Arilena Ara

Ara was born on 17 July 1998 into an Albanian family in the city of Shkodër, Albania.[2] She performed in diverse dancing and singing competitions as a child, including at Gjeniu i Vogël where she finished in the third place.[3][4] She auditioned for the second series of X Factor Albania in 2012 singing "We Are" for judges Tuna, Pandi Laço, Soni Malaj and Alban Skënderaj. She received a wild card and was placed in the Girls category with Tuna as her mentor. She defeated Aldo Bardhi to win the competition on 31 March 2012 performing the songs "No More Drama", "Man Down" and "S&M" as a duet with her mentor.[5][3] In February 2014, she released her first single "Aeroplan" written by Rozana Radi and produced by Darko Dimitrov.[6][7]

In November 2016, Ara was announced to participate in the 18th edition of Kënga Magjike with the song titled "Nëntori".[8] She qualified for the grand final in the contest and finished third overall winning the award for the Best Ballad.[9] In July 2017, she performed in the Europa Plus Festival in Russia along other Albanian singers such as Bebe Rexha and Era Istrefi.[10] In August 2017, the song achieved commercial success in Romania and debuted on the Romanian Radio and TV Airplay Charts at number one climbing to the same position at number one on 24 September 2017.[11] In December 2018, it was announced that she would judge alongside Aleksandër & Renis Gjoka and Miriam Cani on the third series of The Voice Kids Albania.[12][4]

In December 2019, Radio Televizioni Shqiptar (RTSH) announced Ara as the Albanian representative for the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, after she won the 58th edition of Festivali i Këngës with the song "Shaj".[13][14][15] In January 2020, it was published that she will perform in the second half of the second semi-final on 14 May 2020.[16] In February 2020, following several months spent in Los Angeles, the United States, she announced that she had started working on her debut studio album.[17][18] In March 2020, the European Broadcasting Union announced the cancellation of the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 due to the pandemic of the coronavirus disease 2019-20 (COVID-19) and its spread to other countries.[1] In December 2020, she was featured on the follow-up single "A i sheh" of Albanian singer Alban Skënderaj, which also peaked at number 29 in Albania.[19]

Arilena names Michael Jackson as her major musical and artistic influence.[20]

• List of awards and nominations received by Arilena Ara
• Albania in the Eurovision Song Contest 2020