Gaia Cauchi

Gaia Cauchi M.Q.R. (, born 19 November 2002) is a Maltese singer. She represented Malta at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2013 and won the contest with her song "The Start".

Life and career 2004–2012: Early career Gaia's first "international gig" came in 2011 when she appeared on the popular Italian TV show, Ti Lascio Una Canzone. She took on Tina Turner's "Proud Mary" and left the audience shouting "bellissimo!" (superlative of beautiful in Italian). She won the prestigious Sanremo Junior Music Festival a year later in her category when she was just nine years old. There, she sang "One Night Only", from Dreamgirls.

2013–present: Junior Eurovision Song Contest and breakthrough

After a two-year break from the contest, PBS (Public Broadcasting Services) decided to return to the Junior Eurovision. PBS, Malta's national broadcaster went for an internal selection and chose Cauchi to represent the island nation. Cauchi won the contest on 30 November with a 9-point lead over Ukraine. Being the winner of the Junior Eurovision, she was given a trophy which was incidentally broken a few minutes after being awarded, when the contingent had a group hug. She became the first singer from Malta to win the Junior Eurovision Song Contest and the first person from the island nation to win an EBU produced competition.

On 2 December 2013, the Prime Minister Joseph Muscat announced that Cauchi would be awarded the order Xirka Ġieħ ir-Repubblika, the country's highest honour. This move generated controversy, and she and her team were given the Midalja għall-Qadi tar-Repubblika instead on 13 December 2013.

Cauchi made an appearance in the Eurovision Song Contest 2014 performing part of her winning song. At the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2014 contest, Cauchi performed during the interval act and delivered the "Kids' Jury" points. For the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2016, which returned to Malta, Cauchi revealed the points from the adult Maltese jury.

In 2015, she represented Malta at the Russian competition and eventually won the final of the contest. She became the first artist from outside the Post-Soviet states to win this competition.

In 2018, Cauchi auditioned for the 15th series of The X-Factor. She was placed in the group "Sweet Sense". On 13 October 2018, Judge Robbie Williams sent Sweet Sense, including Gaia, home from the Judges' Houses round.

In 2019, she released a new single "Why Should I?". Cauchi has also been nominated for 3 awards at the Malta Music Awards.

In 2022, for the occasion of the 20th edition of Junior Eurovision Song Contest, she performed as part of the winners interval act in Yerevan.

In 2024, she represented Malta at the Russian competition New Wave. During the contest, she performed "Angels" (originally sang by Chiara), and her two original songs "11:11" and "Why?".

Discography

Singles As lead artist +List of singles as lead artist, with selected chart positions, showing year released and album name Title Year Peak chart positions Album "Noti u Kliem" 2012 — "The Start" 2013 — "Floating on Air" 2014 — "#Together" — "Children of the Future" — "Hey Hello" 2017 — "Why Should I?" 2019 — "Over You" 2020 2 "Message" 2021 — "Eye for an Eye" 2022 7 "Kewkba Feġġeja" — Mużika Mużika 2022 "Unlove Me" 4 "11:11" — "Why?" 2023 1 "Sincerely, You" 2024 — "Cupid" 1"Tama" 2026 —"Only Good For" —"I Got Them All" 3 "—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory.

As featured artist +List of singles as featured artist, with selected chart positions, showing year released and album name Title Year Peak chart positions Album 2018 9 "Skin Deep" 2021 — "Running" 2022 3 "Flavor" — "What Are We Now?" 2024 2 "—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory.

Other charted songs +List of songs with selected chart positions, showing year released and album name Title Year Peak chart positions Album 2022 6