Mariam Shengelia

Shengelia was born on 14 May 2002^[10][11] in the historic region of Mingrelia,^[12][13] and raised in the capital of Tbilisi until she was 10 years old.^[12][13] She then moved west to Zugdidi along with her family.^[14] She had developed an interest in singing and performing in her childhood. Shengelia attended the Tbilisi State Conservatoire, where she studied music theory and vocal performance.^[15] Her initial musical influences included multiple genres, including jazz, pop and soul.^[16]

In 2018, Shengelia first rose to national prominence on the fifth and final season of X Factor Georgia, where she reached the semi-finals.^[17][18][19] A year later, she competed in the second season of Georgian Idol, which was used to select Georgia's representative for the cancelled Eurovision Song Contest 2020 and she finished sixth place.^[20][21][22] Had that contest taken place, she could have been one of the backing vocalists for Tornike Kipiani's song "Take Me as I Am," which was selected to represent Georgia that year.^[23][24][25] In 2021, she competed in the fourth season of The Voice Sakartvelo, where she was eliminated in the semi-finals.^[26][27] Four years later, she finished in runner-up on Tsekvaven Varskvlavebi, which is the Georgian version of the media franchise Dancing with the Stars.^[28][29][30]

On 14 March 2025, Georgian Public Broadcaster (GPB) announced Freedom, performed by Shengelia as the Georgian entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2025 in Basel.^[31][32][33] She finished in 15th place in the second semi-final with the second fewest points, thus failing to qualify.^[34]

Shengelia has been criticised for publicly supporting Georgian Dream, the ruling party of Georgia, and participating in commercials and concerts supported by it.^{[35][36][37][38]} She stated that by participating in concerts, she wants to spread her primary message, which is peace.^[39] According to media reports, she originally took part in protests against the ruling party in 2023 and shared a post in her Facebook account in 2022 proclaiming that she apologized for the actions of the second Garibashvili government in the face of Russian invasion of Ukraine.^{[40][41][42][43]}