# Roxen (singer)

Larisa Roxana Giurgiu (Romanian pronunciation:; born 5 January 2000), known professionally as Roxen (pronounced), is a Romanian singer. She rose to prominence after being featured on Romanian producer Sickotoy's "You Don't Love Me" (2019), which reached number three in Romania and received radio airplay in several other countries. Her following singles, "Ce-ți cântă dragostea" and "Spune-mi", eventually peaked atop the national chart. Roxen was scheduled to represent Romania in the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 with the song "Alcohol You" before the event's coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)-related cancellation. Instead, Roxen was internally selected as the country's representative for the 2021 contest with the song "Amnesia", but failed to progress from the first semi-final, finishing in 12th place.

## Life and career
### 2000–2019: Early life and career beginnings

Larisa Roxana Giurgiu was born on 5 January 2000 in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. At the age of seven, she discovered a passion for music and took singing and piano lessons. Signed by Global Records, Roxen was featured on Romanian producer Sickotoy's "You Don't Love Me" in August 2019. The song attained commercial success in Romania, reaching number three on the country's Airplay 100 chart, and being playlisted by radio stations in several territories including France, the United States, Russia and Spain. Roxen's debut solo single "Ce-ți cântă dragostea", released later that year in November, peaked at number one in Romania. Music critics have since regarded Roxen's primary genre as being deep house, and compared the singer's music style and appearance to that of Dua Lipa and Billie Eilish. In a București FM interview, Roxen cited Beyoncé as a major inspiration.

### 2020–present: Eurovision and continued success

In early February 2020, it was reported that Roxen was one of three artists shortlisted to represent Romania at the Eurovision Song Contest 2020; broadcaster Romanian Television (TVR) had collaborated with Global Records for the selection. On 11 February, the singer was revealed by TVR as the Romanian representative. The five songs for Selecția Națională—"Alcohol You", "Beautiful Disaster", "Cherry Red", "Colors" and "Storm"—were released on 21 February. "Alcohol You" emerged as the winner of the national final on 1 March. However, on 18 March, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) announced the cancellation of the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 due to the pandemic of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Although TVR had considered retaining "Alcohol You" as a song for the Eurovision Song Contest 2021, EBU soon after announced that intended 2020 entries were not eligible for the following year. She was nonetheless internally selected for the 2021 contest.
In June 2020, Roxen was hired as the brand ambassador for Romanian box-dye hair color product Loncolor Expert HEMPstyle, appearing on product packagings and in a commercial which prominently featured the Selecția Națională entry "Storm". Starting with the release of "How to Break a Heart" in July, she had been benefiting from a promotional campaign for which Global Records partnered with Warner Music. In October, she scored a second number-one single on the Airplay 100 with "Spune-mi". "Amnesia", her Eurovision 2021 entry, was selected by an internal jury panel and released on 4 March. It was performed in the first semi-final of the contest on 18 May 2021, but failed to qualify for the final, finishing in 12th place with 85 points. By January 2022, her collaboration with DMNDS and Strange Fruits Music on "Money Money" (2021) had reached the top ten on music charts in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and Russia. "Dincolo de Marte" (2021), a collaboration with Randi, was also successful, peaking at number two in Romania in April 2022. "UFO", the song that was placed behind "Amnesia" to represent Romania at Eurovision, was also a number-two hit in Poland and attained a gold certification from the Polish Society of the Phonographic Industry (ZPAV) in the country.

## Personal life

At the age of 14, Roxen was diagnosed with lyme disease. She is vegetarian. As of June 2020, she resides in Bucharest. At the beginning of the same month, she was allegedly emotionally abused and blackmailed by an ex-boyfriend and obtained a restraining order against him after having made a complaint to the local police. In July 2021, the singer came out as non-binary in a TikTok video, and eventually clarified that she identifies with all pronouns. Roxen furthermore stated: "Since I was little, I feel like a boy in a girl's body. In my previous life I was really a boy". However, in 2024, along with her endorsement of pro-Russian and far-right Romanian presidential candidate Călin Georgescu, she stated that she felt manipulated by the LGBTQ community.

## Discography
### Singles
#### As lead artist

List of singles as lead artist, with selected chart positions and certifications :
| Title | Year | Peak chart positions | Peak chart positions | Peak chart positions | Peak chart positions | Peak chart positions | Peak chart positions | Certifications | Album |
| Title | Year | ROU | CIS | LIT | NLD Tip | POL | RUS | Certifications | Album |
| "Ce-ți cântă dragostea" | 2019 | 1 | — | — | — | — | — | | Non-album singles |
| "Alcohol You" | 2020 | — | — | — | — | — | — | | Non-album singles |
| "Spune-mi" | 2020 | 1 | — | — | — | — | — | | Non-album singles |
| "How to Break a Heart" | 2020 | — | — | — | — | — | — | | Non-album singles |
| "Wonderland" (with Alexander Rybak) | 2020 | — | — | — | — | — | — | | Non-album singles |
| "Parte din tine" (with DJ Project) | 2021 | 9 | — | — | — | — | — | | Non-album singles |
| "Amnesia" | 2021 | — | — | 51 | 26 | — | — | | Non-album singles |
| "Inimă nu fi de piatră" | 2021 | 51 | — | — | — | — | — | | Non-album singles |
| "Money Money" (with DMNDS and Strange Fruits Music) | 2021 | — | 7 | — | — | — | 3 | | Non-album singles |
| "Strada ta" (with Nane) | 2021 | — | — | — | — | — | — | | Non-album singles |
| "Crazy Valorant" (with Killa Fonic) | 2021 | — | — | — | — | — | — | | Non-album singles |
| "Dincolo de Marte" (with Randi) | 2021 | 2 | 98 | — | — | — | — | | Non-album singles |
| "UFO" | 2022 | — | — | — | — | 2 | — | ZPAV: Gold | Non-album singles |
| "Printre stele" | 2022 | — | — | — | — | — | — | | Non-album singles |
| "Ghost" (with Mausio) | 2022 | — | — | — | — | — | — | | Non-album singles |
| "Biggest Idiot" | 2022 | — | — | — | — | — | — | | Non-album singles |
| "Fool" | 2022 | — | — | — | — | — | — | | Non-album singles |
| "Enemies" (with Selin) | 2022 | — | — | — | — | — | — | | Non-album singles |
| "Fato" (with Sapte) | 2023 | — | — | — | — | — | — | | Non-album singles |
| "Infinit" | 2023 | — | — | — | — | — | — | | Non-album singles |
| "În inimă Crăciun" | 2023 | — | — | — | — | — | — | | Non-album singles |
| "Saruta-ma" | 2024 | — | — | — | — | — | — | | Non-album singles |
| "Lasă-mă" | 2024 | — | — | — | — | — | | | Non-album singles |
| "—" denotes a title that did not chart, or was not released in that territory. ||||||||||

#### As featured artist

List of singles as featured artist, with selected chart positions :
| Title | Year | Peak chart positions | Peak chart positions | Album |
| Title | Year | ROU | BUL | Album |
| "You Don't Love Me" (Sickotoy featuring Roxen) | 2019 | 3 | 7 | Non-album singles |
| "Over and Over" (PAX featuring Roxen) | 2020 | — | — | Non-album singles |
| "Devil in Disguise" (Coyot featuring uncredited vocals by Roxen) | 2020 | — | — | Non-album singles |
| "—" denotes a title that did not chart, or was not released in that territory. |||||

#### Promotional singles

List of promotional singles :
| Title | Year | Album |

### Guest appearances

List of guest appearances :
| Title | Year | Album |
| "Nu dorm" (Nane featuring Roxen) | 2022 | Cordial |
| "Cenușăreasa" (OG Eastbull featuring Roxen) | 2022 | Foame și ambiție |

### Music videos

List of music videos :
| Title | Year | Lead performer(s) | Guest performer(s) | Director(s) |