Victoria would have represented Bulgaria at Eurovision 2020 with the song “Tears Getting Sober”. It’s a captivating, mysterious and haunting ballad, which deals with anxiety and other mental health issues.
Victoria Georgieva was internally selected by Bulgarian broadcaster BNT, receiving the invitation to Eurovision after Bulgaria’s one-year absence from the contest in 2019.
We’ve compiled 10 facts about Bulgaria’s exciting 22-year-old artist Victoria, who was hotly tipped to be a favourite in Rotterdam. Let’s do this!
Bulgaria at Eurovision 2020: Facts about Victoria
1. She’s got the X Factor
Victoria kickstarted her career after participating in season four of X Factor Bulgaria in 2015, reaching the live finals and finishing in sixth place. She participated alongside another future Bulgarian Eurovision star — Kristian Kostov. He finished in second place in both X Factor and Eurovision 2017.
2. She fights for her dream
Before her appearance on season four of X Factor, Victoria had in actually already auditioned for the first three seasons of the show. Victoria never made it past the judges and onto TV on the first three attempts. But she made it fourth time lucky. This is a lesson to all of us to never give up on our dreams, no matter how many times we get knocked back!
3. She’s an animal lover
Victoria is passionate about animals and has four dogs of her own. “All my dogs have been adopted and I love them so much! Animal adoption is a cause really close to my heart, and I want to raise awareness in Bulgaria about the amazing people who give their time to help homeless dogs and cats find their new home.”
In addition to her canine friends, Victoria also has two rabbits and one parrot — “I love animals so much. Sometimes even more than music”. She’s also been a vegetarian for the past five or six years — “I don’t eat my friends”.
4. She has over 15 tattoos.
That’s right, and this includes one full sleeve and another half sleeve. Victoria loves tattoos and hopes to get more.
5. She’s a Friends fan
In a Q&A session, Victoria revealed that Friends is her favourite TV show, and even knows famous lines from the programme off by heart, such as “Joey doesn’t share food!”
6. She had a popular English-language single before Eurovision
Before Eurovision, Victoria already had a successful music career and was embarking on English-language music. Her first single in English, “I Wanna Know” has already racked up nearly one million views on Youtube!
7. Her debut EP is on the way
Victoria is getting ready to release her first EP, which she hopes will be available in autumn. “I can’t wait to release it because the album is really personal, and the songs have a message – to the people and to the world. I worked a lot on these songs and I hope it will be released in the autumn.” But we won’t have to wait that long for new music. Speaking with our William, Victoria says “before that I’m going to release, maybe, two songs. Two singles with videos”. On whether that EP could contain her Eurovision 2021 song, Victoria responds “Who knows? We’ll see”.
8. She’s a Billie Eilish fan
Victoria credits Billie Eilish as one of her musical inspirations and even had the chance to meet her. Often Victoria is compared to Billie: “Billie Eilish is a wonderful artist, and something I would not allow myself is to be in the shadow of such a worldwide popular artist. People comparing my style to hers is probably good because it means that I am doing something right for me.” However, speaking to our William, she stresses that she’s not trying to be Billie Eilish — “I don’t think an artist who wants to be something big wants to be someone else. I just like her”.
9. She’ll release doggy merch
Victoria’s merchandise will soon be available, and her collection includes merch for your pets! “There will be merch for animals as well. I think it hasn’t been done yet in Bulgaria, and we thought it would be great if you could dress your dog or cat as well.” – We can’t wait!
10. She gave a Ted Talk
Victoria was selected from over 500 candidates to perform at a TEDx event, the Melboss Open Music Forum in Madrid, Spain. She delivered a talk on her would-have-been journey to Rotterdam, and the audience included producer and sound engineer Rafa Sardina, who has 13 Grammys under his belt.
Eurovision 2021 Update
Victoria will sing for Bulgaria at Eurovision 2021. The Bulgarian broadcaster BNT has confirmed that Bulgaria will participate in Eurovision 2021. Its sponsorship deal with iCard to finance the entry will continue. Victoria will return to Eurovision 2021 with a new entry, as 2020 artists are not allowed to bring their 2020 entries forward to Eurovision 2021.
What do you think of Victoria? Are you excited that she will return to Eurovision 2021? Let us know in the comments.
Gotta say, this is one of those songs which I think had the potential to really come into its own on the stage. Given the right staging, I even think it would have been a winner. I guess we’ll never know now!
I think this could have been the winner if the contest hadn’t been cancelled. But I am intrigued by her upcoming EP–if she releases it after September 1st, any song from it could serve as her 2021 entry.