Georgia’s 1TV announced today that Nutsa Buzaladze will represent the country at Eurovision 2024, with the entry to be released in a few weeks.
The internally selected 27-year-old, who will be familiar to fans of singing contests such as Idol and The Voice, has been living in Los Angeles, California, and Dubai, United Arab Emirates, but has come back to her home country to turn around Georgia’s form at Eurovision.
Meet your new Idol… Nutsa Buzaladze will represent Georgia at #Eurovision2024 🤩🇬🇪 pic.twitter.com/eCLwMAjisp
— Eurovision Song Contest (@Eurovision) January 12, 2024
Born in Tbilisi on January 28, 1997, Buzaladze began preparing for a career in music from a very young age. She played guitar and was lead vocalist for the children’s ensemble Mziuri, and began piano lessons at the age of 8.
However, it is the reality show arena where Buzaladze began to show early promise and from where she launched, slowly but surely, her career and large following.
In 2011, Buzaladze was a semi-finalist on Georgia’s Got Talent. She was a finalist on the 2013 season of Your Face Sounds Familiar and a semi-finalist on the 2014 season of Georgia’s Dancing With the Stars.
Buzaladze also had an earlier tilt at Eurovision – fans of the national selection season may recall that her entry for Georgia’s 2017 national selection, “Evroviizis erovnuli konkursi,” came in 2nd to winner Tako Gachochiladze’s “Keep The Faith.”
Buzaladze then competed overseas, taking in The Voice of Turkey.
However, Buzaladze does remain a somewhat controversial figure in Georgia, largely for her attempted career in Russia, a country that occupies approximately 20% of Georgia’s territory since its invasion in 2008.
Buzaladze competed on the Russian version of the talent show All Together Now, released a single in Russian in 2020, and also sang at an event in Moscow on June 24, 2023.
Buzaladze did apologize on a since deleted Instagram post, saying “To all my friends and fans, today, I’ve broken your heart so much and I feel obligated to explain everything to you because it hurts me. Russia is not a market where I would like to continue my career in the present or in the future. Despite the multiple offers, every project or corporate offer has been turned down. This decision of mine is absolutely firm and thoughtful.”
Despite the controversy, Buzaladze has publicly denounced Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, and has also done patriotic events on behalf of Georgia, including perform Georgia’s national anthem at the United States Library of Congress on Georgia’s Independence Day on May 26, 2023.
However, a career highlight for Buzaladze came when she appeared on the American version of Idol, coming in 12th. A highlight for her must surely be her duet with Kylie Minogue during the season finale.
Buzaladze has been tasked with getting Georgia back to the Eurovision Grand Final, something the country has not done since 2016, when Nika Kocharov and Young Georgian Lolitaz came in 20th with “Midnight Gold.”
Since its debut in 2007, Georgia’s best performance at the Contest has been 9th place, which Sofia Nizharadze and Eldrine achieved with “Shine” and “One More Day,” respectively.
What do #YOU think about Nutsa Buzaladze being chosen to represent Georgia at Eurovision 2024? Do #YOU think she has a shot at the Grand Final, or do #YOU think it’s too early to say and we should wait for the song? Let us know in the comments below, on social media, and in our forum.
