Poli Genova
Genova in 2016
Background information
Birth name	Poli Plamenova Genova
Born	(1987-02-10) 10 February 1987 (age 37) Sofia, Bulgaria
Genres	Pop
Years active	1991–present

Poli Plamenova Genova (Bulgarian: Поли Пламенова Генова, born 10 February 1987 in Sofia, Bulgaria) is a Bulgarian singer who represented her country in the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 in Germany. Genova performed her entry "Na inat" (Out of Spite) in the second semifinal.^[1] She also represented Bulgaria for the second time in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016 in Stockholm, Sweden, with the song "If Love Was a Crime",^[2] and reached fourth place in the finals – a record for the country.

She hosted the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2015 in Sofia, Bulgaria.

Poli started her career in 1995, when she joined the children’s vocal ensemble Bon-Bon. For the following six years, she hosted the eponymous Children’s TV show. It was then that she sang together with some of the biggest names on the Bulgarian pop scene, such as Georgi Hristov and Yordanka Hristova. In duet with Nelly Rangelova, she won the special award on the Golden Orpheus Festival. In 1997, Poli and Bon-Bon took part in the The International Festival of Arts "Slavic Bazaar in Vitebsk", where the children’s ensemble won an award. Poli graduated from "National School of Music Lyubomir Pipkov" majoring in a clarinet. Genova was a part of the UNICEF Charity Project "The Magnificent Six". She was a judge on the first series of the Bulgarian version of The X Factor. Simultaneously with the preparation of her participation in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016, she takes part in the Fourth season of the Bulgarian version of Your Face Sounds Familiar, where she imitated The Jackson 5, Justin Bieber, Raffi Boghosyan, The Weeknd, Ed Sheeran and Pink.

Poli was one of the finalists of the national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest in 2009.^[3] Being a new name on the music scene, she managed to rank second with her ballad "One Lifetime Is Not Enough".

In 2011 she won the national selection and represented Bulgaria in the Eurovision Song Contest 2011, with the song "Na inat" composed and written by herself, Sebastian Arman, Boris Milanov and David Bronner. Although it didn't qualify to the finals, the song became well-known among Eurovision fans. On 21 October 2015, it was announced that Poli is hosting the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2015 in Sofia.^[4]

Later, on 19 February 2016, the Bulgarian National Television chose her to once again represent Bulgaria in the Eurovision Song Contest, with the song "If Love Was a Crime".^[2] Theodosii Spassov, a renowned Bulgarian jazz musician who plays kaval contributed to the song with an interesting and unique vibe. Composers and producers of the song are Sebastian Arman and Boris Milanov, known from her previous entry "Na inat", this time joined by Joacim "Twin" Persson, a Swedish songwriter, who has produced platinum-selling artists such as Kelly Clarkson, John Legend, Kylie Minogue, Lady Gaga, Jamiroquai and others. The track received many positive reviews by fans and editors of Eurovision-related portals, such as Wiwibloggs,^[5][6] Oikotimes ^[7] and Escxtra.^[8] Since of its release, the official video has been watched over 6 million times.^[9] The songs was presented live during the pre-Eurovision parties in Riga, Amsterdam, Tel Aviv and London.^{[10][11][12][13]} In the Eurovision final Genova placed fourth, the highest placement for Bulgaria in the contest. The track charted iTunes in 26 countries, including No 1 in Bulgaria and No.2 in Malta, and has been streamed over 1 500 000 times through Spotify.^[14][15]

Besides being recognized as a singer, Poli is a talented actress, performing in her own musical theater for children based on Hans Christian Andersen's fairytale The Ugly Duckling.^[17] She also starred as The Idea in the puppet play Some can do it, Others cannot.^[18] In addition to performing in the theatre, Poli has voiced animated characters in the Bulgarian dubs of films such as:

• Official Facebook Page
• Official Twitter profile
• Official Instagram profile

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