Tanja

Tanja is the stage name of Tatjana Mihhailova (Tatjana Mihhailova-Saar, Russian: Татьяна Михайлова), born 19 June 1983 in Kaliningrad, Russia. She moved with her family to Estonia at two months old and was raised in Kohtla-Järve within the Russian-Estonian community.

She started singing at a young age and entered many contests and song festivals in Estonia, Russia and Ukraine. In 1998 she won the “Utrennaja zvezda” contest in Jūrmala, Latvia, and in 2002 she took part in the Baltic singing competition “Fizz superstar 2002”.

In 2001, with producer Sven Lõhmus and Estonian singer Ly Lumiste, she formed the techno act Nightlight Duo (2001–2004). The duo released two albums, “Jäljed liival” and “Miks ma ei suuda su maailma muuta”, the latter receiving the “Aasta uustulnuk 2002” award (best album of the year). Nightlight Duo competed twice in Eurolaul: in 2002 their “Another Country Song” placed 2nd, and in 2003 “I can b the 1” placed 4th; both songs were written and produced by Sven Lõhmus. The project ended in 2004 following Ly Lumiste’s pregnancy.

In 2004, Tanja created the project Jz Belle with producer and composer Timo Vendt. The first album, “Jz Belle” (covers only), was released in 2004, followed by “Teemant” in 2006, which spawned three radio singles.

After Jz Belle, she also appeared in Sunday Mood with Timo Vendt and Canadian guitarist Alex Pier Federici. They released the English-language album “Something more” in 2009, achieving major success in the Baltic countries. During this period she performed in the show “Queen – The doors of Time” at Theatre Vanemuine in Tartu together with Broadway artist Tony Vincent and Estonian singer Rolf Roosalu. She also took part in TV3 contests such as “Laulud tähtedega” (2010/11), finishing 2nd behind Artur Talvik and Lenna Kuurmaa, and “Laulupealinn” in November 2011, again finishing 2nd. In 2013, she placed 3rd in “Su nägu kõlab tuttavalt”.

In 2012 she released her 6th solo album, “Gemini”, with singles “Supernatural”, “Sind ootan ikka veel” (featuring Mikk Saar) and “All In My Head”.

In 2014, Tanja won Eesti Laul 2014 with Amazing (53% of the vote). The song was officially released on 15 March together with the stage act. She represented Estonia at Eurovision 2014 in Copenhagen, but did not qualify for the final, placing 12th in the first semi-final with 36 points.

After Eurovision, she shared the stage with Andrea Bocelli at his Tallinn concert on 28 June 2014, and announced “Amazing Lie” as the biggest concert of her career at the Õllesummer festival in July 2014 in Tallinn. In June she travelled to Crete to shoot the video for her summer single “Forevermore”. She later served as a backup juror for the Estonian jury panel at Eurovision 2015 in Vienna and acted as Estonia’s spokesperson during the voting.

She returned to Eesti Laul in 2019 alongside The Swingers and Birgit with “High Heels In The Neighbourhood” (7th in the final), and competed in 2021 with “Best Night Ever”, failing to advance from the second semi-final. In 2022 she was involved in Eesti Laul as a host, jury member and interval performer, and co-wrote “Hea päev” for the group Little Mess.