Kerli Kõiv (better known as Kerli) is an Estonian singer and songwriter.

She was first introduced to music by her kindergarten teacher when she told her mother that Kerli had “nice pitch” and that she was interested in taking her to various singing competitions. At 8 years old, Kerli gained interest in classical music and as there was an absence of music in her early life, she only possessed one cassette by Bonnie Tyler:

She was also a big fan of The Spice Girls. She began writing stories, mini books, and poems at the age of 10 to escape from her “abusive” household to an “imaginary world”. Despite being discouraged, Kerli dropped out of school at the age of 16 to pursue her musical career.

In 2002, Kerli competed in the singing competition Laulukarussell in the age group category 13–15 and on May 18, won with the song Bridge over Troubled Water:

Also in 2002, she lied about her age to enter the Baltic song contest Fizz Superstar, as the minimum age was fifteen. She ended up winning the contest, gaining a singing contract to Universal Sweden. She was later dropped as the person who signed her was fired. Later, the media in Estonia labeled failure as “Kerli Syndrome”. Kerli has stated she feels no resentment towards her home country, as she told in a 2008 interview:

“No, I don’t feel any resentment. For a while, because I left Estonia and Estonians didn’t hear anything about me so all these Estonian young singers were like… I guess they’re slowly turning around now and understanding that I really was doing something here.”

Kerli was later signed to an independent label founded by the person who was previously fired from Universal Sweden but the label went bankrupt.

At the age of 16, Kerli moved to Stockholm where she competed in Melodifestivalen in 2003 but was eliminated in the second semifinals:

In 2004, she was the runner-up in that year’s Eurolaul – a televised competition that determines the song that will represent Estonia in the Eurovision Song Contest – with her song Beautiful Inside:

While in Stockholm for two years, she worked with numerous producers and due to lack of money as the contracts she had gained previously were unsuccessful, she ate nothing but rice for three months when she lived in an abandoned house during winter and slept on a cot. At the age of 18, she moved to the United States where she continued to perform and write songs, ultimately getting an audition with L.A. Reid, who signed her to Island Def Jam Music Group in 2006.