Estonia's Elina projects confidence as she sparkles on stage

Elina Nechayeva was born in 1991 and graduated from the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre in 2016 where she studied classical singing. As a child, she dreamed of becoming an astronaut, flying between the stars and planets. It is this same drive that inspired La Forza. 

Elina is a hardworking professional and aims to perform opera on the largest stages in the world. She takes very good care of her powerful instrument, her voice, and loves to begin her mornings with a yoga session and a jog. She tries to walk whenever and wherever she can and instead of coffee, uses dark chocolate as her secret energiser. Perhaps the most important part of her health regiment is that she always stays happy and positive.

READ MORE: Elina's participant profile

La Forza was written by Elina Nechayeva and Ksenia Kuchukova, and composed by Mihkel Mattisen and Timo Vendt.

On the Eurovision stage we see Elina in a majestic dress on which numerous moving patterns are projected, reminiscent to flowers, galaxies and paint. The dress is said to be made of over fifty square meters of fabric, which is being draped across the stage in under thirty seconds between acts.

Estonian broadcaster ERR went at great length to secure the advanced beamer that projects the graphics on the dress. They raised awareness through the country's media to find sponsors who would eventually raise the money to pay for it.

Eurovision.tv caught up with Elina after her first rehearsal: "In my imagination the stage wasn't so big, but I'm really happy with singing in a location like this. I just came back from the United States where I took masterclasses to polish my song La Forza, but I was thinking about Eurovision the entire time. I feel amazing!"

Elina Nechayeva will take part in the first Semi-Final of the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest on Tuesday, 8th of May.