Jerry Heil — Ukrainian Singer and Eurovision 2024 Star
Jerry Heil is a Ukrainian singer and songwriter who reached a European audience without leaving her own language behind. She first won attention on YouTube, then entered Ukraine’s national selection three times, and finished third at Eurovision in 2024 with alyona alyona. In 2026 she returned to Vidbir and finished third again. As of November 2026, this page follows that path, from a YouTube channel in 2012 to a Eurovision final, and points new listeners to the recordings that show her range best. Quick facts Name Yana Oleksandrivna Shemaieva, known as Jerry Heil Born 21 October 1995, Vasylkiv, Kyiv Oblast Known for Eurovision 2024, “Teresa & Maria”, Vidbir 2026 Main works Ya yana, Mandaryny i oleni, Arkhetypy, Teresa & Maria A singer from Vasylkiv Yana Oleksandrivna Shemaieva was born on 21 October 1995 in Vasylkiv, in Kyiv Oblast, Ukraine. Vasylkiv is a city outside Kyiv, and her early years were therefore close to the capital without being in it. She studied at the R. Glier Kyiv Institute of Music and the Kyiv Conservatory, and that training gave her a vocal control that shows in her later work: a voice that can move from a quiet folk line to a full pop chorus without strain. The stage name Jerry Heil is a product of her online years. She built her first audience on the internet, not on television, and the name travelled with her as she moved from covers to original songs. A name chosen online is a small thing, and it also says something about how her career was built: from the audience up, rather than from a label down. YouTube beginnings in 2012 Heil launched her YouTube channel in 2012, publishing vlogs and musical covers. The covers included Ukrainian and international songs, and they gave her a direct relationship with listeners: a comment, a request, a new cover the next week. YouTube shaped her audience in a way television alone rarely does, because the audience could talk back. YouTube alone does not explain her career. Many singers build followings online and never make the leap to a professional stage. Heil did, because she kept writing, kept recording, and kept entering competitions that tested her in front of judges and a live audience. Professional debut and the 2019 breakthrough Heil began her professional music career in 2017, releasing her debut extended play, De mii dim, on the Vidlik Records label. The following year she auditioned for X-Factor Ukraine, in 2018. A television audition is a different test from a YouTube cover: the singer is judged in one take, by professionals, with cameras close. Heil did not win X-Factor, and the audition still mattered, because it put her in front of a national audience for the first time. In 2019, Heil released the single “Okhrana otmiena”, written in Ukrainian as Okhrana, Otmena, which became her breakthrough. Her debut studio album, Ya yana, translated as I’m Yana, followed in October 2019. The album’s title is a statement of identity: a singer who had built an audience online was now presenting herself in her own name, in Ukrainian, with songs she had written. Editor’s take: the 2019 album is the most useful place to start with Heil, more useful than any single. An album called I’m Yana, released by a singer whose stage name is Jerry Heil, is a singer telling the listener who she is when the performance stops. The breakthrough single got her noticed. The album is where she explained herself. Vidbir attempts: Vegan, When God Shut the Door, and a catalogue Heil first took part in Vidbir, Ukraine’s national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest, in 2020, with the song “Vegan”, finishing sixth. She returned for the Eurovision 2023 cycle, taking part in December 2022 with “When God Shut the Door”, and finished third in that selection. Sixth, then third: each entry was a different song, a different sound, and a different result. Between those attempts, Heil kept releasing music. Her second studio album, Mandaryny i oleni, came out in 2021. In 2022 she released the joint EP Dai Boh with alyona alyona. That collaboration predates their Eurovision partnership by two years, and it matters: the two singers had already worked together, and knew each other’s voices, before they ever stood on a Eurovision stage together. The partnership with alyona alyona The partnership between Jerry Heil and rapper alyona alyona, whose real name is Aliona Olehivna Savranenko, works because the two voices do different things. Heil brings melody, vocal range and a pop sensibility. Alyona alyona brings rap, rhythm and a direct, spoken delivery. Put together, they cover more ground than either could alone. That pairing also shows a different kind of ambition from solo stardom alone. A solo artist who shares a stage, a song and a result with another artist is choosing collaboration over control, and the result, in this case, was the biggest stage of both their careers. Teresa and Maria, and third place in Malmö “Teresa and Maria” was released on 11 January 2024 through Enko Music, and it represented Ukraine at Eurovision 2024 in Malmö, Sweden. The title refers to Mother Teresa and the Virgin Mary, but the performers have repeatedly explained that the song is about the strength of women more broadly, not only about two figures. It was performed in Ukrainian and English. Heil and alyona alyona won Vidbir 2024, and at Eurovision they qualified from the first semi-final on 7 May 2024. In the grand final they finished third. Compared with Jamala, who won in 2016 with a song about history, and Ruslana, who won in 2004 with energy and drumming, the duo’s third place sits in the middle of Ukraine’s Eurovision story: a strong result for a song in Ukrainian, performed by a duo that had built its partnership over two years. Heil’s recognition also includes the Public Choice award at the Music Moves Europe Awards in 2023, which honours emerging European artists. The award came before Eurovision, and it […]
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