Who is Blanka? Meet the Eurovision 2023 representative from Poland

The TVP, Poland’s public television network, used for the second consecutive year the Tu bije serce Europy! Wybieramy hit na Eurowizję, the national final from which the representative of the Central European country for the Eurovision Festival is chosen. This year, the pre-selection was not exempt from controversy, and due to the discrepancy between the jury’s votes and the public’s votes, Blanka’s victory was under scrutiny. Beyond any

Get to know Blanka

Blanka Stajkow is a Polish-Bulgarian singer, model, and DJ born on May 23, 1999 in Szczecin, a city on the border with Germany. She comes from a family with creative backgrounds and was encouraged to develop her artistic skills from a very young age. While she initially trained in dance, she eventually decided to pursue music professionally and later modeling. She also works as a DJ at some popular events and nightclubs.

At 13, she began her music career by releasing the single “Strong Enough.” A year later, she moved with her mother to the United States to continue honing her music skills in sessions in Los Angeles and New York. She worked with artists like Melody Thornton, a member of Pussycat Dolls, and performed at The Bitter End, the same club where Lady Gaga began her career. After four years, they returned to Europe and spent a year in Sofia, her father’s hometown.

Two years ago, she started her career as a professional model, participating in the TV show Top Model. Although she didn’t make it to the final, her fame allowed her to release a new single that became a big commercial success, titled “Better,” which led her to sign with the record label Warner Music. She caught the attention of a wider audience by appearing in a music video by rapper Smolasty, with whom she had a romantic relationship.

Blanka’s mother introduced her to many different musical styles when she was a child, and she belonged to various disco music groups that toured throughout Poland and parts of central Europe.

“Solo,” her song for Liverpool

Blanka is one of the composers of this “Solo”, but she was not the only one. Those who completed the composition team were: Bartłomiej Rzeczycki, Maciej Puchalski, Marcin Górecki, Julia Sundberg and the already experienced in the festival Mikołaj Trybulec (author of Eurovision songs such as “River”, “Friend of a friend”, and “Universo”) and Maria Broberg (composer of “Stay”, Moldova’s representation in Tel Aviv 2019).

“Solo” is a song with a completely summery sound and with lyrics that positively portray the loneliness of one of the parties after a romantic separation.

«Solo» by Blanka Lyrics

POLONIA IN THE EUROVISION SONG CONTEST

Poland debuted in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1994 along with other Eastern European countries. The year of their debut brought the best result for the country in the competition, as they obtained a magnificent second position with the song “To nie ja!” performed by Edyta Górniak. In 2000 and 2002, Poland was relegated due to poor results in the previous years.

From 1994 to 2011, the country has only managed to place in the top ten once, specifically in 2003 with the song “Keine Grenzen-Żadnych granic” by Ich Troje, where they achieved a seventh place. In 2012 and 2013, the country withdrew from the competition due to a lack of budget.

Eurovision is a very popular event in Poland, and their success in EBU contests only confirms this. In 2016, the country won Eurovision Young Musicians. The following year, in 2017, Poland again stood out on the European stage by winning Eurovision Young Dancers for the second consecutive time. But this was not enough, as in the following years, Poland continued to impress Eurovision fans with its young musical talents, winning both the Junior Eurovision in 2018 and 2019.

Last year, Ochman with the song “River” managed to qualify for the final of the Festival, something that had not happened since the 2017 edition. The Polish artist was one of the favorites of the edition and ended up in 12th place in the grand final with 151 points.