Mikhail Alekseevich (Misha) Smirnov (Russian: Михаи́л Алексе́евич (Ми́ша) Смирно́в; born 30 April 2003), known professionally as Marteen (Russian: Мартин) and previously as Misha Smirnov, is a Russian singer and record producer.
He represented Russia in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2015 with the song "Mechta" (Russian: Мечта, English: Dream), where he placed sixth. Smirnov was a finalist of the second season of The Voice Kids in Russia, an actor in the musical Ivanhoe, and a multiple grand prize winner of many Russian and international vocal competitions.
Smirnov was born on 30 April 2003 in Moscow into a family of mathematicians. When he was three years old, Smirnov suddenly began to stutter and his parents sent him to singing lessons as a therapy.
Smirnov has a huge number of Grand Prix wins at various Russian and international vocal competitions. He says that his major achievement is reaching the final of the TV show The Voice Kids (Голос. Дети).[1]
Junior Eurovision 2015 and latter part of his career
In the Russian national final, Smirnov had to battle a series of strong female vocalists, many of whom rode the EDM trend with upbeat, danceable songs. However, he won and represented Russia at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2015, finishing sixth overall with 80 points.[2]
Following his Junior Eurovision appearance, Smirnov hosted Goryachaya Desyatochka (Top 10) on Karusel from around 2015 to its cancellation in 2018.[3]
After Junior Eurovision, Smirnov produced some songs on his own. In September 2017, he wrote the song "I Would Like To Know Everything" for Veronika Ustimova, with which she took second place in the Russian national selection for Junior Eurovision 2017.
On May 19, 2018, his debut album 15, consisting of previously released singles, was released. The album was named for the number of tracks included in it, and also for having taken 15 months to write the songs. In addition to solo songs, several tracks on it were recorded with colleagues on the season 4 of The Voice Kids, such as Arina Danilova, Alisa Kozhikina, and Kirill Skripnik. The original album was supposed to be called "Dreamerboy". "Dreamerboy is me, a boy who dreams of big concerts and a new elegant music," Smirnov explained about the name. However, due to the peculiarities of placement on digital distribution sites, the name was changed.[4]
In 2021, he released his breakthrough EP Party Without Internet that features his most ambient musical style by producing himself.
In late 2022, he took the stage name "Marteen" and began releasing music again after a long hiatus. Smirnov explained the name choice in his Telegram channel, saying that his parents had wanted to name him after Depeche Mode songwriter Martin Gore. "I thought it was fate that they wanted to name me after a man who wrote songs all his life, and I decided that this name would be an ideal continuation of my solo work," he wrote.[5]
On November 26, 2023, Smirnov held his first solo concert under the new stage name at a small club in Moscow, featuring acoustic versions of many of his songs. Tickets were in such high demand that the event organizers held a second concert on the same day.
On April 30, 2024, Smirnov held a second small concert in Moscow, celebrating his 21st birthday and performing in front of a sold-out crowd of fans.
Acting
Smirnov and Ustimova on The Ballad of the Heart (2015)Smirnov in The Circus of Miracles (2018)
In December 2015, the new musical Баллада о маленьком сердце(The Ballad of a Heart) premiered with Smirnov in the role of Alyoshka.[7][8][9]
In 2016–17, he played Nikita in The Circus of Miracles at the Ivanhoe Theater presented the New Year show Волшебный подарок Деда Мороза(The Magic Gift of Santa Claus).[10]
On September 30, 2017, he took on Цирке чудес(Circus of Miracles), the premiere of another show, in which he played the main role, the Little Prince. He appeared with Irina Ukhanova and Evgeny Egorov.[11]
Music making and producing career
Aside from becoming a singer, Smirnov had been an ambient music producer during his free time and worked on a full-time professional scale since 2022.[citation needed] He also designed upbeat and lo-fi arrangements of tracks for other artists, bloggers and TikTokers such as HARU, NKI, Nikita Zlatoust, Mimimizhka, Sonya SLEEPY, Tyoma Waterfork, KIRILL FELIX, Liza Didkovskaya, Dasha Volosevich, Vika Korobkova, Sasha Filin, Eva Barats and Ivena Rabotova. He also makes musical scoring for film, television and short videos.
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