2003–07: Poprosi u oblakov In 2003, Gagarina competed in season two of
Star Factory, a Russian reality singing competition. She performed several songs by
Maxim Fadeev and went on to win the show, but refused to work with Fadeev after her victory. After winning
Star Factory, Gagarina was invited to perform in the group Playgirls. The group received a recording contract with ARS Records, but ultimately disbanded. She later released the singles "Kolybelnaya", "Morning", "Ya tvoya", "Pomnyu", and "Ya tebya ne proshchu nikogda". Her debut album
Poprosi u oblakov was released in 2007.
2008–12: O sebe In 2008, Gagarina released the single "Komu, zachem?", a duet with Russian singer
Irina Dubtsova. In March 2010, her second studio album
O sebe was released. In 2012, Gagarina started to collaborate with Russian-Georgian producer
Konstantin Meladze. With Meladze she recorded four singles: "Spektakl okonchen" ("The Play Is Over"), "Net" ("No"), "Navek" ("Forever") and "Shagay" ("Stride").
2015–16: Eurovision Song Contest and 9 On 9 March 2015, it was revealed that Gagarina would
represent Russia in the
Eurovision Song Contest 2015 with the song "
A Million Voices". Gagarina placed first in the first semi-final with 182 points, before coming second in the Grand Final of the contest, ending up with 303 points. This was the fourth highest overall points total of all time and she became the first non-winning participant to exceed 300 points. On 25 July 2015, she performed "A Million Voices" as the closing song of the
2018 FIFA World Cup qualifying draw in
Saint Petersburg, shown on television worldwide. On 9 August 2015, she performed at the closing ceremony of the
2015 World Aquatics Championships in
Kazan. She was a coach in the Russian reality talent show
The Voice in seasons
four and
five. In September 2016, her third studio album
9 was released. This album peaked at number one on the Russia
iTunes charts.
2019–present: Singer 2019 , 2018 On 1 February 2019, it was revealed that Gagarina participated in Chinese' reality competition
Singer 2019, also known as the seventh season of
I Am a Singer, entering under the substitute singer status on the fourth week. Gagarina was the third European contestant to participate after
season six's winner
Jessie J (United Kingdom) and
Kristian Kostov (Bulgaria), who participated in season seven alongside her. Gagarina achieved three top placements on the first five-week of shows before finishing last in her sixth show, which was the Challenge round; Gagarina would have been eliminated per the competition rules but was instead saved after the Challenger of the week was unsuccessful in beating a majority (4) of the seven singers. On 22 March, she was temporarily given a
bye after reporting to the media that she sustained a muscle injury during rehearsals. Despite her injury, she eventually ranked in the top three during the following week's round, called the Breakout round (a round featured previously eliminated contestants, substitute singers, except withdrawn and non-competing singers), where she became one of the seven finalists eligible for the title of
Singer 2019 winner. In the Finals Rush Hour, she performed a duet with Chinese singer Geng Sihan, singing the song "
Shallow". In the first round of the final, she sang "
We Are the World" alongside Kazakhstan's
Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2018 participant
Daneliya Tuleshova, Filipino-Canadian singer
Darren Espanto and Chinese rapper Air Ari. She was, however, was knocked out that round. In 2019, Gaganira rejoined
The Voice as a coach for its
eighth season. Also, for the first time on
The Voice Kids, she was a coach for its
seventh season. Gagarina's final team member won the
ninth season making her the first female coach to win a season in
The Voice history. In 2021, she teamed up with fellow Eurovision 2015 contestant
Måns Zelmerlöw to record the official song, "Circles and Squares", for the
2021 World Figure Skating Championships. It was released on 21 February 2021. On 18 March 2022, Gagarina sang at a
pro-government rally held at the
Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow celebrating the eighth anniversary of the
annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation from Ukraine and endorsing
Russia's invasion of Ukraine that started the previous month. She was subsequently banned from entering
Estonia and
Latvia, along with a list of 24 other Russian artists who had expressed their support for the Russian government's actions. Her concert, scheduled in February 2023 in
Almaty, Kazakhstan, was cancelled after online protest in Kazakhstan over her support of Russian's war against Ukraine. The
Presidential Administration of Russia put Gagarina on the list of singers who were recommended to be invited to state-sponsored events. In 2023, after taking the tenth season of
The Voice off, Gagarina returned for its
eleventh season and became the first female coach on the show to win multiple times. Also, she was offered by the general director
Konstantin Ernst and the producers of the film to audition for the main role in the film "
The Challenge" to go into space. == Social and political activities ==