Nutsa made Idol’s Top 12. Then she ended Georgia’s Eurovision wait

She placed second in Georgia’s Eurovision selection

Nutsa had years of competition experience before American Idol. Her solo career began on Georgia’s Got Talent in 2011, and she won the New Wave Music Festival in Jūrmala, Latvia, in 2014. She placed second in Georgia’s Eurovision selection in 2017 with “White Horses Run.” Her 2019 release Nutsa22 combined Georgian songs with English compositions. “Gelodebi” brought her a hit and a tour of Georgia with a live band. Work abroad included a contract with Theater Dubai and a performance at Expo. By the time American viewers met her, she had already built a career across several countries.

The Idol judges gave her another chance

In 2023, Nutsa sang “Un-Break My Heart” and “And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going” during her American Idol run. The latter performance secured a judges’ save. She told Parade, “It’s a big responsibility.” Katy Perry said there were more layers of Nutsa to uncover, and Luke Bryan praised her work. On April 30, she chose Queen’s “The Show Must Go On.” All three judges stood for the performance. “You make all eyes in the room go on you,” Bryan told her. Lionel Richie told her that she had already made it.

A Kylie duet came before Georgia’s call

Nutsa returned for the American Idol finale to sing “Can’t Get You Out of My Head” with Kylie Minogue. The duet added another international performance to her 2023 season. On January 12, 2024, Georgia announced Nutsa as its representative for Eurovision in Malmö, Sweden. She had already spent time in Los Angeles writing, performing and making music videos, alongside her work in Dubai. Georgia remained the place she called home. Her selection gave her a chance to represent that country at the contest she had pursued in 2017.

She chose “Firefighter” from hundreds of songs

For Eurovision in 2024, Nutsa listened to hundreds of submitted songs and narrowed the choice to three. She recorded all three and immediately felt that “Firefighter” suited her. Ada Satka and Darko Dimitrov wrote the entry, which was released on March 11. Nutsa’s promotion included a performance during a football match in Georgia, where rain fell as she sang. Her musical reference points ranged from Whitney Houston’s “I Have Nothing” and Nina Simone’s “Feeling Good” to Beyoncé’s “Deja Vu.” She told the Official Eurovision Song Contest Podcast that fans’ affection had surprised her and that she wanted to give that love back.

Georgia reached its first final since 2016

On May 9, 2024, Nutsa performed “Firefighter” in Eurovision’s second semifinal at Malmö Arena. Four dancers joined her, and the staging used pyrotechnics. She placed eighth with 54 points and secured Georgia’s first final appearance since 2016. In the grand final on May 11, she performed 24th in the running order and finished 21st with 34 points. The public vote supplied 19 of those points, and juries supplied 15. Nutsa had taken the song through both live rounds and brought Georgia back into the contest’s final.

Davy Nathan produced “All My Life” in 2025

Nutsa released “All My Life” on June 2, 2025, with Prince Marketing Group credited on the release. Davy Nathan wrote and produced the song, which paired dance rhythms with a theme of lasting love. Nutsa described its energy and joy and said “we had so much fun creating it.” The recording used synthesizers, drums and bass beneath her vocal. Her agent, Darren Prince, described plans for live performances as the single reached listeners. Nutsa said she hoped fans around the world would dance to the song that summer.

• Listen to “All My Life” on Apple Music

She kept her Georgian roots in her English songs

In her October 24, 2025 interview with Deluxe Version Magazine, Nutsa described a sound built from soul, funk and pop with Georgian influences. She said Idol had taught her to trust “my accent, my energy, my story.” Her recording process included a personal test: she asked herself whether she would still love a song if nobody heard it. She said she studied musical trends and treated her roots as part of her English-language performances. Singing in English, she explained, still brought responses from people who could hear where she came from.

Her Batumi show brought American musicians to Georgia

On August 22, 2026, Nutsa performed a solo show at Batumi’s Music and Arts Center. The concert sold out. She performed older and newer material, introduced two new duets, performed with dancers and changed costumes during the show. Her band included drummer Derrick Wright, who worked with Adele, and bassist Walter Barnes Junior, who played with Toni Braxton. Nathan served as Nutsa’s musical director; his work included piano and musical direction for Braxton and Christina Aguilera. Georgian musicians joined the group. After the concert, Nutsa told Fortuna that the evening had exceeded her expectations and that the team’s intended emotion had reached the audience.

“King Tamar” put Georgian history into a new single

Nutsa released “King Tamar” on October 2, 2026. She co-wrote the single with Davy Nathan and Alex Laray. Its subject was Tamar the Great, the Georgian queen of the late 1100s. The track used a dance breakdown and a chorus built around a chant. A performance video presented the song live at Nutsa’s Live Show. The new recording placed Georgian history in the material she was writing with her collaborators, with Nutsa sharing the songwriting credit.

• Nutsa: career and music
• Listen to Nutsa on Spotify
• Listen to Nutsa on Apple Music
• Listen to “King Tamar” on Apple Music