Stefania Liberakakis (; born 17 December 2002), known simply as Stefania, is a Greek-Dutch singer, voice actress and

YouTuber A YouTuber is a content creator and social media influencer who uploads or creates videos on the online video-sharing website YouTube, typically posting to their personal YouTube channel. The term was first used in the English language in 2006 ...

. She is a former member of the girl group

Kisses A kiss is the touching or pressing of one's lips against another person, animal or object. Cultural connotations of kissing vary widely; depending on the culture and context, a kiss can express sentiments of love, Passion (emotion), passion ...

, which represented

the Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

in the

Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2016 The Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2016 was the fourteenth edition of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest, which took place at the Mediterranean Conference Centre, in Valletta, Malta. This was the second time that Malta have hosted the Junior Euro ...

. In 2020, she was internally selected to represent

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

in the

Eurovision Song Contest 2020 The Eurovision Song Contest 2020 was planned to be the 65th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It would have taken place in Rotterdam, Netherlands, following the country's victory at the with the song " Arcade" by Duncan Laurence. This w ...

with the song "

Supergirl Supergirl is the name of several fictional superheroines appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The original, current, and most well known Supergirl is Supergirl (Kara Zor-El), Kara Zor-El, the cousin of superhero Superman. Th ...

", but this edition of the contest was later cancelled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. The Greek broadcaster ERT decided that Liberakakis would represent Greece in the 2021 contest, this time with the song " Last Dance", with which she finished in tenth place.

Career

Early career

In 2013, Liberakakis was a contestant in the third season of ''The Voice Kids'' in the Netherlands. She joined Team Borsato after her

blind audition In a blind audition, the identity of the performer is concealed from the judges to prevent bias. The performance takes place behind a curtain so the judges cannot see the performer. Blind auditions have become a standard in symphony orchestras. In ...

, but was eliminated in the battle rounds. She then joined the children's choir ''

Kinderen voor Kinderen (; ) is a Dutch children's choir maintained by public broadcaster BNNVARA. Since 1980 the choir has released one album of new children's songs each year, and is probably the only act from the 1980s with consecutive albums in the top 40 chart ...

'', which she left after two years.

2016: Junior Eurovision Song Contest

In 2016, Liberakakis auditioned for ''

Junior Songfestival (; ) is a Dutch televised music competition for children, held annually since 2003. It is the children's version of the . The winner of the contest goes on to represent the Netherlands in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest (), an international ...

'', the Dutch

preselection Preselection is the process by which a candidate is selected, usually by a political party, to contest an election for political office. It is also referred to as candidate selection. It is a fundamental function of political parties. The presel ...

for the

Junior Eurovision Song Contest The Junior Eurovision Song Contest, often known simply as Junior Eurovision, is an international children's Music competition, song competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) among its members since 2003. Each part ...

. She was internally chosen to represent the Netherlands in the

Valletta Valletta ( ; , ) is the capital city of Malta and one of its 68 Local councils of Malta, council areas. Located between the Grand Harbour to the east and Marsamxett Harbour to the west, its population as of 2021 was 5,157. As Malta’s capital ...

as part of the girl group Kisses. The group performed the song " Kisses and Dancin'" and placed 8th out of 17 entries.

2017–2019: Solo career and acting

In 2018, Liberakakis released her first solo single named "Stupid Reasons". In 2019, she released three more singles: "Wonder", "I'm Sorry (Whoops!)" and "Turn Around". In June 2019, she performed a cover of the song "

Con Calma "Con Calma" () is a song by Puerto Rican rapper Daddy Yankee featuring Canadian rapper Snow. The song was released as a single on January 24, 2019, by El Cartel Records alongside a music video directed by Marlon Peña and filmed in Los Angeles ...

" (together with Konnie Metaxa and Ilenia Williams) at the

MAD Video Music Awards The MAD Video Music Awards is a Greek award show presented by the MAD TV. The awards honor the year's biggest achievements in music, voted by the viewers of the station. Winners receive an authentic Mad designed award with the graphics of that ye ...

, which was broadcast on Greek television. From 2018 onwards, she stars as Fenna in the TV-series '' Brugklas'' ( English: ''The First Years''). She also starred in the Dutch movies '' Brugklas: De tijd van m'n leven, De Club van Lelijke Kinderen'' (as singer) and ''100% Coco New York'' (as Lilly).

Eurovision Song Contest 2020 and 2021

Stefania Liberakakis - Last Dance - Eurovisie Songfestival

In late 2019, Liberakakis was named as a potential candidate to represent

in the

to be held in

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , ; ; ) is the second-largest List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city in the Netherlands after the national capital of Amsterdam. It is in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, part of the North S ...

, the Netherlands. On 3 February 2020, it was confirmed by broadcaster ERT that she had indeed been selected to succeed

Katerine Duska Katerine Duska (; born 5 November 1989) is a Greek-Canadian singer and songwriter. She represented Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest 2019 with the song " Better Love" which was released on 6 March 2019. Biography Duska was born on 5 Novemb ...

as the Greek representative. She would have performed the song "

" in the second semi-final on 14 May 2020. However, on 18 March, the

EBU The European Broadcasting Union (EBU; , UER) is an alliance of Public broadcasting, public service media organisations in countries within the European Broadcasting Area (EBA) or who are member states of the Council of Europe, members of the ...

announced the cancellation of the contest due to

. On the same day, ERT announced that Greece would participate in the

Eurovision Song Contest 2021 The Eurovision Song Contest 2021 was the 65th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Rotterdam, Netherlands, following the country's win at the with the song "Arcade (song), Arcade" by Duncan Laurence. The Netherlands was se ...

, with Stefania as the country's representative. In the 2021 contest, Stefania participated with the song " Last Dance", which was released on 10 March 2021. She performed the song in the second semi-final, in which she also qualified for the final, on 20 May 2021. Stefania was accompanied on stage by dancers George Papadopoulos, Nikos Koukakis, Markos Giakoumoglou and Costas Pavlopoulos, while

Fokas Evangelinos Fokas Evangelinos (; born 1963) is a Greek dancer, choreographer and artistic director for television, film, stage and video clips. He was the creative director of the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 held in Athens and he has also staged and choreog ...

was the choreographer and the artistic director of the entry. Stefania performed in the final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2021, where she finished in 10th place.

Personal life

She was born to Greek parents, Koula and Spyros Liberakakis, in

Utrecht Utrecht ( ; ; ) is the List of cities in the Netherlands by province, fourth-largest city of the Netherlands, as well as the capital and the most populous city of the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Utrecht (province), Utrecht. The ...

, Netherlands. Her family originates from Thourio and Sofiko, small villages in Evros,

. She is niece of the Greek actor

Yannis Stankoglou Yannis (or Yiannis) Stankoglou (; born 10 January 1974) is a Greek actor. Biography Yannis Stankoglou was born in Athens, and worked as a builder and construction worker in his teens, before discovering theatre. He attended the Athens Drama Scho ...

Discography

Singles

Solo

As part of Kisses

Filmography

Television

Television (as contestant)

Film

References

External links

Official website

YouTube channel
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Stefania 2002 births Living people Musicians from Utrecht (city) Greek women singers Greek actresses Greek voice actresses Greek YouTubers Dutch women singers Dutch actresses Dutch voice actresses Dutch YouTubers The Voice Kids contestants Modern Greek-language singers English-language singers from the Netherlands Dutch people of Greek descent Eurovision Song Contest entrants