Polina Gagarina

Polina Gagarina spent her childhood in Greece.  Her mother, a professional dancer, signed a contract with a Greek producer in 1991 to work as a ballet artist at “Alsos” in Athens. Gagarina lived there for three years and started her first grade in September 1993. During summer vacation in Russia, at her grandmother’s insistence, she stayed with her in Saratov. She enrolled in a music school.

After the contract with the Greek producer ended, Gagarina’s mother returned to Moscow, where Polina also moved. After graduating from the music school, at the age of 14, Gagarina entered the State Music School of Pop and Jazz Art. 

In 2003, at the age of 16, Gagarina participated in the television project Star Factory-2. She emerged as the winner of the competition. After the project ended, Gagarina decided to discontinue her collaboration with Fadeev.

In the spring of 2011, the music show Narodnaya Zvezda-4 (People’s Star-4) started in Ukraine, where selected participants from the public performed duets with stars from the Russian and Ukrainian music scenes. Gagarina sang with Mikhail Dimov from Odessa. In April 2011, a youth series titled Bolshie Nadezhdy (Great Expectations) was released on the Russian MTV, with Gagarina’s song “Ya Obezhayu” as the official soundtrack.

In August 2011, Gagarina received the “Golden Gramophone” award for her song “Ya Tebya Ne Proshu Nikogda” from Russkoe Radio Ukraine. Later that year, she released the single “Oskolki” along with its music video.

In January 2012, Gagarina released a new single titled “Spektakl Okonchen”, accompanied by a music video. In the spring, the Ukrainian TV series Katina Lyubov premiered, featuring Gagarina’s song “Vernis Lyubov” as its soundtrack. In June, Fabrika Zvyozd returned on Channel One in Russia, with the theme “Russia vs. Ukraine.” Popular participants from Russia and Ukraine competed in musical battles to determine which team was better. Gagarina won three out of four battles, contributing to Russia’s victory. She also became an ambassador for the 2013 Summer Universiade held in Kazan.

In August, Gagarina released the single “Net”, followed by the music video on August 31. On September 29, she won the RU.TV award in the category of “Best Ringtone” for the song “Spektakl Okonchen”. During the summer of 2012, Gagarina voiced the character Mavis in the animated film Hotel Transylvania.

On December 1, she received the Golden Gramophone award for “Spektakl Okonchen”. She also participated in the Pesnya Goda 2012 (Song of the Year 2012) telefest, becoming a multiple award winner. On December 3, “Spektakl Okonchen” was recognized as one of the top 20 songs of 2012 on the project “Krasnaya Zvezda”. In the same year, Gagarina became one of the hosts of the talk show Vkusno Zhit.

At the Zvukovaya Dorozhka 2013 ceremony held on April 19 at the Izvestia Hall in Moscow, Gagarina won the “Sexy ZH” prize. On May 25, 2013, at the RU.TV Awards, she won the category of Best Female Performer.

On June 7, 2013, she won the Breakthrough of the Year award at the MUZ-TV channel. On June 17, at the annual Fashion People Awards-2013 ceremony, Gagarina was named the Fashion singer. On July 22, 2013, she released a new single titled “Navek”. She received her second Golden Gramophone award for “Net”.

On April 14, 2014, the song “Shagay” premiered. On November 12, Gagarina released her first single, “DAY,” from her English-language album, a collaboration with Anton Belyaev, a member of the group Therr Maitz.

On March 11, 2015, Channel One announced that Gagarina would represent Russia at the Eurovision Song Contest 2015 with the song “A Million Voices.” Shortly before that, she participated in the celebrity impersonation show Toch-v-Toch (Exactly Like) as a contestant.

On May 19, 2015, she won first place in the first semifinal of Eurovision with 182 points. On May 23, 2015, in the Eurovision final, she achieved second place. From June 2015, Gagarina ended her collaboration with producer and composer Konstantin Meladze.

In September 2015, Gagarina became one of the coaches on the TV show The Voice on Channel One. In October 2015, she released the new single “Ya Ne Budu” along with its music video. In September 2016, she returned as a coach on The Voice.

In 2018, Gagarina was registered as a trusted person of Vladimir Putin. During the 2018 presidential elections, she joined the Putin Team movement, which supported Putin.

In 2018, she also served as a trusted person for Sergei Sobyanin, a candidate for the Mayor of Moscow. Since 2018, Gagarina has been a member of the Council for Culture and Art under the President of the Russian Federation.

According to Forbes, in 2020, Polina Gagarina ranked second in the list of Russian Instagram bloggers in terms of earnings, with a reported income of $0.89 million.

She publicly supports Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. On March 18, 2022, she performed at the Luzhniki stadium during a rally-concert commemorating the anniversary of the annexation of Crimea, titled “Za mir bez natsizma! Za Rossiyu! Za Prezidenta!” (For peace without Nazism! For Russia! For the President!).

In March 2022, Latvia and Estonia banned Gagarina from entering their countries due to her support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

On January 7, 2023, amidst Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Gagarina was included in Ukraine’s sanctions list for “supporting Russian occupiers and the cruel war by Russia against Ukraine.” The sanctions involve asset freezes, a complete cessation of commercial operations, and a halt to fulfilling economic and financial obligations. In November 2022, her concerts in Kazakhstan were canceled due to her support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

On February 3, 2023, Gagarina was added to Canada’s sanctions list for her involvement in spreading Russian disinformation and propaganda.