From her early childhood, Valentina was "surrounded by music";[10] she said; "I grew up in a family where everyone sang: my mother [sang] in bars, my father [did] Michael Jackson impressions. [...] Music has always been part of my life."[10] She said she was probably two and a half when she sang her first song. Her mother sang her to sleep with Italian songs and the first songs Valentina sang were Italian.
Career
In 2016, Valentina took part in the fourth season of The Voice Kids France (2017) but she was rejected at the blind auditions stage.[2] Valentina was the show's youngest contestant that season,[11][12] she was seven when she applied for the show and when her blind audition was recorded,[2] and eight on 2 September of the following year when the show was broadcast.[2]
In 2018, Valentina joined the child musical group Kids United Nouvelle Génération, which is a "new generation" of the group Kids United.[13] According to Le Figaro, her offer of a place there was due to her appearance on The Voice Kids,[6] but according to Valentina, she and her mother sent a video of Valentina singing Kids United songs in response to an Internet advertisement for a music project; they later discovered the advertisement was for Kids United Nouvelle Génération and that Valentina had been selected for the second round.[10]
As its youngest member,[14] Valentina became a mascot for the group.[15] As of 2020, she has recorded two albums with the group; Au bout de nos rêves was released in August 2018 and L'Hymne de la vie in November 2019.[6] The group disbanded in 2021.
On 9 October 2020, France Télévisions announced it had selected Valentina to represent France with a song titled "J'imagine" at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest, which was held in Warsaw, Poland, on 29 November.[16][17][18] On 16 October, the song was released as a single[19] and a music video was unveiled on the same day.[20][21] As of October 20th 2024, the video has received 31 million views.[22] Valentina won the contest with a score of 200 points, 48 more than second-placed Kazakhstan. This was France's first victory at the contest.[23][24]
