After a top 10 placement in Eurovision 2023, with Vesna and ‘My Sister’s Crown’, Czechia are back and selecting their 2024 representative through their national final ESCZ. The live show will take place on Monday 4th December at the Roxy in Prague, with fans able to watch live on YouTube, and will commence at 20:15 CET. Last year’s host Adam Mišík is back and he is joined by Cesár Sampson, who eurofans will recognise as Austria‘s 2018 representative, bringing them third place with ‘Nobody But You’. Cesár also had a hand in selecting the seven finalists, alongside the Czech delegation.
On 28th November 2023, the seven artists were announced by the Czech broadcaster ČT. While we will not hear their songs until ESCZ airs, we’re here to tell you everything you need to know about the artists taking part, as well as give you a taste of the music they have released before. Read on to find out more!
Aiko
Alena Shirmanova-Kostebelova, who performs under the stage name Aiko (pronounced eye-ko), was raised in Czechia but currently resides in Brighton, having originally moved to London to study music. Aiko did not come from a musical family so she took singing lessons and taught herself to play guitar as a teenager before entering the Czech singing competition SuperStar in 2015, where she reached the semi-finals.
Aiko released her self-titled EP in 2018, followed by her debut album ‘Expiration Date’ in 2020. She released her sophomore effort ‘Fortune’s child’ last month and cites Aurora, Halsey and The Neighbourhood as some of her main musical influences when writing the album. ‘Pedestal‘, her latest single from ‘Fortune’s child’ was released on 22nd September. You can listen to it below:
Having already received recognition from Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar and being featured on billboards in Times Square, New York, could Aiko receive the ultimate acclaim of representing her country at Eurovision?
Elly
Eliška Tunková, billed as Elly, is a Prague-based singer-songwriter who has been releasing music since 2020 and has performed at a number of music festivals, including Prague Pride. She cites Beyonce, Sia and Adele as her main musical influences.
In 2022, Elly collaborated with Benny Cristo, who represented Czechia at Eurovision in 2020 and 2021 with the songs ‘Kemama’ and ‘Omaga’ respectively. Their song ‘High Speed’ has received around 664,000 views on YouTube at the time of writing. Her latest single ‘The Angel’s Share’ was released on 30th November 2023 and, at 3 minutes long, is highly likely to be her ESCZ entry. You can listen to it below:
Could Elly follow in the footsteps of her former duet partner, Benny Cristo, and perform on a Eurovision stage?
Gianna Lei
Gianna Lei was born in Switzerland but raised in Prague and currently resides in London. She first began making music after a stint in hospital aged 13, where she ended up learning to play guitar to keep her occupied during her recovery. Gianna then went on to study music production and sound engineering at the Abbey Road Institute in London. Her April 2022 debut single ‘Falling Through’ gained some traction when it was promoted through BBC Music Introducing and she has continued to release music since. You can listen to her latest single, the September 2023 track ‘Good Deal’, by clicking below:
Could ESCZ be Gianna’s big break in the music industry?
Lenny
Lenka Filipová is a singer, songwriter, composer, lyricist, and pianist from Prague. She has been playing music since the age of four and wrote her first song aged just eleven-years-old. In 2013, she was signed to Universal Music, with whom she has released two albums, ‘Hearts’ (2016) and ‘Weird and Wonderful’ (2020). In 2018, Lenny supported Emeli Sandé when she performed at Prague’s O2 Arena and she was also added to Czech Forbes’ ’30 under 30 personalities who change the world’. By far Lenny’s most famous single is the song ‘Hell.o’ from her debut album ‘Hearts’, which has over 10 million views on YouTube at the time of writing. You can listen to this below:
In October 2023, Lenny released the EP ‘KLENOTY’ with Czech artist Marpo. However, she has not released solo music in some time so ESCZ will be the perfect opportunity for her to show off a new release.
MYDY
MYDY are a Czech band formed in 2012 and consisting of members Žofie Dařbujánová, Mikuláš Pejcha, Nèro Scartch , Jan Drábek and Ondřej Slánský. They describe their music as ‘glamtronic’, which according to frontwoman Žofie combines the grandeur of 80s glam bands with contemporary electronic music. They have released four studio albums in their time together, including their debut ‘Glamtronic’ (2015), ‘M.Y.D.Y.’ (2017), ‘Numbers’ (2019) and ‘V’ (2022). Their latest single ‘Red Flag Parade’ was released on 1st December 2023 and clocks in at nearly 3 minutes long so is in all likelihood their ESCZ entry. You can listen to this below:
MYDY are known for their exciting live performances, usually involving extravagant costumes and light shows, which has earned them such accolades as being only the second Czech artist to perform at world-famous Glastonbury Music Festival. Can we expect something truly spectacular from them in the Roxy?
Tom Sean
Tomas Sean Pšenička, who goes by Tom Sean professionally, was originally born in Dublin, Ireland but moved with his family to Czechia as a child. He studied acting as a child and began to establish his music career in 2018 when producer and music manager Honza Gajdoš discovered videos of him singing on TikTok. In November of that same year, he released his debut single ‘Heart Hotel’, which has amassed over 770,000 views on YouTube at the time of writing. His latest single ‘Dopamine Overdose’ was released the morning of ESCZ so we will almost certainly see it performed on the Roxy stage. You can listen to it below:
At just 19-years-old, ESCZ could be the perfect opportunity for Tom to receive more recognition. Could this young star’s career be catapulted onto a Eurovision stage?
TOMAS ROBIN
TOMAS ROBIN is the name of the solo project of Czech artist Tomáš Červinka, who has performed with the bands We on the Moon and The Lighthouse Journey. This has allowed him to share the stage with a number of well-known rock bands, including All Time Low, Deaf Havana and Young Guns. He established himself as a solo artist with TOMAS ROBIN in May 2022 and has gone on to release three singles, the latest being ‘Out of My Mind’, which was released 1st December 2023 and is therefore likely to be his ESCZ entry. You can listen to it below:
Could this experienced musician get his chance to shine solo on a Eurovision stage?
So there you have the seven artists competing in ESCZ! Are there any in particular you’re excited to see perform? Be sure to let us know your thoughts in the comments and follow us on all our socials.
ESCZ will take place at 20:15 CET on Monday 4th December. You can watch live on the official Eurovision Song Contest YouTube channel here.
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