The dust hasn’t even settled from last night’s Moscow Eurovision Party 2018. But Russia’s rising EDM queen M A N I Z H A is already looking ahead to Eurovision 2019.
Speaking to our William Lee Adams on the red carpet inside VEGAS Kuntsevo, the Tajik beauty cut straight to the chase: “I think that maybe on the next year I will be on Eurovision.”
Who is Manizha?
Born in Dushanbe, Tajikistan in 1991, the 27-year old singer-songwriter is now based in Moscow and has already opened for artists like Lana Del Rey.
She first dipped her toe in the music business back in 2009. Performing under the name the name Ru.Kola, she showed great promise with “Neglect”.
Despite its name, she treated the track with plenty of care.
Manizha doesn’t just think outside of the box — she sets it on fire!
She made waves in late 2016 with the release of her debut album “Manuscript” via Instagram, turning the social media platform into her musical album.
As you can tell from the caption below, Miss M is all about opening up and swiping down stereotypes.
Translation: manizha this is beautiful when a man cries. that’s right, I congratulate the men today. Everyone hurts, and it’s great when we are not shy about it #cry.
Earlier in 2018, she became the first Russian artist to be given the “Deezer Next” treatment. Deezer is a French-based music streaming service and their “Next” initiative highlights the music of select artists from around the globe through increased exposure in playlists.
After the success of her debut album she released her follow-up, sophomore album “YAIAM” just last month.
Her current and unique sound combines soul with traditional and electric flair. Despite all the mixing and matching, she tells us her music is “super simple, music from my heart, that’s all”.
Eurovision Song
Manizha also says that she has a song ready for the contest.
“I have one song, I didn’t release it, and I’m still dreaming that I will sing it on Eurovision, and it’s called ‘I Am Who I Am’, because I want to sing about your personality, your realness.”
If her Instagram account is anything to go by, when she says “realness” she means it. In a series of candid posts with the hashtag #TraumaAndBeauty, she revealed some of her most personal struggles.
“My body is my house, and for 26 years I hated every curve of this house,” she wrote in one. “So far the hate for my own body has helped me with just one thing: constructing an online identity, the ideal online-Manizha who is always smiling in pictures taken from the right angle, draped in baggy clothes. But every time I wake up as offline-Manizha, who hates herself as she goes jogging, and after just two minutes of exercising wants to drop dead. Hate never helps. I am sick of this Manizha and I don’t want to be her anymore. I want to be myself. I am not afraid to speak about my fears, my uneven skin tone, my plump arms and soft belly and round hips that are a nightmare to fit into a pair of jeans.”
She concludes her inner struggle with the post below:
“The industry requires perfect skin, an ideal smile, an ideal weight. The industry came up with a retouch, a beauty blender and hyaluronic acid. Industry, I was your client: I used the Facetune, went to consultations with plastic surgeons and almost decided on the operation. Industry, who are you? You f*cked. I am me, and I like my skin, my wrinkles, my cellulite. Industry, you lose the audience. #manizha # traumaandbeauty”
You can check out one of her music videos here. Get ready to fall in love…
What do you think of Manizha? Would she do well on the Eurovision stage? Let us know in the comments below.
I want Nargiz from Russia
R E A L N E S S
You spelt Lana Del Rey wrong hunty!
I can’t wait for Israel Calling. Both Israel and Moscow have stage built and free entrance, but London sold tickets for that small show.
This will depend on Kirkorov. That guy has too many artists to choose from. I hope he chooses Nyusha or Egor Kreed in 2019.
Egor, yeeeeeeeeees
It’s Lana Del REY not Del Ray 🙂
Russia would never send anyone singing such indie and artsy music. No dig at their entries, but they are mainstream to the core.
Wow, just listened to a couple songs and she is really edgy. I think she could do extremely well with something Lana Del Ray-esque. People like such depressive songs.
Do not forget that Belgium last year (Blanche with City Lights) came out 4th despite rather weak live vocals!
Wasn’t there’s a rumour going around that Tussia was already talking to Sergey Lazarev about coming back next year? Maybe I picked it up wrong.
But anyway, Manizha would be a very interesting choice for Russia. Definitely something I could get behind, just please, please keep Kirkorov away from her.
Russia not Tussia** obvs.
My phone has a mind of its own sometimes lol
A very interesting artist, she will stand out definitely.
Manizha would be very interesting.
Being born in Tajikistan is a plus for me. It’s nice to see people from outside Europe joining, and she has strong connections to Russia so it makes sense.
Russia needs to bring back quality after this last couple of years.
After these two low to average years for Russia, I have a feeling that they will swing big next year and win.
Well, Turkic women are always welcome at Eurovision. Besides that, it would be an huge improvement after Julia, so Eurovision is waiting for her.
Tajikistanis are not Turkic! Their language belongs to the Iranian group.
A very interesting idea.
I think Russia should send a female singer not singing a generic peace ballad.
Especially with her views on body image and stuff she’d likely go down well with eurovision fans.