Valentina's road to victory

Vantina's interest in music was sparked at an early age. Her mother is an Italian teacher and used to sing her sweet lullabies at night. Ever since, Valentina has had an unconditional love for singing.

In 2018, she stood out at the 'Kids United Nouvelle Génération' audition and then successfully joined the other four members on an exciting journey. She quickly became the group's mascot, developing an impressive community of fans on social media with almost 350.000 followers and counting.

In early October Valentina was selected by FranceTV to represent her country at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2020. She had some big shoes to fill too! Valentina was following in the footsteps of Carla who finished in 5th place in 2019, Angélina who nearly reached the top in 2018 by coming in 2nd place and Thomas, who landed in 6th place back in 2004.

On 16 October, Valentina's song J'imagine was revealed. She described her song as "fast, catchy and joyful" and we couldn't agree more! Check out the official video below:

Valentina's lead up to the competition was a little bit different compared to her fellow French Junior representatives from the past. She couldn't travel to Poland due to the Covid-19 restrictions and instead, she performed J'Imagine back in France like many other Junior 2020 performers. The backstage pictures showed a star in the making:

On 29 November, it was time to 'take to the stage' and show all of Europe what she had in store. She gave an unforgettable performance with the help of four dancers and their fun choreography and also showcased some famous French sights using LED screens!

It was a tight and nail-biting race as Valentina battled it out against the 11 other incredible contestants. Her happy and upbeat song J'imagine went on to Move The World and win Junior Eurovision 2020 by gathering a total of 200 points from the expert juries and online voting. Toutes nos félicitations!

Valentina said at her winner's press conference that she hoped her song would share the message of positivity, solidarity and hope for a "better world tomorrow." She was also really keen to bring the Junior Eurovision 2021 competition to her home country for the first time. "This would be magical - I would love it," she said.

Alexandra Redde-Amiel who is Head of Variety and Entertainment at France Télévisions and Head of the French delegation for the Junior Eurovision Song Contest was very impressed with the young star's performance too: "29 November 2020 will always be engraved in our memories thanks to Valentina's magnificent victory at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest".

Earlier this week, The European Broadcasting Union and France Télévisions excitedly announced that France will host the Contest in 2021. "This incredible adventure isn’t over! It truly is an achievement and an honour for the entire France Télévisions entertainment team to organize one of the biggest shows in the world in France. We can't wait to welcome the EBU teams, all the participants and the European delegations next year and offer them a special show,” Alexandra said.

Read more here.

Valentina's biggest dream was to win the Junior Eurovision Song Contest - and look what happened! She has shown us all that dreams really can come true!

We already can't wait for next year's competition in France. Let's bring on Junior Eurovision 2021!