1992–1998: Early career in Ukraine and first albums In 1992, at the age of 13, she took part in the Chernivtsi singing competition
Pervotsvit, which she won. There, she met Yuriy Falyosa, who became her first producer. Kuiek became known as Ani Lorak from March 1995 onwards after she took part in the popular children's music television programme
Morning Star on
Channel One Russia. Intending to perform there mononymously as Karolina, she was told that that was undesirable as there was another famous singer at the time in Russia who performed under that pseudonym. As a result, the stage name "Ani Lorak" was invented, which was the name "Karolina" read backwards. The same year she released her first Russian-language album, "Khochu letat" (I Want to Fly). Lorak continued recording new songs in 1997. Her two videos, "Manekenschitsa" and "Bozhe moy," were filmed and the latter became a soundtrack to the movie "The Right to Choose". In the spring of 1998, her new video, "Ya vernus," was shot and in December Lorak's second Russian-language album "Ya vernus" was released. The mastering of this album took place in New York. Simultaneously, her two music videos "O moya lyubov" and "Dozhdlivy gorod" were filmed to accompany her new album.
1999–2005: Honoured Artist of Ukraine, Ukrainian albums and first Eurovision attempt At the outset of 1999, Lorak started her first extensive and international touring, performing in the United States,
France,
Germany,
Hungary, and in every major city of Ukraine. In 1999, she earned the title of
Honoured Artist of Ukraine, that was deprived in 2024. In 2000, she released her third album with Falyosa as the main producer, titled "www.anilorak.com," containing Russian, Ukrainian, and English compositions. She returned to singing completely in Ukrainian again a year later, releasing her fourth album, "Tam, de ty ye...". This was followed by a second album in Ukrainian, titled "Ani Lorak" in 2004, which mostly had the same songs as her 2000 album. In 2004-2005 Ani Lorak was a
UN GoodWill Ambassador in Ukraine for
HIV/
AIDS. Lorak finished in second place in the Ukrainian national final with the song "A Little Shot Of Love". Afterwards, she released her first and only English-language album
Smile.
2006–2012: Changes of producer, Eurovision 2008 and Solntse during the semi-finals of the
Eurovision Song Contest 2008 In 2006, this was followed by "Rozkazhi," her ninth album, again fully in Ukrainian. Shortly after the album's release, Lorak ended her contract with Falyosa and started to work with producer
Konstantin Meladze. That same year, Lorak released a duet with Meladze's brother
Valery Meladze, which became Lorak's first radio hit in Russia. In 2007, Lorak's friend and colleague
Philipp Kirkorov It was the third and last internal selection the country had before internally selecting
Go_A in 2021. On 23 February 2008, Lorak performed five potential entries in a special show. The song "
Shady Lady", written by
Karen Kavaleryan and
Philipp Kirkorov won the show with a landslide victory. Shortly after, she recorded a
Russian version of her
Eurovision song "Shady Lady" with the title "S neba v nebo." Lorak, similar to
Dmitry Koldun a year prior, held an extensive promo campaign and visited other countries to present her song, including
Malta,
Russia,
Bulgaria,
Spain and
Germany. At the
2008 Eurovision Song Contest in Belgrade, she sang the song "Shady Lady" in the second semi-final on 23 May 2008, winning a place in the final. She took second place in the final after Dima Bilan, giving Ukraine its second runner-up position in a row and its third-best score of all time. Italian designer
Roberto Cavalli designed the ornate dress for Lorak's performance at the contest, which was made with
Swarovski Diamonds. Greek choreographer
Fokas Evangelinos designed her stage show, involving four dancers. Prior to performing in the final, Lorak had won the Artistic Award, voted the most popular entry among the former winners of the contest. After her second-place finish at Eurovision, Lorak returned to Ukraine in newfound stardom. For her result, she and Philipp Kirkorov were given the title
People's Artist of Ukraine, deprived for both in 2024. In 2009, she released her tenth album,
Solntse, which was produced by
Yuliia Kyryliuk, who had previously produced her Eurovision effort. The album became her most successful effort until that moment. In October 2009, Lorak was ranked 41st in a top 100 of "most influential women in Ukraine" compiled by experts for the Ukrainian magazine
Focus. In the wake of the
annexation of Crimea and the
war in the Donbas, Lorak continued performing in Russia. This led to severe criticism from several politicians and parts of the Ukrainian society. During several of her concerts in Odesa and Kyiv in 2014, protesters gathered in front of the concert venues. Lorak's appearance in the New Year's programme on the television channel
Inter was subject to severe criticism on social media. Her star on the Star Alley of
Chernivtsi was first vandalised with the text "
PTN GFY" and on the night of 29 to 30 January 2015, stolen. In May 2015, the Chernivtsi City Council decided to not reinstate a new star for Lorak. Meanwhile, Lorak scored large commercial success in Russia, performing several duets alongside singer
Grigory Leps, which included "Ukhodi po-angliyski" and "Zerkala," which both fared well in the Russian radio charts. In Autumn 2018, Lorak became a coach at the seventh series of
The Voice of Russia. In August 2019, she debuted her jubileum concert tour
THE BEST. In late 2019, Lorak released her twelfth studio album
Za mechtoy, for which she wrote the majority of the songs herself. In 2022, she did not openly speak out against the
Russian invasion of Ukraine, the only apparent public reference she made about the war was on
New Year's Day 2023 when she wrote (in
Ukrainian) on
Instagram that her brother "was forced to drink
Jack Daniels in the basement to the sounds of bombs." In April 2023 she used the words "this situation" to describe the war and stated that she had chosen the position "I will not pay attention to it" because she had "to live my life, take care of my child, and keep myself in shape." In Ukraine she is being heavily criticised for hiding the fact of
Russian aggression against Ukraine and lasting cooperation with Russian media. In April 2023 she stated that this attitude in Ukraine hurt her "because Ukraine is in my soul". ==Business ventures==