Kerli

Kerli Kõiv (born 7 February 1987), better known mononymously as Kerli, is an Estonian singer and songwriter.

Kerli was born Kerli Kõiv was born in Elva, Estonia on 7 February 1987.

Her mother, Piret Kõiv, was a social worker, and her father, Toivo Kõiv, was an auto mechanic.

Her parents separated when she was 16.

Kerli has stated that when she wrote "Supergirl"—a song about domestic violence written for Utopia—she "put [herself] in [her] mother's body, and said things that [she] wished that [her mother] would've said to her dad when [she] was little".

Her younger sister, Eliisa, is also a musician who competed in the third season of Eesti otsib superstaari.

As a child, Kerli studied ballroom dancing for eight years, practicing five days a week.

She was first introduced to music by her kindergarten teacher, who told her mother that Kerli had "nice pitch" and that she was interested in taking her to various singing competitions.

At eight years old, Kerli gained an interest in classical music, and as there was an absence of music in her early life, she only possessed two cassettes, which were albums of Bonnie Tyler and Phil Collins.

She began writing stories, mini books, and poems at the age of 10 to escape from her "abusive" household to an "imaginary world".

Despite being discouraged from doing so, Kerli dropped out of school at the age of 16 to pursue her musical career.

In 2002, Kerli competed in the singing competition Laulukarussell in the age group category 13–15 and on 18 May won with the song "Bridge over Troubled Water".

Also in 2002, she falsified her age to enter the Baltic song contest Fizz Superstar, as the minimum age was fifteen.

She ended up winning the contest, gaining a singing contract to Universal Republic Records by Rob Stevenson.

She was later dropped as Stevenson's position at the label changed.

Later, Estonian media began to use the term "Kerli Syndrome" as a synonym for "failure".

Kerli has stated, however, that she feels no resentment towards her home country.

At the age of 16, Kerli moved to Stockholm where she competed in Melodifestivalen in 2003 but was eliminated in the second semifinals.

In 2004, she was the runner-up in that year's Eurolaul – a televised competition that determines the song that will represent Estonia in the Eurovision Song Contest – with her song "Beautiful Inside".

While in Stockholm for two years, she worked with numerous producers and due to lack of money as the contracts she had gained previously were unsuccessful, she ate nothing but rice for three months, lived in an abandoned house during winter and slept on a cot.

Born in Elva, Kerli entered multiple singing competitions before being signed to Island Records in 2006 by LA Reid.

At the age of 18, she moved to the United States where she continued to perform and write songs, ultimately getting an audition with L.A. Reid, who signed her to The Island Def Jam Music Group in 2006.

In 2006, Kerli worked with producer, songwriter, and mixer David Maurice on an autobiographical set of songs, the first set of which were released on a self-titled EP in 2007.

In 2007, she released her debut self-titled extended play and in 2008, released her debut studio album, Love Is Dead, which charted on the Billboard 200.

The lead single from the album, "Walking on Air," charted in many countries and was also featured as the iTunes Store's Single of the Week where it was downloaded over 500,000 times, a record at that time.

In a 2008 interview she said the following:

No, I don't feel any resentment [towards Estonia].

For a while, because I left Estonia and Estonians didn't hear anything about me so all these Estonian young singers were like... I guess they're slowly turning around now and understanding that I really was doing something here.

Stevenson later signed Kerli to his label Stolen Transmission but the label went bankrupt.

She finally released her debut album, titled Love Is Dead on 8 July 2008, following her debut single "Walking on Air" which charted at number 75 on the European Hot 100, and a promotional single "Creepshow".

"Creepshow" was featured in the TV series Fringe, The City, as well as in the video game Burnout Paradise.

In the years following, Kerli was featured on Almost Alice with the song "Tea Party" and she began to abandon her alternative rock sound and started to adopt a more electronic and dance-influenced sound, as can be heard in her 2010 single "Army of Love".

Following the release of Love Is Dead, Kerli began production on a second studio album which became her second extended play Utopia, released in early 2013, where it became Kerli's second release to chart on the Billboard 200.

Two promotional singles from the EP, "Army of Love" and "Zero Gravity", were released prior to the release of the album's first official single, "The Lucky Ones".

All three songs entered the top ten of Billboard's Hot Dance Club Songs chart; two of them peaking at number one.

Two songs which were co-written by Kerli for Utopia — "Skyscraper" and "I Feel Immortal" — were later recorded by artists Demi Lovato and Tarja Turunen, respectively.

Kerli's version of "I Feel Immortal" was later released on Frankenweenie Unleashed!.

In 2013, Kerli performed twice on Dancing with the Stars; Vibe called the performances a "major milestone in the EDM world."

In November 2013, Kerli left Island Records and signed a record deal with Ultra Music.

In 2019, Kerli's second studio album Shadow Works was released.