Photo credit: Luxembourg Times
For the first time in over 30 years, Luxembourg will be participating in Eurovision. After hosting their own national final, the former Eurovision powerhouse selected Tali with the song ‘Fighter’ to put them back on the map. Read on to find out more about Tali, her career so far and her journey to Eurovision.
Who is Tali?
Tali Golergant, who performs mononymously as Tali, was born in Israel before moving across South America, following her father’s work which saw the family travel extensively. The family finally resided in Limpertsberg in Luxembourg, where they resigned for ten years and where Tali now holds citizenship, making her eligible to represent the country at Eurovision.
From an early age, Tali established herself as a budding performer, playing the piano from the age of 7 and taking up acting, singing and dancing when she was 12. She released her debut single when she was just 16-years-old followed by her debut EP ‘Lose You’ in 2021.
Tali moved to New York City to study musical theatre at the prestigious Marymount Manhattan College. As well as touring a number of local venues with a live band, this saw Tali take on a number of acting roles, including Éponine in the stage musical ‘Les Misérables’. She continues to reside in New York, having stayed on in the city following her graduation in 2023.
Tali cites artists such as Sara Bareilles, Lady Gaga and Lizzy McAlpine as her greatest musical influences and likes to blend pop, R&B and indie music together to make a sound all her own.
The Journey to Eurovision
Luxembourg certainly made a splash when they announced their return to Eurovision, with 2023 hosts Hannah Waddingham and Graham Norton making the announcement live during the show’s Grand Final on 12th May 2023. This certainly created a stir among eurofans, with Luxembourg having not competed in three decades but having amassed five Eurovision wins between 1956-1983. All eyes were on Luxembourg to see what they would do next.
In July 2023, RTL opened a submission period for interested singers and songwriters to participate. It was subsequently announced that a total of 459 entries had been submitted to the broadcaster and that eight artists would participate in a national final to select the lucky entrant, which would be called the Luxembourg Song Contest.
The contest was held on 27th January 2024 and boasted a star-studded cast of performers, as well as the eight competing artists, including former Eurovision winners for Luxembourg Vicky Leandros and Anne-Marie David. Additionally, a number of Eurovision winners from other countries performed, including Alexander Rybak and Ruslana.
Tali was the final participant to perform her entry ‘Fighter’, which was co-written by Italian songwriter Dardust, who is best known among eurofans for having co-written and produced ‘Soldi’ by Mahmood. The song deals with perseverance through suffering, with Tali citing her experiences of rejection within the American music industry as something that helps her relate to the song.
‘Fighter’ emerged as the clear winner of the initial round of jury and televotes meaning Tali advanced to the super-final alongside fellow competitors Krick and Joel Marques Cunha. The super-final was again determined by a combination of jury and televotes and Tali emerged as the clear favourite among jurors, scoring the maximum 12 points with every single country bar Germany, who awarded her 10 points. She narrowly missed the televote win, scoring 84 points to Krick’s 85. With these scores under her belt, Tali was off to Malmö.
When they announced their return to Eurovision back in May, the Luxembourgish government indicated they have scope to host the contest in 2025, indicating they have plans far beyond merely participating in 2024. However, will this be conditional on a good result this year? Only time will tell so we will just have to watch this space until May!
You can keep up to date with Phoenix on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and TikTok for all the latest Eurovision 2024 news.
Our podcast, Instead We Made A Pod, is available to stream on all platforms.
