Armenia’s ‘Cosmic Friend’: It’s written in the stars for Leo

Armenia have a strong history in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest, with wins in both 2010 and 2021, and nothing but Top 10 placings in the other years.

This year Armenian broadcaster AMPTV have put their faith in Leo, after choosing him in an internal selection process. There were more than 100 applicants, and after two rounds of auditions, Leo came out on top, launching his Junior Eurovision career.

Junior Eurovision isn’t Leo’s first shot at a TV music contest, as he’s already participated in America’s Got Talent. He’s also taken to the stage in the famous Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, during a concert. 

That concert was given by his mum, Hripsime Hakobyan, who has previously competed in Armenia’s national selection for Eurovision. Leo says that his family is his universe.

The mother and son duo have performed songs on TV together, and Leo’s Instagram is full of song covers. 

This young star loves blending fantasy and reality in his music, and is known for his adventurous spirit. His Junior Eurovision song Cosmic Friend is all about a friendship with an alien.

Cosmic Friend was written by an out-of-this-world team. The music comes from the mind of writer and producer David Badalyan, also known as tokionine, who has plenty of experience writing for Junior Eurovision.

He co-wrote Maléna’s winning 2021 entry for Armenia, Qami Qami, which also had a sci-fi vibe — Maléna wore a futuristic silver outfit and performed in front of a digital cosmos.

The lyrics for Cosmic Friend were co-written by Maléna and Vahram Petrosyan. After competing (and winning) herself, Maléna will no doubt have a lot of great advice for Leo when it comes to reaching super-stardom.

Vahram wrote the song that got Armenia its first Junior Eurovision win, Mama, performed by Vladimir Arzumanyan — which means that everyone in the songwriting team has been involved in a winning Junior Eurovision song.

The Cosmic Friend team also wrote Armenia’s Junior Eurovision 2023 entry, Do It My Way, performed by Yan Girls, which came in 3rd place.

Family is really important to Leo, especially his little brother. Another member of the family was added this year on Leo’s birthday — a very happy mini poodle. Leo says he’ll really miss his new dog friend while he’s in Madrid.

Leo’s pop hero is Michael Jackson, who he considers a legend of music. His favourite song is Billie Jean, which he describes as his most iconic song, and which is loved across generations.

But the first song he ever learnt to sing was Måneskin’s version of Beggin’, which began as a Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons song in 1967 before a revamp by Madcon in 2007.

Måneskin shot to stardom after their Eurovision Song Contest win for Italy in 2021 with their rock song Zitti E Buoni.

Aside from musicians, Leo’s superhero is Argentine footballer Lionel Messi, and he loves playing as him in football video games. Leo is impressed with Messi’s talent and hard work — skills also needed of Junior Eurovision stars.

Leo is proud to represent his country at Junior Eurovision, and he has starry-eyed dreams for the future too. He hopes that one day he can represent Armenia at the Eurovision Song Contest.

You can learn more about Leo from Armenia right here.

You can now stream the official #JESC2024 album and watch all 17 songs over on the official #JESC YouTube channel! 

Make sure to keep up to date with all the latest news and BTS action by following #JESC2024 on Instagram, TikTok and Facebook, before Junior Eurovision returns LIVE from the Caja Mágica in Madrid, Spain, on Saturday 16 November.

You can watch the show live on the #JESC YouTube channel and don't forget to vote for your favourites over at JESC.TV when voting opens!