The wait has been way long, but last week Armenia’s entry for Nice 2023 was released. This year, the Caucasian country has chosen Yan Girls with the song “Do It My Way.” Armenia’s entry combines English and Armenian with a colourful, playful and rhythmic K-pop proposal.
Armenia’s entry was internally selected by the public broadcaster ARMTV and the head of the Armenian delegation, David Tserunyan. Last July, the broadcaster confirmed this selection method to choose the next representative for Armenia at Junior Eurovision 2023. Given the positive outcome from the previous years, they once again opted for an open call in which children between 9 and 14 years old could enter the bid. Candidates had the opportunity to send proposals to represent Armenia either individually, as a duo, or in a group, as long as they didn’t exceed a maximum of 6 members on stage.
The application process concluded on July 23, and after evaluating the open call entrants, the participants advanced to a second round of auditions. In this phase of the selection, a professional jury responsible for assessing the artistic and vocal abilities of the selected candidates were responsible of choosing the next Armenian entry for Junior Eurovision Song Contest. Finally, Yan Girls were crowned as the successors to Nare Ghazaryan in the children’s competition.
The members of Yan Girls: Nane, Nensi, Kamilla, Syuzana, and Aida, brings a dynamic and contagious entry to stage at the Palais Nikaïa of the city in the French Riviera, Nice, which will host the contest on Sunday, November 26th. The girl group draws inspiration from their favourite K-pop artists and aims to bring that sound to the Junior Eurovision stage for the first time ever.
Full of youth, colorful, rebellious, and fresh vibes, Yan Girls sing about the importance of staying true to yourself by having confidence, and doing things in the best way possible: Your way. “Do It My Way” was composed by Tokionine, with lyrics written by Maléna, the winner of Junior Eurovision 2021, and Vahram Petrosyan. These are the same authors of “Qami Qami,” the song with which Armenia won the competition held in Paris in 2021. The visually appealing music video was directed by Artur Manukyan, which give us a hint of what we could expect on the Palais Nikaïa stage on Sunday, November 26th.
All about girl power: Get to know the girls of Yan Girls
As mentioned, Yan Girls is composed by 5 girls between 9 and 11 years old: Nane, Nensi, Kamilla, Syuzana, and Aida.
Nancy Mnatsakanyan is 11 years old. She loves to sing and paint, and she is passionate art and music. Her favorite music genre is pop, with Iveta Mukuchyan, Aram MP3, Dua Lipa, Beyonce, BLACKPINK, and BTS being her major influences and inspirations.
Aida, who is the youngest of the group being 9 years old, loves singing and dancing. Her favorite music genres are urban K-pop and Hip-Hop, and her favorite groups are BLACKPINK, Triple Charms, and BTS. In her free time, she loves surfing. She has many dreams, including becoming the lead actress in a movie and, her biggest dream, owning her own singing and dancing studio.
Syuzanna Nikoyan is 10 years old. She sings, dances, plays the piano, and practices gymnastics since very young age. Her best friend is her dog, and is always the first to hear all her songs.
Kamilla Davtyan is 11 years old. She has been playing the piano, drums, and singing since the age of 4. She loves games and puzzles and, in her free time, she likes building unique structures with Lego. Her favorite music genres are classical and contemporary pop.
Nané Andreasyan is 11 years old. She loves to sing, dance, and pose for the camera, and she spends her free time painting, exhibiting some of her creations.
As a curiosity, the Yan Girls collectively have 10 fish, 3 dogs, a turtle, a hamster, and a talking parrot named Jacko, so their love for animals is clear.
We see another children group from Armenia at Junior Eurovision, following Arevik (2nd place in 2007) and Compass Band (3rd place in 2012), proving to be a successful formula for the Caucasian country at Junior Eurovision Song Contest. However, this is the first girl band to defend Armenia’s colours in the children’s competition, which makes it even more special. The references and passion for K-pop are thus clear and evident, and just by their music video, that we could expect to see a K-pop inspired performance in Nice, similar to the ones of BLACKPINK on BTS performances at the MTV awards.
Yan Girls with “Do it my way” will be the 16th participation of the Caucasian country in the European children’s festival, and will try to win for Armenia at the children’s contest for the third time in the history, trying to equal the wins of their Caucasian neighbours Georgia, the most successful country at Junior Eurovision Song Contest.
Armenia at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest
Armenia made its debut at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest in 2007, and since then, it has been a strong competitor against its opponents year after year consistently. Their first participation was with the group Arevik, which performed the song “Erazanq” and achieved an impressive second place. This achievement catapulted Armenia onto the European musical stage and paved the foundation for future successful performances and winners.
Since that promising debut, Armenia has been a formidable participant consistently being a contender to win Junior Eurovision Song Contest. In the following years, Armenian artists such as Luara Hayrapetyan (2nd place with 116 points), Dalita Avanessian (5th place with 85 points), and Betty (3rd place with 146 points) have delivered strong performances being fan favourites before the contest.
Their recent years in the contest include coming close to victory last year with Nare’s “Dance,” and in 2019 with “Colours Of Your Dream” by Karina Ignatyan which, while one of the country’s lower placements, secured 9th place with 115 points and it’s a very loved song by the fans. But their most successful entries were their two winning songs “Mama” (Մամա) (120 points) in 2011 by Vladimir Arzumanyan and “Qami Qami” (Քամի Քամի) (224 points) by Maléna in 2021.
Armenia’s participation is characterized by a focus on songs with emotional and powerful messages, as well as high-quality vocals, dynamic and innovative performances by the hugely talented youngest from the Caucasian country always inspired on traditional Armenian sounds with a modern undertone.
What awaits to them in this new edition? Join us on this journey!
Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2023
The Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2023 will take place on Sunday 26 November in the beautiful coastal city of Nice, France, under the slogan Heroes, where European artists between the ages of 9 and 14 will compete for the mini crystal microphone. The French broadcaster wants to create a unique experience for the participants of the 21st edition of Junior Eurovision, as well as to convey an explosion of happiness under a corporate identity with paint, chalk, powder and fireworks as protagonists of the night. This event promises to offer a series of exciting surprises and unforgettable moments.
For this year 2023, the competition has chosen the South of France as its location, at the “Palais Nikaia”. This majestic venue, also known as the “temple of music“, opened its doors to the public on 4 April 2001 and boasts an impressive surface area of more than 9,000 square metres. The Palais Nikaia is the perfect venue to host the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2023, which promises to be a show full of glitter and young talent.
A total of 16 countries will participate in Junior Eurovision 2023, the same number as last year, including the return of Germany after a year’s creative break. It will therefore be the first edition of the contest to feature the entire Big Five. Contrary to the withdrawals of Kazakhstan and Serbia, the 2023 edition will be seeing Estonia debuting at the festival, as ERR had been the only Baltic broadcaster not participating in the children’s competition up to today.
France, with two victories on its record at this event, has the honour of hosting the 21st edition of this children’s festival that has been gaining popularity year after year among young audiences. Junior Eurovision has given visibility to new talents in the world of music, and France is excited to be the host country.
Public broadcaster France Télévisions , with its experience in organising Paris 2021, is committed to delivering a high standard of entertainment and maintaining the characteristic quality of Junior Eurovision. The aim is to make this 21st edition a “unique and unrepeatable” festival. France Télévisions will do its utmost to organise Junior Eurovision at an exceptional level.
In 2022, the city of Yerevan, capital of Armenia, hosted the contest for the second time in its history, having previously been the host in 2011. On that occasion, France surprised by taking victory with the performance of Lissandro and his song ‘Oh Maman! His charisma and energy catapulted him to the top of the scoreboard, captivating both the national juries and online viewers, earning a total of 203 points and the taking the crystal microphone to french ground.
France is looking forward to once again hosting this competition that celebrates music, friendship and diversity, putting Europe’s young talents in the spotlight. The question on everyone’s mind is now: who will be the lucky youngster to win the little crystal microphone this year? We will know the answer at the end of November.