Valentina (French singer)

Valentina Tronel (born 6 April 2009), known as simply Valentina, is a French pop singer best known for winning the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2020. In 2016, she took part in the French version of The Voice Kids. Since 2018, she has been part of the child musical group Kids United Nouvelle Génération, with whom she has recorded the albums Au bout de nos rêves (2018) and L'Hymne de la vie (2019). She represented France in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2020 with the song "J'imagine", and went on to win the competition, becoming the first French entrant to win the Junior Eurovision Song Contest.

Biography
Valentina was born in Rennes, the capital of Brittany, northwestern France, and lives in Thorigné-Fouillard. She has an older brother. Her mother is an Italian-language teacher and her father is a real estate agent.

From her early childhood, Valentina was surrounded by music: she said; "I grew up in a family where everyone sang: my mother [sang] in bars, my father [did] Michael Jackson impressions. [...] Music has always been part of my life.". She said she was probably two and a half when she sang her first song. Her mother sang her to sleep with Italian songs and the first songs Valentina sang were Italian.

Career
In 2016, Valentina took part in the fourth season of The Voice Kids France (2017) but she was rejected at the blind auditions stage. Valentina was the show's youngest contestant that season, she was seven when she applied for the show and when her blind audition was recorded, and eight on 2 September of the following year when the show was broadcast.

In 2018, Valentina joined the child musical group Kids United Nouvelle Génération, which is a "new generation" of the group Kids United. According to Le Figaro, her offer of a place there was due to her appearance on The Voice Kids but according to Valentina, she and her mother sent a video of Valentina singing Kids United songs in response to an Internet advertisement for a music project; they later discovered the advertisement was for Kids United Nouvelle Génération and that Valentina had been selected for the second round.

As its youngest member, Valentina has become a mascot for the group. As of 2020, she has recorded two albums with the group; Au bout de nos rêves was released in August 2018 and L'Hymne de la vie in November 2019. On 22 June 2021, the production has announced the end of the Kids United adventure and the cancellation of the final Best of Tour.

2020 Junior Eurovision Song Contest
On 9 October 2020, France Télévisions announced it had selected Valentina to represent France with a song titled "J'imagine" at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest, which was held in Warsaw, Poland, on 29 November. On 16 October, the song was released as a single and a music video was unveiled on the same day. As of 26 April 2021, the video has received nearly 12 million views. Valentina won the contest with a score of 200 points, 48 more than second-placed Kazakhstan and 67 more than third-placed Spain. This was France's first victory at the contest.

Musical style and influences
Valentina's idol is Ariana Grande, who she said is "very pretty" and "has a wonderful voice". Her favorite of Grande's songs is "Love Me Harder". Valentina also likes the music of Celine Dion, that of French artists Maître Gims, Louane, Patrick Fiori, Dadju., and that of Breton artist Nolwenn Leroy, whose voice, she says, she "just loves". Apart from singing, Valentina also raps in French. She also sings in Italian, in particular songs by her mother's favorite singer Laura Pausini. At her blind audition for The Voice Kids France in 2016, Valentina performed Laura Pausini's "Tra te e il mare".

Studio albums

 * Plus loin qu'un rêve (2021)
 * Plus loin qu'un rêve (Édition de Noël) (2021)
 * La magie de Noël (2023)

Filmography

 * 2017: The Voice Kids (season 4) — candidate
 * 2020: Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2020 — winner
 * 2021: PAW Patrol: The Movie – Liberty
 * 2023: PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie – Liberty