Stefania Liberakakis — better known as just Stefania — was due to represent Greece at the 2020 Eurovision Song Contest in Rotterdam with her song “Superg!rl”. It is an uplifting empowerment anthem that encourages listeners to unlock their full potential.
Both Stefania and the song were chosen by Greek broadcaster ERT through an internal selection.
And now we’ve compiled 10 facts about you need to know about Stefania. Are you ready? Let’s do this!
Greece at Eurovision 2020: Facts about Stefania
1. She’s from the Netherlands
While Stefania’s family hails from the village of Sofikó, in northeastern Greece, she was actually born and raised in Utrecht — the Netherlands’ fourth most populous city. However, she grew up speaking both Dutch and Greek.
2. She would have been the youngest contestant this year
As of May 2020, Stefania is 17 years and four months. That means she’s slightly younger than other Eurovision teens such as Malta’s Destiny (17 years and six months), or Denmark’s Ben (17 years and 11 months). Thus, Stefania has the distinction of being the youngest in the class of 2020.
3. She’s a Junior Eurovision alum
Back in 2016, Stefania represented the Netherlands in Malta at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest as part of the girl group Kisses. Consisting of Stefania and Kymora Sade and Sterre Koning, Kisses were internally selected by the Dutch broadcaster after a series of behind-closed-doors auditions. They sang “Kisses and Dancin'” and finished eighth out of 17. The 2016 results were determined by a combination of votes from three sets of juries — adults, children and experts. Kisses were the only act to get points from every single adult jury.
4. Her boyfriend did Junior Eurovision too
Jannes Heuvelmans, Stefania’s boyfriend, represented the Netherlands one year after Stefania in 2017. And like his future love, he was also part of a group. The quartet FOURCE finished fourth with “Love Me”. The popular boyband actually topped the online public vote. Impressively, they’re still making music together almost three years later.
5. She was on The Voice Kids
Yes, Stefania also had a stint on The Voice Kids in 2013. She sang Alicia Keys’ “No One” at the blind auditions. She convinced the singer Marco Borsato to turn his chair and joined his team. Alas, she was eliminated during the battle round.
6. She also was a member of a children’s choir
After her The Voice adventure, she joined Kinderen voor Kinderen, a children’s choir run by broadcaster BNNVARA. She performed with the choir for two years. Fellow Kisses singer Sterre was also part of the collective.
7. She has a burgeoning solo career
Age isn’t an issue for Stefania. The youngster already has several solo efforts under her belt. Her first solo single “Stupid Things” dropped in 2018. The following year she released three more songs — “Wonder”, “I’m Sorry (Whoops!)” and “Turn Around”.
8. She got her big break at the MAD Video Music Awards
Despite a slew of singles, Stefania had yet to enjoy mainstream success in either the Netherlands or Greece. But that all began to change in the summer of 2019 when she performed at the MAD Video Music Awards — Greece’s glitziest music award show. Other performers on the night included Eurovision stars Eleni Foureira and Luca Hänni.
The goal was to see if Stefania and the Greek audience had a connection. Backstage, she met Dimitris Kontopoulos – a famous composer of Eurovision songs such as “Shady Lady” (Ukraine 2008), “Hold Me” (Azerbaijan 2013) and “You Are The Only One” (Russia 2016).
Stefania recounted what happened in a series of interviews shortly after her selection. She describes herself as a girl who is usually very shy, but she knew she had to seize this opportunity. She approached Kontopoulos, introduced herself and said that she would like to represent Greece at Eurovision. Stefania asked if they could record some demos together – and that’s exactly what they did. And thus “SUPERG!RL” was born.
9. She’s an actor
Besides singing, Stefania has also made a name for herself in the world of acting. Her roles include playing Fenna in the Dutch teen series Brugklas and voicing Lady Rose in the Dutch dub of the fantasy adventure film Dolittle.
10. She does covers
Stefania has a substantial YouTube following of over 77,000 subscribers. She treats them to lots of great content, including original songs and fun games. But she also likes to interpret hits by other artists. Among her most popular covers are Dua Lipa’s “New Rules”, Stevie Wonder and Arianna Grande’s “Faith” and Kygo’s “Stargazing”. She’s also done a duet with her boyfriend Jannes, taking on “Over And Over Again” by Nathan Sykes and Arianna Grande.
Eurovision 2021 update
Mere hours after the cancellation of Eurovision 2020, Greek broadcaster ERT announced that Stefania will be back to represent the Mediterranean nation at Eurovision 2021.
Are you excited that Stefania will be back next year? What did you think of “Superg!rl”? Let us know in the comments.
Read more Eurovision 2020 artist facts.
