The 16th artist in our Who Is series for the Eurovision Song Contest 2026 is DARA from Bulgaria.
Darina Nikolaeva Yotova, better known as DARA, was born on September 8, 1998 in Varna in eastern Bulgaria. She first came to public attention after finishing third on the fourth series of X Factor in 2015. The artist who finished second in the same series was Kristian Kostov, who represented Bulgaria in Eurovision 2017.
After her appearance on X Factor, Yotova signed a record deal and adopted the stage name DARA. Her debut single “K’vo ne chu” was released in 2016 and was an instant success in Bulgaria. An English version of the song “Onto You” was also recorded.
Over the next few years, DARA continued to release multiple singles including “Rodena takava”, which became her first number one single on the Bulgarian Airplay Chart, “Nedei” and “Nyama da si tragnesh s drug”, a collaboration with hip-hop duo Pavell and Venci Venc’.
In 2020, DARA took part in Kato dve kapki voda, the Bulgarian version of Your Face Sounds Familiar. She finished third in the final.
In 2021, DARA became a coach on the eighth season of The Voice of Bulgaria. She has been a coach on every season since and has been the winning coach twice.
In 2022, DARA released her debut album “Rodena takava”. The same year, she released the single “Mr. Rover”, which was later covered by Kai, a South Korean singer and member of the K-Pop boyband Exo. DARA’s most recent album “Adhdara”, was released in 2025.
DARA was selected to represent Bulgaria in the Eurovision Song Contest 2026 after winning Natsionalnata selektsiya. A seperate show was then used to select her entry.
The song that DARA will perform in Vienna is called “Bangaranga”. It was written and composed by Anne Judith Wik, Cristian Tarcea, Dimitris Kontopoulos and DARA herself. Kontopoulos has written 16 Eurovision entries for various countries, including “This Is Our Night” (Greece 2009), “Sugar” (Moldova 2021) and “Liar” (Cyprus 2024).
DARA will perform in the first half of the second semi-final on May 14.
At the Eurovision Song Contest 2017, 17-year-old Kristian Kostov finished in second place in the Grand Final. Bulgaria has qualified for the Grand Final five times out of thirteen attempts at the contest. Bulgaria debuted in the Eurovision Song Contest in Kyiv, Ukraine in 2005. The country competed annually from 2005 to 2013, before withdrawing for two years due to financial issues. Since returning to the contest in 2016, Bulgaria qualified for the final in every contest they have competed in up until the 2022 contest.
