Nina Kraljić

Nina Kraljić (Croatian pronunciation: [nîna krǎːʎitɕ]; born 4 April 1992) is a Croatian singer-songwriter and voice actress. She is known for winning season one of The Voice – Najljepši glas Hrvatske and for being a finalist in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016 with the song "Lighthouse". Kraljić is the winner of the Croatian Porin award for Croatia's best new act of 2016. Her debut album Samo was released on September 30, 2016.

Nina Kraljić
Kraljić at a Meet & Greet during the Eurovision Song Contest 2016 in Stockholm.
Born	Nina Kraljić 4 April 1992 Lipovljani, Croatia
Occupation	Singer songwriter composer voice actress
Musical career
Genres	Pop world
Instruments	Vocals piano
Years active	2009–present
Labels	Universal Music Group Dallas Records
Associated acts	Jacques Houdek

Life and career

Early life and career

Nina Kraljić was born in Lipovljani, Croatia on 4 April 1992 to Željko and Irena Kraljić. She has a younger sister Tena.[1] Kraljić's first TV appearance was in 2009 when she entered the Croatian version of Got Talent. She placed tenth in the final stage of the competition. When Kraljić was 14, she left her family to develop her musical expression. She studied opera at a music academy and Croatian studies at the Faculty of Philosophy in Rijeka. She is openly bisexual.[2]

2015–present: Samo

Kraljić performing "Lighthouse" in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016.

Kraljić competed in the first season of Croatian version of The Voice – Najljepši glas Hrvatske.[3] During her participation she performed the song "Beneath Your Beautiful", "Što te nema", and the Macedonian folk song "Zajdi, zajdi, jasno sonce". Her voice was also recognized by Jacques Houdek, who mentored her to victory, with Kraljić receiving roughly 1 million votes in the final round. She later released her debut single "Zaljuljali smo svijet" (We Swung the World) in June 2015, a modern ballad with ethnic elements.

On 24 February 2016, it was announced by Hrvatska radiotelevizija that Kraljić would represent Croatia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016 in Stockholm, Sweden.[4] On 9 March 2016, she released her 2016 contest song "Lighthouse".[5] On 17 March 2016, Kraljić won the prestigious Croatian music award Porin for the Best Upcoming Artist in Croatia for 2015.[6] She led Croatia to the Eurovision Song Contest final after for the first time after seven years, coming tenth in the first semi-final with 133 points, and 23rd in the grand final with 73 points. Her debut album Samo (Only) was released on 30 September 2016. Kraljić presented herself as a songwriter with two songs "Lullaby" and "Lay You Down" in English. On 19 August 2016, she announced a collaboration with the Croatian composer Matija Dedić on the song "Što te nema" (Why Are You Not Here) also featured on the album.[7]

In December 2020, Kraljić was announced as one of the fourteen finalists of Dora 2021.[8] She will perform the song "Rijeka" (River) which she co-wrote together with Hana Librenjak and Miki Solus.[9]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2011	Lota i tajna mjesečevog kamena	Lota	Croatian dub
2012	Snježna kraljica	Gerda
2014	Snježna kraljica 2	Gerda

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2009	Supertalent	Contestant	10th place
2011	Idi, Diego, idi!	Alisa Marquez	Croatian dub
	iCarly	Sam Puckett
	Victorious	Cat Valentine
2012		Fawn "Poni" Liebowitz
2013	Marvin Marvin	Briana
2013–14	Sanjay i Craig	Megan Šljokić
2013–15	Sofija Prva	Sofija
2015	Sara i patka	Sara
	Henry Opasan	Veronika
	The Voice – Najljepši glas Hrvatske	Contestant	Winner
2016	Bella i Buldozi	Pepper Silverstein	Croatian dub

Discography

Studio albums

Title	Details	Peak chart positions
		CRO
Samo	Released: 30 September 2016 Label: Universal Music Croatia Format: Digital download	8
Čuvaj Me	Released: 31 December 2020 Label: Dallas Records Format: Digital download	—

Singles

Title	Year	Peak chart positions	Album
		CRO [10]
"Kaži mi"	2009	—	Non-album single
"Zaljuljali smo svijet"	2015	—	Samo
"Lighthouse"	2016	4
"Samo"		—
"Snijeg"		—
"Najljepši dan"	2018	34	Čuvaj Me
"Lava"	2019	—
"Mi"		—
"Se do kad je sveta"		—
"Čista umjetnost" (with Jacques Houdek)		30
"Zima" (with Marin Jurić Čivro)	2020	10
"Snaga"		—
"Čuvaj me"		—
"Rijeka"	2021	—	Non-album single

References

1. "Nina je kraljica, ali producenti prednost ipak daju Marinu..." 24 sata. 25 April 2015. Retrieved 29 June 2016.
2. Kanić, Petra (19 January 2021). "Nina Kraljić: 'Biseksualna sam. Odricala sam se zbog glazbe, a još imam ožiljke i od batina...'". 24sata (in Croatian). Retrieved 19 January 2021.
3. Nist, Mladen. "Nina Kraljić pobjednica showa The Voice". tropolje.info. Tropolje.
4. Brey, Marco (24 February 2016). "Nina Kraljić to represent Croatia". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 24 February 2016.
5. Brey, Marco (9 March 2016). "Croatia: Nina Kraljić will sing "Lighthouse"". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 9 March 2016.
6. "Nina Kraljić nominirana za Porin". voice.hrt.hr. The Voice of Croatia. 17 February 2016. Archived from the original on 6 March 2016. Retrieved 17 February 2016.
7. "Nina Kraljić ovog petka objavljuje debitanski album". MTV (in Croatian). Retrieved 26 September 2016.
8. Farren, Neil (15 December 2020). "Croatia: Dora 2021 Finalists Revealed". eurovoix. Retrieved 15 December 2020.
9. Komunikacije HRT-a (15 December 2020). "Rezultati natječaja za Doru 2021" (in Croatian). Hrvatska radiotelevizija. Retrieved 15 December 2020.
10. Peak positions in Croatia:
    • For "Lighthouse": "HRTop40 Week 12 2016" (in Croatian). Hrvatska Diskografska Udruga. Retrieved 25 March 2016.
    • For "Najljepši dan": "HRTop40 Week 44 2018" (in Croatian). Hrvatska Diskografska Udruga. Retrieved 5 November 2018.
    • For "Čista umjestnost": "HRTop40 Week 45 2019" (in Croatian). Hrvatska Diskografska Udruga. Retrieved 11 November 2019.
    • For "Zima": "HRTop40 Week 05 2020" (in Croatian). Hrvatska Diskografska Udruga. Retrieved 17 February 2020.

External links

• Nina Kraljić at AllMusic
• Nina Kraljić discography at Discogs
• Nina Kraljić at IMDb