Athena Manoukian

Athena Manoukian (Greek: Αθηνά Μανουκιάν; Armenian: Աթենա Մանուկյան; born 22 May 1994) is a Greek-Armenian singer and songwriter.[1] She was to represent Armenia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 with the song "Chains on You".

Athena Manoukian
Born (1994-05-22) 22 May 1994
Athens, Greece
Genres
Occupation(s)
  • Singer
  • songwriter
Years active2007–present

Career

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", an international TV show production of Alpha Television Network Greece.[2]

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" where she placed seventh .[2][3]

In 2011, Manoukian released her first single named "Party Like A Freak", which became one of the biggest hit singles in Greece and has over a million views on YouTube. 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" which instantly became the summer hit of year. 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 with a successful music video and had great success in Europe, Asia, Australia and America. A collaboration of a team behind the likes of Celine Dion, Madonna, Selena Gomez, Ace of Base, Ashley Tisdale, Enrique Iglesias, Ola Svensson, Jennifer Lopez, GLEE and several others.[2] She also reached number 1 in charts and won the Armenian Pulse Awards competition for Best Song In English. She also won the European Song Contest in Armenia with 122 votes.

In 2017, Manoukian broke into the music industry as a songwriter and wrote the music and lyrics for "Palia Mou Agapi", performed by Helena Paparizou, the winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 2005. Manoukian got a Platinum Disc, as the song reached over a thousand sales.

In 2018, Manoukian she did a guest audition appearance on the UK version of The X Factor,[4] which reached the front page of the newspaper The Sun and got coverage in many more major newspapers and magazines, talking about the fierce stage presence. She amazed the judges Louis Tomlinson from One Direction, Simon Cowell, Robbie Williams and Ayda Field, and, as a result, her live show appearance went viral.

She was also being discussed to represent Armenia in Eurovision Song Contest, particularly in 2015 and 2016. She discussed a desire to compete in Eurovision for either Armenia, Greece, or Cyprus.[5] She won Depi Evratesil 2020, the third season of the Armenian national selection[6] and was supposed to represent Armenia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 [7] 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[8] and replaced with Eurovision: Europe Shine a Light and Eurovision Song Celebration, which revealed she would have performed 14th in heat 2[9]. She also appeared on BBC's Newsbeat documentary about the cancellation of the contest, sending a video message to fans, along with several other acts[10]. On the same weekend as Shine A Light, she released a new Tropical house inspired song "Dolla", one of 5 would-be 2020 entries to release new music that weekend[11]. She was the creative, artistic and the main director of "Dolla"'s music video, which she released in July that year.[12] 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.[13]

Discography

Singles
As lead artist
Title Year Album
"I Surrender"[14][15] 2012 Non-album singles
"Na Les Pos M'Agapas"[14][16]
(featuring S i N)
"XO"[14][17] 2014
"Chains on You" 2020 TBA[18]
"Dolla"[19]
As featured artist
Title Year Album
"Party Like a Freak"[14][20]
(DJ Kas featuring Athena Manoukian)		 2011 Non-album single

Awards
Year Award Category City Result
2015 Armenian Pulse Music Awards Best English Song (XO) Yerevan, Armenia Won
Year Award Category City Result
2020 Eurovision Song Contest Depi Evratesil Yerevan, Armenia Won

References
  1. "Athena Manoukian - "I have strong Armenian roots of which I'm very proud"". Arm Fashion. Archived from the original on 7 April 2015. Retrieved 5 February 2015.
  2. "About Athena Manoukian". Retrieved 5 February 2015.
  3. "ARMENIA 2015: ATHENA MANOUKIAN TO VIENNA?". Wiwi Bloggs. Retrieved 5 February 2015.
  4. Gallagher, Robyn. "Greek JESC 2008 national finalist Athena Manoukian stuns judges at X Factor UK audition". Wiwibloggs. Wiwibloggs. Retrieved 18 February 2020.
  5. Purcell, Owen. "EXCLUSIVE: Athena Manoukian talks new music, Eurovision 2020 and reflects on her X Factor experience". ESCtakeover. ESCtakeover. Retrieved 15 October 2019.
  6. "Participants of Depi Evratesil 2020 announced". eurovision.am. Eurovision Armenia. Retrieved 28 January 2020.
  7. "🇦🇲 Athena Manoukian has won Depi Evratesil!". 15 February 2020. Retrieved 15 February 2020.
  8. "Eurovision 2020 in Rotterdam is cancelled". Eurovision Song Contest. 18 March 2020.
  9. "Part two of Eurovision Song Celebration". Eurovision Song Contest. 14 May 2020.
  10. BBC Newsbeat (11 May 2020). "Eurovision 2020: The cancelled year BBC documentary". Youtube. Retrieved 13 August 2020.
  11. Shokoyan, Antranig (15 May 2020). "Five of the Best: New music from Eurovision 2020 artists". Wiwibloggs.
  12. 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.
  13. Wiwibloggs (12 February 2020). "William Lee Adams Athena Manoukian Skype interview before DE2020". Youtube. Retrieved 10 June 2020.
  14. "Athena Manoukian". iTunes. Retrieved 5 February 2015.
  15. "Athena Manoukian I Surrender". Youtube. Retrieved 1 February 2015.
  16. "Athena Manoukian Na Les Pos Magapas". Youtube. Retrieved 1 February 2015.
  17. "Athena Manoukian XO". Youtube. Retrieved 1 February 2015.
  18. Wiwibloggs (12 February 2020). "William Lee Adams Athena Manoukian Skype interview before DE2020". Youtube. Retrieved 10 June 2020.
  19. Shokoyan, Antranig (15 May 2020). "Five of the Best: New music from Eurovision 2020 artists". Wiwibloggs.
  20. "Athena Manoukian Party Like Freak". Retrieved 1 February 2015.
Preceded by
Srbuk
with "Walking Out"		 Armenia in the Eurovision Song Contest
2020		 Succeeded by
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