian Karlsson.

Career

Sibel's management team includes "Idol" judge

, who immediately after the loss of Sibel in the penultimate round of Idol 2005. Swartling stood to his word and in the summer of 2006, he started work with Sibel in the studio with songwriter/producer Christian Antblad in Dublin. With Sibel at the microphone it was decided that they would work with big ballads for her voice. One of the ballads, "How I Tried To Let You Go" was originally a small idea for a chorus sung by Sibel over the phone, which was taken to the studio where Christian and Peter immediately fell for it. With a total of about thirty songs recorded, Sibel returned to the home town of Kristianstad to graduate from high school.

Melodifestivalen 2008

Redžep participated in Melodifestivalen 2008 with the

ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and song of Great Britain and Ireland from the Late Middle Ages until the 19th century. They were widely used across Eur ...

" That Is Where I'll Go", in the last semi-final, where she advanced to "Andra chansen" (second chance), and subsequently made it to the finals. In hope of representing Sweden at

Eurovision Song Contest 2008 The Eurovision Song Contest 2008 was the 53rd edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Belgrade, Serbia, following the country's victory at the with the song "" by Marija Šerifović. Organised by the European Broadcasting Unio ...

in Belgrade, Serbia. She was lost to

Charlotte Perrelli Anna Jenny Charlotte Perrelli (; ; born 7 October 1974), known until 2003 by her maiden name, is a Swedish singer and television host. Under her maiden name, she won the 1999 Melodifestivalen and subsequently that year's Eurovision Song Conte ...

, who later represented Sweden in the Eurovision 2008. Since the show Sibel has released her album '' The Diving Belle'' and two singles, " That Is Where I'll Go" and "

Make Believe Make believe, also known as pretend play or imaginative play, is a loosely structured form of play that generally includes role-play, object substitution and nonliteral behavior. What separates play from other daily activities is its fun and cre ...

. There are plans to release her debut album in her native language, Turkish.

Melodifestivalen 2010

Redžep participated in

Melodifestivalen 2010 Melodifestivalen 2010 was a Swedish song contest held in February and March 2010. It was the selection for the 50th song to represent Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest, and was the 49th edition of Melodifestivalen. Five heats were held in th ...

with the song " Stop". She performed in semi-final 4, held on 27 February. The song was written by Mikaela Stenström and

Dimitri Stassos Dimitri Stassos (Greek: Δημήτρη Στασσος; born 1969 in Stockholm, Sweden), is a Greek-Swedish songwriter known for his entries in the Eurovision Song Contest as well as writing hits for Ola Svensson and others. Career He has been work ...

. She competed for the chance to represent Sweden at the Eurovision Song Contest, but she failed, as she only placed 7th.

Shake It Up 2010

In 2010, Sibel Redžep recorded the song "Our Generation" for

Disney Channel Disney Channel is an American pay television television channel, channel that serves as the flagship (broadcasting), flagship property of Disney Branded Television, a unit of the Disney Entertainment business segment of the Walt Disney Company ...

's TV series '' Shake It Up'', which is featured on the soundtrack '' Shake It Up: Break It Down''.

Songwriting

Sibel is also a songwriter signed to BMG after several years of songwriting at Warner Chappell. Since 2014 she's mostly writing songs for other artists. She has sung backing vocals on Ariana Grande's hit singles Into You, Love Me Harder, and Bad Decisions; Carly Rae Jepsen's Run Away With Me; and other artists such as Victoria Justice, Ashley Tisdale and Hilary Duff. Sibel is frequently between Stockholm and Los Angeles writing songs.

Discography

Albums

Singles

Also contributes at

*19 October 2005 – '' My Own Idol – Idol 2005''

References

External links

Official siteMySpace siteFan siteSibel Redzep
from TV4
Sibel Acoustic Performances on YouTube
{{DEFAULTSORT:Redzep, Sibel Ambient musicians Idol (Swedish TV series) participants 1987 births Living people People from Radoviš Macedonian emigrants to Sweden Swedish Muslims Swedish people of Turkish descent Swedish people of Macedonian descent Macedonian Turks 21st-century Swedish singers 21st-century Swedish women singers