Elvana Gjata

Elvana Gjata was born to Fatmir and Donika Gjata on 3 February 1987 into an Albanian family of the Roman Catholic faith in the city of Tirana, then part of the People's Socialist Republic, present Albania.[2][13][14][15] Her father has served in the Albanian Armed Forces for more than two decades.[16] Migena, her elder sister, is also a musician and soprano with a musical career based in Germany.[17] She studied to become a film director at the University of Arts in Tirana.[18][19][20] Describing her early life, she has said that she was raised in a poor but happy home.[13][21]

Elvana began to dedicate herself to music when she was fourteen as she auditioned for the Albanian talent show Ethet e së premtes mbrëma.[13][22][23] After one year, she participated in Festivali i Këngës with the song "Pranë Teje" whom she dedicated to God.[24] In 2004, she released her first single "Të Kam Xhan" composed for her participation in Kënga Magjike by her future collaborator and manager Flori Mumajesi. She began working on her debut album Mamës shortly after.[13] Since then, she has participated two times in the aforementioned competition, including in 2007 and in 2009 placing third with the song "Ku Jeton Dashuria" in 2007, and second in 2009 with the song "Dhe Zemra Ndal".[25]

In 2011, Elvana released her second studio album Afër dhe Larg with fifteen tracks, including the eponymous single "Afër dhe Larg".[26] The single earned Elvana her first Balkan Music Awards for Best Albanian Song of the Year, Best Music Video in the Balkans and the Best Song in the Balkans.[9][27] The same year, she won the Top Festival with the song "Me Ty", which she dedicated to her friend Elsina Hidersha who died in a car accident that year.[28][10][29]

In 2012, Gjata only released one single that year. The single, called "Gjaku im" (My blood), which was accompanied with a music video, was made to commemorate the 100th Anniversary of the Independence of Albania. The music video premiered on 28 April 2012[30] and contained a strong message to the Albanian people.[31] During this year, Gjata appeared in many Albanian adverts, and she became the image of Tring Digital an Albanian TV platform[32] and of TEB Bank. Gjata had mentioned in an interview that dancing was her second passion.[33] She was asked to enter the third season of Dancing With the Stars. Her partner was Gerdi. She was the fan-favourite to win the show from the beginning. In the grand final, Gjata was declared the winner of the series.[34][35][36] During the year, Gjata released four new singles: "Fake", "Fake (Remix)", "Beso" (Believe) (featuring 2po2) and "1990" (featuring MC Kresha). The single "Fake" was penned by Gjata herself and she criticized the current issues in Albania.[37] The song reached a lot of success on social media and was called "Top Dance Track" on Deezer.[38] She released a remix of the song later, in a collaboration with Flori Mumajesi, KAOS and P.I.N.T.[39]

In February 2014, Gjata released "Disco Disco" featuring Albanian duo Kaos, which was afterwards followed by the release of "Puthe", the latter peaking at number 37 in Poland.[40][41][42] That same year, she released her first extended play, Acoustic Live Session, showcasing live performances of five songs, including "Anonim", "As ti", "Mëngjesi i kësaj here", "Pak nga pak" and "Si une".[43] In March 2015, she collaborated with Albanian musician Flori Mumajesi on "Kuq e zi je ti", which was selected as the official supporters song for Albania's participation at the 2016 UEFA European Championship in France.[44][45] A year after release, "Love me" featuring Albanian singer Bruno was nominated for the Song of the Year at the 2016 Top Music Awards.[46] In July 2016, she unexpectedly released her follow-up number one single "Njësoj" without any prior announcement or promotion.[47] In October 2016, she scored her second number one single with "Lejla", a collaboration with Albanian rappers Capital T and 2po2.[48][49]

Following several months spent in the United States, Gjata came into close liaison with American producer Poo Bear and French disc jockey David Guetta with whom she started to work with.[50][51][52][53] In February 2017, she attended the 59th Annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles upon the invitation of Poo Bear.[54] In June 2017, her first English-language single "Forever Is Over" reached number one in Albania.[55][56] Gjata's second extended play, 3, was released on her 31st birthday on 3 February 2018, which also included the two number one chart-topping songs "Më fal" and "Xheloz".[57][58][59] In April 2018, she was featured on Poo Bear's single "Shade" and collaborated with American rapper Ty Dolla Sign on her follow-up single "Off Guard".[60][61][62] After Gjata's return to Albania in the same year, the follow-up releases, "Ku Vajti" and "Mike", both attained success in her country as they reached number 2, respectively.[63][64][65][66] In February 2019, following a certain commercial absence, she released her next number one single "Tavolina e mërzisë"[67][68] In June 2019, Gjata collaborated a second time with Capital T on the follow-up single "Fustani", which went on to peack at number one in Albania.[69][70]

The aforementioned single was preceded by "Meine Liebe" featuring German-Albanian singer Ardian Bujupi, reaching number 73 in Switzerland.[71] In August 2019, she released "A m'don" and went on to perform at the Sunny Hill Festival in Pristina, sharing stage with other acclaimed artists, such as Miley Cyrus, Calvin Harris and Dua Lipa.[72][73] In October 2019, the Albanian broadcaster, Radio Televizioni Shqiptar (RTSH), announced that Gjata would compete in the 58th edition of Festivali i Këngës, the country's national selection competition for the Eurovision Song Contest 2020, with the song "Me tana".[74] She subsequently became the bookmakers and fans favourite to win the competition however, in the grand final she finished in the second place.[7] Returning after a year of absence, she released her single "Thirr" on her 34th birthday on 3 February 2021, which debuted at number one in Albania.[75][76]