The Junior Eurovision 2021 winner has been crowned. A total of 19 countries competed in the JESC grand final at La Seine Musicale in Paris. Kazakhstan delivered killer vocals, Portugal served authentic fado and The Netherlands brought us a piece of Japanese culture. But in the end it was Armenia’s Malena who charmed the juries and audience with “Qami Qami” to win the day.

Armenia came third with the professional juries behind France and Poland, but managed to finish first overall by topping the online vote. The public ranked Poland and Portugal second and third. 

“Qami Qami” is a space-pop number composed by Maléna herself, as well as David Tserunyan, the Head of the Armenian delegation at Eurovision; Tokionine, head of the record label TKN and former national final representative in 2020; and Vahram Petrosyan, composer of “Boomerang”, the Armenian entry for Junior Eurovision in 2017.

The song’s pulsating, other-wordly beats are complemented by their lyrics, talking about going to far away places to be who she truly is and how the winds can take her to this ideal state of being. When you reach that peace of mind, don’t let it go for anything in the world. Anyone can reach this ideal, anyone can strive to go to that place and be free of mind and spirit.

Ahead of JESC, Malena topped both the Wiwi Jury and our readers’ poll.

Wiwiblogger Natalie wrote: “This is probably the most professional song we’ve ever had in Junior Eurovision. The juicy space-pop beats carry the stunning message of self-discovery and trauma recovery so beautifully. Maléna is such a talented singer who I’m sure we’ll see killing it on the adult stage as well. It’s scintillating and powerful without being remotely male-gazey. This is an empowered fourteen-year-old girl singing a superbly mature song. I love it so much.”

A student from Sayat Nova Music School, Armenia, Maléna loves playing the cello, singing covers, and cites mostly R’n’B artists as her main influences, such as Jaden Smith, girl in red, Eazy-E, and more. She has been collaborating with the Armenian label TKN since 2020, who have also produced her intended entry for Junior Eurovision 2020, “Why”. Last year, she performed under the name Maléna Fox.

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