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Breaking cycles and moving forward with North Macedonia's Andrea

08 May 2022 at 15:00 CEST
North Macedonia's Andrea - WIDE EBU / Corinne Cumming
With a childhood that bounced between North Macedonia’s capital Skopje and New York City, Andrea takes her musical and style influences from a wide variety of origins.
Andrea, North Macedonia, Second Rehearsal, PalaOlimpico EBU / Andres Putting

As she takes the stage in Turin with Circles, Andrea draws on her international background to create something accessible to a wide audience, but that’s still entirely her own. She credits this point of view to the time she spent living in Harlem during the formative years of her childhood, where she absorbed a huge spectrum of musical culture ranging from traditional gospel to hip-hop legends like Lauryn Hill to pop-rock songstress Hayley Williams:

It’s so cool for a little child to be living among all these cultures. It makes you love everybody as they are. When we talk about ‘culture’, we’re talking about music, we’re talking about film, everything. That’s where I take my inspiration from. Gospel, R’n’B, pop music…For me, it’s very important to see what’s out there, so I can find out what I identify with most. That’s how I live my life. Who knows, maybe in a year I’ll make a rock album?

Andrea’s Circles comes from a deeply personal place, dealing with the seemingly endless cycles that we find ourselves in when a situation becomes unhealthy and unsustainable.

It’s important to move on. What I want to project with the message is that if we’re truly unhappy, we have to work on ourselves and go through the process of changing everything around us so that we’re happier. We have that strength and bravery, we just have to tap into it, and nothing can stop us once we say ‘enough is enough’. We have one life, why spend it unhappy?

📺 Watch: Andrea – Circles (Exclusive Rehearsal Clip)

One way that Andrea has been able to grow is with the support of some incredible mentors. Not only can she lean on her family, who’ve been supporting her since she first announced to them that she wanted to be a singer, but she’s also got some brilliant North Macedonian performers in her corner. Tamara Todevska and Kaliopi, both two-time Eurovision veterans, have worked with Andrea to not only give her tips on how to hone her vocals or approach the international stage, but also how to tap into her own potential and simply be the best person she can be.

I’m a completely different person after meeting Kaliopi. She’s helped me vocally, which has really helped me a lot, but she also ‘broke’ some things in me that were holding me back from being my true self. I felt so much calmer, stronger, and more powerful after meeting her. She’s changed my life. It’s so important to have mentors, whatever your field is.

Andrea from North Macedonia getting ready for her first rehearsal EBU / Andres Putting

With support from these two Eurovision queens, Andrea feels pretty empowered to perform in Turin, despite the pressure that a singer invariably feels as they perform on such a massive platform.

At times, as a young performer, the stage seems so big, and you don’t want it to intimidate you. When you feel secure in yourself, it won’t be so scary. My love for music is greater than my fear. I’m going to go out there and be as real as I can, and hope for the best!

📺 Watch: All 40 Songs Official Recap

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