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Athena Manoukian

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Athena Manoukian
Αθηνά Μανουκιάν
Աթենա Մանուկյան
Born (1994-05-22) 22 May 1994 (age 30)
Athens, Greece
Genres
Occupations
  • Singer
  • songwriter
Years active2007–present

Athena Manoukian (Greek: Αθηνά Μανουκιάν [aθiˈna manuˈcan]; Armenian: Աթենա Մանուկյան [ɑtʰɛˈnɑ mɑnuˈkjɑn]; born 22 May 1994) is a Greek-Armenian singer and songwriter. She was set to represent Armenia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 with the song "Chains on You" prior to the contest's cancellation.

Career

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Manoukian's first experience in the music industry was in 2007, when she participated in and won first prize at a talent contest called "This Is What's Missing", a television program of the Greek channel Alpha TV.[1] A year later, in 2008, she participated in the Greek national selection for the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2008 with the song To Fili Tis Aphroditis.[1][2] In 2011, Manoukian released her first single named Party Like A Freak. Following the success of Party Like A Freak, which was nominated twice for winning an award at the MAD Video Music Awards, in 2012 she released a follow-up single I Surrender. She added a new song to her music discography a few months later named Na Les Pos M' agapas. Manoukian also received a Gold Disc for Party Like A Freak, I Surrender and Na Les Pos M'agapas.

In 2014, Manoukian released the single XO, published by Warner/Chappell and Max Music Scandinavia. The track was recorded in Sweden, Stockholm, and its music video was shot in Australia, Sydney.[1] She reached number 1 in charts and won the Armenian Pulse Awards competition for Best Song In English. In 2017, Manoukian wrote the music and lyrics for Palia Mou Agapi, performed by Helena Paparizou.

In 2018, Manoukian performed an audition on the UK version of The X Factor.[3]

She was also being discussed to represent Armenia in Eurovision Song Contest, particularly in 2015 and 2016. She expressed a desire to compete in Eurovision for either Armenia, Greece, or Cyprus.[4] She won Depi Evratesil 2020, the third season of the Armenian national selection[5] and was supposed to represent Armenia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2020[6] in Rotterdam, The Netherlands with the Hip-Hop and R&B inspired song "Chains on You". However this event was cancelled due to the 2019-20 coronavirus pandemic[7] and replaced with Eurovision: Europe Shine a Light and Eurovision Song Celebration, which revealed she would have performed 14th in the second semi final.[8] She also appeared on BBC's Newsbeat documentary sending a video message to fans.[9]

On the same weekend as Shine A Light, she released a new Tropical house inspired song Dolla, written by Athena herself and DJ Paco.[10] She was the creative, artistic and the main director of "Dolla"'s music video, which she released in July that year.[11] Before Depi Evratesil had taken place, and before the COVID-19 pandemic forced Eurovision to be cancelled, she had revealed she was working on a first full-length album in an interview with Wiwibloggs chief editor William Lee Adams.[12] In early 2021, she released the ballad You Should Know which she wrote herself.[13]

However, in March of that year, it was confirmed that she would not be reselected to represent Armenia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2021, since they withdrew after originally planning to participate, citing the after-effects of the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh War.[14] She appeared in Wiwibloggs' Wiwijam at home events both times[15] performing her 3 most recent singles in the latter alongside DJ Paco, producer of all 3 songs, all of which were written by Manoukian herself.[16] Manoukian was one of the four finalists in the Armenian internal selection for the Eurovision Song Contest 2022, where Rosa Linn was ultimately chosen.[citation needed]

That autumn, she released her next song, OMG. She wrote the song along with the German singer/songwriter Annemarie Eilfeld. Later in spring of 2022 she released her latest single Kiss Me In The Rain, which she also wrote herself along with DJ Paco. She then went into latin music, with Loca, a Greek-Spanish song, and Bom Bom an English-Spanish song written by Manoukian and producer Limitless. She followed this release with the single Gone, an English song written by Dimitri Stassos devoted to all the victims of the Tempi train crash, the deadliest rail disaster in Greek history. In 2023, Manoukian released a Greek song named Tet A Tet, followed by her next single Belas. In 2024, Manoukian released the single Enstikto.

Discography

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Singles

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As lead artist
Title Language Year Album
"I Surrender"[17][18] English 2012 Non-album singles
"Na Les Pos M'Agapas"[17][19]
(featuring S i N) 		Greek
"XO"[17][20] English 2014
"Chains on You" 2020 TBA[21]
"Dolla"[22]
"You Should Know"[13] 2021
"OMG"[13] English, German
"Kiss Me In The Rain"[23] English 2022
"Loca" (With Limitless)[24] Spanish, Greek
"Bom Bom"[25] Spanish, English, Spanglish
"Gone" English 2023
"Tet A Tet" Greek
"Belas" Greek 2024
"Enstikto" Greek
As featured artist
Title Year Album
"Party Like a Freak"[17][26]
(DJ Kas featuring Athena Manoukian) 		2011 Non-album single

Awards

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Year Award Category City Result
2015 Armenian Pulse Music Awards Best English Song (XO) Yerevan, Armenia Won

Awards

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Year Award Category City Result
2020 Depi Evratesil Eurovision Song Contest Yerevan, Armenia Won

References

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  1. ^ a b c "About Athena Manoukian". MTV. Retrieved 5 February 2015.[dead link‍]
  2. ^ "ARMENIA 2015: ATHENA MANOUKIAN TO VIENNA?". Wiwi Bloggs. 29 January 2015. Retrieved 5 February 2015.
  3. ^ Gallagher, Robyn (10 September 2018). "Greek JESC 2008 national finalist Athena Manoukian stuns judges at X Factor UK audition". Wiwibloggs. Wiwibloggs. Retrieved 18 February 2020.
  4. ^ Purcell, Owen. "EXCLUSIVE: Athena Manoukian talks new music, Eurovision 2020 and reflects on her X Factor experience". ESCtakeover. ESCtakeover. Archived from the original on 15 October 2019. Retrieved 15 October 2019.
  5. ^ "Participants of Depi Evratesil 2020 announced". eurovision.am. Eurovision Armenia. Retrieved 28 January 2020.
  6. ^ "🇦🇲 Athena Manoukian has won Depi Evratesil!". 15 February 2020. Archived from the original on 15 February 2020. Retrieved 15 February 2020.
  7. ^ "Eurovision 2020 in Rotterdam is cancelled". Eurovision Song Contest. 18 March 2020.
  8. ^ "Part two of Eurovision Song Celebration". Eurovision Song Contest. 14 May 2020.
  9. ^ BBC Newsbeat (11 May 2020). "Eurovision 2020: The BBC documentary". Youtube. Retrieved 13 August 2020.
  10. ^ Shokoyan, Antranig (15 May 2020). "Five of the Best: New music from Eurovision 2020 artists". Wiwibloggs.
  11. ^ Adams, William Lee (24 July 2020). ""Dolla" makes us holla! Athena Manoukian says love trumps money in golden new video". Wiwibloggs. Retrieved 31 July 2020.
  12. ^ Wiwibloggs (12 February 2020). "William Lee Adams Athena Manoukian Skype interview before DE2020". Youtube. Retrieved 10 June 2020.
  13. ^ a b c "Athena Manoukian releases You Should Know". ESCXtra. 17 January 2021. Retrieved 19 January 2021.
  14. ^ ""Impossible to organise an entry in time" — Armenia withdraws from Eurovision 2021". 5 March 2021.
  15. ^ "Wiwijam 2020". Youtube. 13 May 2020. Retrieved 6 October 2021.
  16. ^ "Wiwijam 2021". Wiwibloggs. 21 May 2021. Retrieved 6 October 2021.
  17. ^ a b c d "Athena Manoukian". iTunes. Retrieved 5 February 2015.
  18. ^ "Athena Manoukian I Surrender". Youtube. Retrieved 1 February 2015.
  19. ^ "Athena Manoukian Na Les Pos Magapas". Youtube. Retrieved 1 February 2015.
  20. ^ "Athena Manoukian XO". Youtube. Retrieved 1 February 2015.
  21. ^ Wiwibloggs (12 February 2020). "William Lee Adams Athena Manoukian Skype interview before DE2020". Youtube. Retrieved 10 June 2020.
  22. ^ Shokoyan, Antranig (15 May 2020). "Five of the Best: New music from Eurovision 2020 artists". Wiwibloggs.
  23. ^ "New music from Eurovision artists - 6 March". Wiwibloggs. 6 March 2022.
  24. ^ "Releases from Eurovision Acts May 20 2022". Wiwibloggs. 22 May 2022. Retrieved 9 June 2022.
  25. ^ "Releases from Eurovision Acts July 29 2022". Wiwibloggs. 31 July 2022. Retrieved 19 September 2022.
  26. ^ "Athena Manoukian Party Like Freak". YouTube. Retrieved 1 February 2015.
title=Armenia in the Eurovision Song Contest years=2020
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