Ester Peony
Romania's 2019 Eurovision Song Contest representative is 25-year-old Ester Alexandra Creţu, known as Ester Peony. She is a Romanian singer and songwriter who has discovered her passion for music since childhood when she lived with her family in Montréal, Canada. She will perform 'On a Sunday' in Tel Aviv.Ester started to study jazz singing at the age of eight, and when she returned to Romania four years later, she enrolled in the piano section of Dinu Lipatti School in Piteşti. At age 13, she transferred to classic guitar until the ninth grade, when she continued her studies at the classic singing section.
In 2013 she enrolled at the Music Interpretation Faculty in Bucharest where she studied jazz. A year later, Ester began composing music for artists such as DJ Rynno, Sylvia, Tamy and Pepe, both in the mainstream and underground. In the winter of the same year, Ester released Cuminte de Craciun, alongside Ana Baniciu, Puya, Doddy, Vescan and Mahia.
She released covers such as Derniere Danse (Indila), My Heart Is Refusing Me (Loreen), and, in 2015, her first single Sub aripa ta (Vescan) conquered the music charts and gathered over 16 million views on YouTube. Also in 2015, the artist continued her collaboration with Vescan and launched the track Oameni with him, Alan and Kepa. In 2016, she collaborated with Phelipe and released 1000 de motive, track and video that generated nearly 3 million views on YouTube.
In the summer of 2016, Ester went in her first tour, Noi sa fim sanatosi!, alongside Puya, Vescan, Doddy and Anastasia, organized in the big cities of Romania. In 2017, Ester dedicated her time to music and she has written pieces for different artists, but also for herself.
At the beginning of 2018, she released Dig It, an EP containing 4 tracks: On My Way, So Fine, Leaving Tomorrow and Dig It, and a few months later, Ester alongside Alexandru Şerbu and Ioana Victoria Badea wrote On a Sunday, her winning song in Romania's national selection for the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest. The single combines the guitar sound with the fresh lyrics that complement the dark mood with a message: Love becomes dangerous when it is given to the wrong person.
Currently Ester continues her singing classes and is working on her first album, to be released in 2019.
