Polina Gagarina

In 2003, Gagarina competed in season two of Star Factory, a Russian reality singing competition. She performed several songs by Maxim Fadeev and went on to win the show, but refused to work with Fadeev after her victory. After winning Star Factory, Gagarina was invited to perform in the group Playgirls. The group received a recording contract with ARS Records, but ultimately disbanded. In 2005, she performed at the New Wave competition held in Jūrmala, Latvia and placed third. She later released the singles "Kolybelnaya", "Morning", "Ya tvoya", "Pomnyu", and "Ya tebya ne proshchu nikogda". Her debut album Poprosi u oblakov was released in 2007.

In 2008, Gagarina released the single "Komu, zachem?", a duet with Russian singer Irina Dubtsova. In March 2010, her second studio album O sebe was released. In 2012, Gagarina started to collaborate with Russian-Georgian producer Konstantin Meladze. With Meladze she recorded four singles: "Spektakl okonchen" ("The Play Is Over"), "Net" ("No"), "Navek" ("Forever") and "Shagay" ("Stride").

Gagarina at ESC 2015

On 9 March 2015, it was revealed that Gagarina would represent Russia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2015 with the song "A Million Voices".[1] Gagarina placed first in the first semi-final with 182 points, before coming second in the Grand Final of the contest, ending up with 303 points.[2] This was the fourth highest overall points total of all time and she became the first non-winning participant to exceed 300 points.[3] On 25 July 2015, she performed "A Million VoiceLs" as the closing song of the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifying draw in Saint Petersburg, shown on television worldwide.[4] On 9 August 2015, she performed at the closing ceremony of the 2015 World Aquatics Championships in Kazan.[5] She was a coach in the Russian reality talent show The Voice in seasons four and five.[6] In September 2016, her third studio album 9 was released.[7] This album peaked at number one on the Russia iTunes charts.[8]

On 1 February 2019, it was revealed that Gagarina participated in Chinese' reality competition Singer 2019, also known as the seventh season of I Am a Singer, entering under the substitute singer status on the fourth week. Gagarina was the third European contestant to participate after season six's winner Jessie J (United Kingdom) and Kristian Kostov (Bulgaria), who participated in season seven alongside her. Gagarina achieved three top placements on the first five-week of shows before finishing last in her sixth show, which was the Challenge round; Gagarina would have been eliminated per the competition rules but was instead saved after the Challenger of the week was unsuccessful in beating a majority (4) of the seven singers. On 22 March, she was temporarily given a bye after reporting to the media that she sustained a muscle injury during rehearsals. Despite her injury, she eventually ranked in the top three during the following week's round, called the Breakout round (a round featured previously eliminated contestants, substitute singers, except withdrawn and non-competing singers), where she became one of the seven finalists eligible for the title of Singer 2019 winner. In the Finals Rush Hour, she performed a duet with Chinese singer Geng Sihan, singing the song "Shallow". In the first round of the final, she sung "We Are the World" alongside Kazakhstan's Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2018 participant Daneliya Tuleshova, Filipino-Canadian singer Darren Espanto and Chinese rapper Air Ari. She was, however, was knocked out that round.[9]

For season eight of the Voice in 2019, she rejoined as a coach.[10] Also, for the first time on The Voice Kids, she was a coach for season seven.[11]