2000–2019: Early life and career beginnings Larisa Roxana Giurgiu was born on 5 January 2000 in
Cluj-Napoca, Romania. At the age of seven, she discovered a passion for music and took singing and piano lessons. Signed by
Global Records, Roxen was featured on Romanian producer
Sickotoy's "
You Don't Love Me" in August 2019. and compared the singer's music style and appearance to that of
Dua Lipa and
Billie Eilish. In a București FM interview, Roxen cited
Beyoncé as a major inspiration.
2020–present: Eurovision and continued success In early February 2020, it was reported that Roxen was one of three artists shortlisted to
represent Romania at the
Eurovision Song Contest 2020; broadcaster
Romanian Television (TVR) had collaborated with Global Records for the selection. On 11 February, the singer was revealed by TVR as the Romanian representative. The five songs for
Selecția Națională—"
Alcohol You", "Beautiful Disaster", "Cherry Red", "Colors" and "Storm"—were released on 21 February. "Alcohol You" emerged as the winner of the national final on 1 March. However, on 18 March, the
European Broadcasting Union (EBU) announced the cancellation of the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 due to the
pandemic of the
coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Although TVR had considered retaining "Alcohol You" as a song for the
Eurovision Song Contest 2021, EBU soon after announced that intended 2020 entries were not eligible for the following year. She was nonetheless internally selected for the 2021 contest. In June 2020, Roxen was hired as the brand ambassador for Romanian box-dye hair color product Loncolor Expert HEMPstyle, appearing on product packagings and in a commercial which prominently featured the
Selecția Națională entry "Storm". Starting with the release of "How to Break a Heart" in July, she had been benefiting from a promotional campaign for which Global Records partnered with
Warner Music. In October, she scored a second number-one single on the Airplay 100 with "Spune-mi". It was performed in the first semi-final of the contest on 18 May 2021, but failed to qualify for the final, finishing in 12th place with 85 points. By January 2022, her collaboration with DMNDS and Strange Fruits Music on "Money Money" (2021) had reached the top ten on music charts in the
Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and Russia. reached the second position on the
Polish music charts and attained a
gold certification from the
Polish Society of the Phonographic Industry in the country. ==Personal life==