2005–2007: Breakthrough and Fabrika Zvyozd After beginning her music career in 2005, Prikhodko first experienced mainstream success in 2007, after being cast in series seven of the Russian music competition
Fabrika Zvyozd, an international version of the Spanish program
Operación Triunfo. Prikhodko continued to advance through the competition until the finale, where she was declared the winner. Prikhodko garnered controversy during her participation in the show, after she was caught on film admitting to another contestant that she did not like
Chinese people or
black people, drawing accusations of
racism. She immediately apologized for her comments. Following her win in the competition, Prikhodko was signed to a contract by Ukrainian music producer
Konstantin Meladze, who was a frequent guest on
Fabrika Zvyozd. She has gone on to state that she did not enjoy being on
reality television, and that her only friend during the experience was a member of the production crew. She released several singles in 2007, none of which managed to gain mainstream attention.
2008–2013: Eurovision and Zazhdalas in
Moscow. In 2008, Prikhodko released the single "Bezotvetno", a duet with Meladze's brother
Valery Meladze. "Bezotvetno" went on to become Prikhodko's breakout hit, reaching the top forty in Russia. In January 2009, Prikhodko took part in the
Ukrainian national final for the
Eurovision Song Contest 2009. After frequent changes in plans, the Ukrainian competition was split into two rounds: a non-televised 30-song semi-final and a televised 15-song final. Prikhodko competed in the non-televised semi-final on 8 February 2009 with the song "Za tebe znov". After the semi-final ended, it was revealed that Prikhodko had not qualified to the final. Prikhodko responded to the results by stating that the Ukrainian broadcaster
UA:PBC was not transparent in the selection of the finalists, calling their integrity into question. It later emerged that Prikhodko had not performed "Za tebe znov" in the semi-final, and was actually disqualified from the competition for performing the non-competing song "Vsyo dlya tebya". Prikhodko and her management stated that they were under the impression that the semi-final was simply a showcase of vocal capabilities, and that performing the potential Eurovision entry was not required. Prikhodko launched a formal complaint against the broadcaster for their handling of the event; their complaint was supported by Meladze in addition to the Ukrainian singers
Sofia Rotaru,
Mykola Mozhovyy, and
Tina Karol. As a result of her complaint, the televised final was postponed by a
Kyiv court. The court later ruled in Prikhodko's favor, but she allowed the televised final to go ahead. Following the controversy with the Ukrainian national selection, Prikhodko instead applied for the
Russian national final. The final's 15 competitors had already been decided, and Prikhodko's addition as an extra 16th competitor was controversial. After performing the song "
Mamo", a bilingual entry in both the
Ukrainian and
Russian languages, she won the competition on 7 March 2009, winning both the public vote and jury vote. Following her win, allegations of vote rigging amongst the jury members arose, in addition to others complaining about a song in the Ukrainian language representing Russia in an international competition. Nevertheless, she remained the Russian representative in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 in
Moscow. Prikhodko became the second ever non-Russian to represent Russia in the competition; the first was
Natalia Podolskaya, a
Belarusian who represented Russia in
2005. As Russia was the host nation, Prikhodko was not required to compete in the semi-finals, and advanced directly to the final held on 16 May 2009. Her performance featured Prikhodko performing the song with a video of herself singing in the background, as she digitally aged from 20 to 70 years old. She ultimately placed eleventh in the competition, receiving a total score of 91 points. "Mamo" has gone on to become Prikhodko's most successful single. After Eurovision, Prikhodko ended her professional partnership with Meladze in 2010. She subsequently began working with producer Igor Goncharenko that May, and has also worked with her elder brother Nazar. Later that year, she entered the
Ukrainian national final for the
Eurovision Song Contest 2011. Her entry was "Action", a
techno song sung in English, a large departure from the previous
folk rock music she had become known for. Prikhodko advanced from the fourth heat on 14 November 2010 as one of the three jury qualifiers. After advancing from the second semi-final on 12 December 2010 as well, she placed eighth in the final on 26 February 2011. Prikhodko's debut studio album
Zazhdalas was released the following year.
2014–2018: Pro-Ukrainian activity, Ya vilna, and retirement , where Prikhodko performed during the
Euromaidan demonstrations in 2014 Following the beginning of
Euromaidan in 2014, and the subsequent
pro-Russian unrest in Ukraine,
Russian military intervention, and
Russian annexation of Crimea, Prikhodko became an outspoken advocate of Ukrainian sovereignty and support towards Ukrainian liberation from Russian influence. During Euromaidan, Prikhodko performed at
Maidan Nezalezhnosti and spoke in favor of
European integration of Ukraine. In July 2014, Prikhodko went on tour with other Ukrainian musicians to support the
Ukrainian Ground Forces during the
War in Donbas. While on tour, Prikhodko posted on her
Twitter account that Russians were "puppets", "narrow-minded", and "deaf". The following month, Prikhodko accused Russia of illegally occupying Ukrainian territory, and vowed to never perform another concert in Russia. Later in August, Prikhodko was profiled in the program
17 Friends of the Junta on Russian television channel
NTV, which targeted critics of Russia's actions in Ukraine; the program was seen as a
smear campaign. It depicted Prikhodko as an anti-Russian rebel, and included an interview with her estranged paternal grandmother who described her as a shame to the family, and Russian singer
Joseph Kobzon stating that her Eurovision performance was disgraceful and that Prikhodko was a "street girl who swears like a prostitute". Prikhodko denounced the program, referring to it as "laughable". In 2015, Prikhodko vowed to begin prioritizing the
Ukrainian language in her music, and that she would no longer perform in
Russian. She went on to claim that this decision had cost her popularity, as Russian is the dominant language of the music industry throughout most of the
post-Soviet states. Her second studio album
Ya vilna was released later that year. On 16 October 2018, Prikhodko announced through her
Facebook that she had decided to end her musical career in order to enter politics. Following this, she released standalone singles, beginning with "Podruha" in 2021. That same year, she participated in
The Masked Singer Ukraine. "Zozulya", and "Holos narodu" (with ). Those were followed in 2024 by "Kholodno", a collaboration with Surov, and "Lyubila", a Ukrainian version of her 2009 Russian-language song. She stated that she had not wanted to re-record her Russian music in Ukrainian, but had made an exception for this song due to fan demand. 2025 saw the release of "Ne ydy" and "A tam". ==Artistry==