Jerry Heil
Jerry Heil is a Ukrainian singer, songwriter, and YouTuber whose real name is Yana Oleksandrivna Shemaeva. She began her career in 2012, when she launched her YouTube channel, where she published vlogs and musical covers. Jerry debuted professionally in 2017, with the release of her debut extended play De miy dim on Vidlik Records.
She released her single ‘Ochrana, otmena’ in 2019 and immediately scored her very first hit in the Ukrainian charts. Shortly after, that same track won the Jager Music Award. Today she inspires millions of viewers on YouTube with her songs and covers. And she sends an important message to the world against the war, together with previous MME Award winner Alyona Alyona. #YA YANA, her debut studio album, was later released in October 2019. She has over 34.9 million views and 193 thousand subscribers on her YouTube channel since its inception.
Jerry Heil began using her alias when she was 15 years old. She used the name Jerry Mouse after signing up for the Russian social media service VKontakte, a reference to the cartoon character of the same name. She then changed Mouse to Heil, citing her desire to use the first American surname she came across on the Internet. She has expressed her embarrassment for the backstory behind her stage name, calling it “moronic”.
Jerry Heil launched her YouTube channel in 2012, where she posted vlogs and covers of songs by Ukrainian and international artists like Twenty One Pilots, Okean Elzy, The Hardkiss, and Kodaline. Svyatoslav Vakarchuk, the frontman of Okean Elzy, frequently republished Heil’s covers of the band’s songs, citing his approval of her versions.
Heil released a portion of her upcoming single “Okhrana, otmyena” on Instagram in March 2019, which she recorded with Ukrainian producer Morphom. [14] When Ukrainian singers such as NK and Vera Brezhneva complimented and shared the song’s snippet, the track quickly gained traction. The following month, Heil released a full version of the song on YouTube, where its music video has received over 14.8 million views; “Okhrana, otmyena” also became a top five hit in Ukraine. Following the song’s success, Heil pursued songwriting, writing songs for musicians such as Brezhneva and the Kyiv-based band Cloudless with Ukrainian songwriter and producer Konstantin Meladze.
In September 2019, Heil released her debut studio album Ya, Yana onto YouTube. The album included eight songs, and was commercially released the following month. In January 2020, Heil was announced to be competing in Vidbir 2020, the Ukrainian national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 in Rotterdam.Her song, “Vegan,” qualified to the final, where it finished in sixth place.
Heil participated again in Vidbir in December 2022 with her song ‘When God shut the door’, attempted to represent Ukraine in the Eurovision Song Contest 2023, where Ukraine are the reigning champions. She finished in third place.
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