Oxenryd was born in Kristinehamn and is a former economics student and floorball player. Aged eleven, she started her singing career by performing on national television. At 18, she placed second in a look-alike competition, where she mirrored Swedish superstar Carola Häggkvist. After winning the Swedish Fame Factory in 2005, Sandra recorded her debut album. An international jury decided that Sandra Oxenryd would represent Estonia at Eurovision 2006 with the song Through My Window. The song is written by Pearu Paulus, Ilmar Laisaar, Alar Kotkas (composers) and Jana Hallas (lyricist), the same authors who wrote the Estonian entries for 2000 ("Once in a lifetime") and 2002 ("Runaway"), which came 4th and 3rd, respectively. Despite the song becoming a fan favourite, "Through My Window" only scored 28 points and finished 18th in the semi-final, therefore not qualifying for the final.