The voice of Estonia: No-one can stop ANNABELLE

Annabelle Ats, also known as ANNABELLE, will be turning 14 just a few days before she competes at Junior Eurovision, so she’ll likely be spending her birthday in rehearsals. If you bring the music ANNABELLE, we’ll bring the cake.

She’s been singing and playing the piano since she was 6 years old, and has gone on to compete in a number of singing competitions. She recently took home the win at Estonia’s Tähtede Lava, after showing off her contralto vocals across a series of songs. She won her place to represent the country at Junior Eurovision, and got straight to work with the songwriting team.

After getting the golden ticket to Madrid, ANNABELLE headed into jamming sessions with legendary Estonian composer, lyricist and producer Sven Lõhmus. 

He’s worked with top artists in Estonia including all-female rock band Vanilla Ninja, singer Stefan, and Eurovision royalty Suntribe, who competed in the 2005 Contest with their catchy pop tune Let’s Get Loud. In fact, Sven has had songs in the Eurovision Song Contest 4 times, most recently with Koit Toome and Laura’s Verona.

Sven wrote Tänavad especially for ANNABELLE, after they experimented with different styles. They decided that a dance track in a low key would suit her voice perfectly. Tänavad means “the streets,” and the song is all about childhood memories and young people's voices — exactly what Junior Eurovision is all about.

As well as music, ANNABELLE is heavily into the outdoors and athletics. Her sport of choice is the 60 metre sprint, which will come in handy if she’s ever running late to rehearsals. Her sporting hero couldn’t be anyone other than the world record-holding sprinter, Usain Bolt. ANNABELLE said that if she had the power of invisibility for one day, she’d sneak into Estonia’s best gym and observe how all the lessons are conducted.

As well as music and sports, ANNABELLE is just as happy studying literature at school, because she loves reading books.

ANNABELLE’s mood is always lifted when she hears Sean Paul’s She Doesn’t Mind, and she can never resist bopping to the dancehall beats. We could say the same about Tänavad! When she’s not making moves to Sean Paul, ANNABELLE listens to The Weeknd, who she says is her favourite popstar.

She might also have a special place in her heart for Let It Go from Frozen, which was the first song she learnt to sing. No pressure ANNABELLE, but the world needs a Tänavad / Let It Go dance mashup.

Two special feline friends, Steffi and Simba, will be watching ANNABELLE perform at Junior Eurovision from the TV screen at home. 

The Scottish fold cats both love to eat and sleep, and hopefully they love to watch televised music contests. Recently, one of them performed some slapstick comedy by falling down the stairs in reaction to ANNABELLE opening her bedroom door. The cat was fine, but might now be down to 8 lives.

The Junior Eurovision Song Contest will be ANNABELLE’s first time visiting Spain, and she’ll no doubt have just as much fun exploring the outdoors as she does singing in Madrid’s Caja Mágica.

You can learn more about ANNABELLE from Estonia 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!