After five attempts, Amber is finally representing Malta at Eurovision, with a song called Warrior inspired by a young girl who lost her battle with cancer

With her powerful vocals and inspiring message, Amber Bondin gained the maximum points from jurors and televoters alike with her electronica ballad Warrior on Saturday night.

It therefore comes as a bit of a surprise that the 23-year-old winner of the Malta Song for Europe contest only took up singing at the age of 17.

“I consider myself as quite the latecomer to music,” she admitted to Times of Malta yesterday.

“I’m very much into sports and I had actually spent 11 years practising judo, competing as part of the Maltese judo national team. But at the age of 16 I suffered an accident during a competition and had to give up competition.”

The little girl’s father used to tell me that whenever she saw me singing, she would say she wanted to be like me when she grew up – I felt her presence strongly on Saturday night

Although she could still practise judo as a hobby, not being able to compete somehow took the punch out of it all.

Anxious to find an outlet into which she could channel her energies and passion, Amber settled on singing.

But before doing so, did she solely confine her vocal ambitions to her shower stall, or did she ever sing in public?

“I did occasionally sing during school activities and my teachers always encouraged me to take up singing lessons.

“So I decided to give it a go and starting taking lessons with Brian Cefai. But I soon realised that classical music wasn’t really my thing – I’m more into jazz and blues.

“And I just fell in love with singing and knew that this is what I wanted to keep on doing for the rest of my life.”

When she’s not rocking the stage clad in The Matrix-like leather robes, Amber is a University student, studying to become a primary school teacher.

The singer after she won the vote. Photos: Darrin Zammit LupiThe singer after she won the vote. Photos: Darrin Zammit Lupi

She describes her song as a modern ballad with a strong message.

“In life, we are besieged by various problems – but we must be warriors and conquer them.

“I dedicated my song to a little girl who shares my name who very sadly lost her battle with cancer two years ago at the tender age of four.

“Her father used to tell me that whenever she saw me singing, she would turn to him and say that she wanted to be like me when she grew up. I felt her presence very strongly on Saturday night.”

Eurovision is a great platform for Maltese artists – it gives you lots of exposure

Although Warrior is her fifth festival attempt, in the 2012 edition of the Eurovision she had joined contestant Kurt Calleja in Baku as a backing vocalist to his song This is the Night.

“It’s great I had that opportunity because I know what to expect when I’m in Vienna in May. You need to be hardworking and there’s a lot of responsibility involved – you’re shouldering the weight of Malta at the end of the day.

“I know it will be very hectic and busy – but it will be so exciting being the main vocalist this time. The vibe is amazing. The Eurovision is a great platform for Maltese artists – it gives you lots of exposure.

“And interacting with the Eurovision fans is incredible – these are the people who we perform for.”

Starting from yesterday, Amber, composer Elton Zarb and writer Matt “Muxu” Mercieca got together with the PBS team to begin perfecting the song.

“We’ll be discussing what we can change for the better. But I’d like to keep the simplicity of the performance to allow the audience to focus on the song and on its message.”

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