Alena Shirmanova-Kostebelova (, ; born 26 December 1999), known by her stage name Aiko, is a Russian-Czech singer and songwriter based in

Brighton Brighton ( ) is a seaside resort in the city status in the United Kingdom, city of Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England, south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze Age Britain, Bronze Age, R ...

, England. She represented the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

in the

Eurovision Song Contest 2024 The Eurovision Song Contest 2024 was the 68th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Malmö, Sweden, following the country's victory at the with the song "Tattoo (Loreen song), Tattoo" by Loreen. Organised by the European Br ...

with the song "

Pedestal A pedestal or plinth is a support at the bottom of a statue, vase, column, or certain altars. Smaller pedestals, especially if round in shape, may be called socles. In civil engineering, it is also called ''basement''. The minimum height o ...

Early life

Alena Shirmanova-Kostebelova was born in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

, Russia. At the age of five, she moved with her family to

Karlovy Vary Karlovy Vary (; , formerly also spelled ''Carlsbad'' in English) is a spa town, spa city in the Karlovy Vary Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 49,000 inhabitants. It is located at the confluence of the Ohře and Teplá (river), Teplá ri ...

, Czech Republic.

Career

In 2015, Shirmanova participated in

the fourth season ''The Fourth Season'' is the fourth album by the Australian progressive metal band Vanishing Point A vanishing point is a point (geometry), point on the projection plane, image plane of a graphical perspective, perspective rendering where th ...

of the reality talent show . She then moved to the United Kingdom to pursue a musical career, first settling in London and later in

. Under the stage name Aiko, she released her debut self-titled album in 2018, followed by ''Expiration Date'' in 2020, when she released her first single "Hunt". Her stage name originates from a combination of her love for Japanese culture and her childhood nickname 'Ajka'. She was the first Czech artist to feature on the

Times Square Times Square is a major commercial intersection, tourist destination, entertainment hub, and Neighborhoods in New York City, neighborhood in the Midtown Manhattan section of New York City. It is formed by the junction of Broadway (Manhattan), ...

screens and the first Czech female to take part in the

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a List of companies of Sweden, Swedish Music streaming service, audio streaming and media service provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. , it is one of the largest providers of music streaming services ...

Equal Campaign. She performed at the

Rock for People Rock for People (RfP) is a large open-air summer multi-genre festival in the Czech Republic. The festival began in 1995 in the town of Český Brod. In 2007, it was moved to an unused airport in Hradec Králové. Headlining acts have included Mu ...

, ESNS, Metronome Prague, The Great Escape, Grape, Nouvelle Prague, Sziget and Waves Vienna festivals, as well as following

Alice Merton Alice Florence Clarissa Merton (born 13 September 1993) is a British-based German-Canadian singer-songwriter. Merton achieved mainstream success with her debut single, "No Roots (song), No Roots". In 2017, she released her first EP No Roots (EP) ...

, Black Honey, Lauren Ruth Ward and Tamino in some of their tours as a supporting artist. Some of her songs were included in the TV shows ''

Teen Mom ''Teen Mom'' (renamed ''Teen Mom OG'', starting with the fifth season) is an American reality television series broadcast by MTV. It is the first spin-off of ''16 and Pregnant'', and it focuses on the lives of several young mothers as they na ...

'' and '' Love Island''. Aiko released her third album ''Fortune's Child'' on 13 October 2023. On 28 November 2023, she was announced as one of the contestants of for the

, competing with the song "

". On 13 December, she was crowned as the winner of the selection. At the event, she failed to qualify from the second semi-final, placing 11th out of 16 with 38 points.

Personal life

Aiko came out as

bisexual Bisexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior toward both males and females. It may also be defined as the attraction to more than one gender, to people of both the same and different gender, or the attraction t ...

in May 2025.https://www.instagram.com/aikomakesmusic/reel/DJHqBfzsmcZ/ She is currently in a relationship with Spanish drummer Kat Almagro, who participated in the

for

San Marino San Marino, officially the Republic of San Marino, is a landlocked country in Southern Europe, completely surrounded by Italy. Located on the northeastern slopes of the Apennine Mountains, it is the larger of two European microstates, microsta ...

as a member of

Megara Megara (; , ) is a historic town and a municipality in West Attica, Greece. It lies in the northern section of the Isthmus of Corinth opposite the island of Salamis Island, Salamis, which belonged to Megara in archaic times, before being taken ...

Discography

Studio albums

Extended plays

Singles

As lead artist

As featured artist

Notes

References

External links

* {{Eurovision Song Contest 2024 1999 births Living people Russian emigrants to the Czech Republic Russian women singer-songwriters Czech women singer-songwriters Czech LGBTQ singers 21st-century Czech women singers 21st-century Russian women singers English-language singers from the Czech Republic English-language singers from Russia Musicians from Karlovy Vary Bisexual women singers Singers from Moscow Eurovision Song Contest entrants