Kerli Kõiv was born in Elva on 7 February 1987, and was first introduced to music by her kindergarten teacher, who told her mother that Kerli had "nice pitch" and that she was interested in taking her to various singing competitions. She dropped out of school at the age of 16 to pursue her musical career, competing in the singing competitions Laulukarussell and the Baltic song contest Fizz Superstar, winning both of them. She then moved to Stockholm where she competed in Melodifestivalen in 2003 but was eliminated in the second semifinals, but reached the final in 2004's Eurolaul – a televised competition that determines the song that will represent Estonia in the Eurovision Song Contest – with her song 'Beautiful Inside'. After two miserable years in Stockholm, she moved to the United States at 18, where she continued to perform and write songs, ultimately getting an audition with L.A. Reid, who signed her to the Island Def Jam Music Group in 2006. She worked with producer, songwriter, and mixer David Maurice on an autobiographical set of songs, the first of which were released on a self-titled EP in 2007, and she finally released her debut album, 'Love Is Dead' on 8 July 2008, following her debut single 'Walking On Air', which charted at number 75 on the European Hot 100. In March 2010, 'Almost Alice', a compilation album featuring music inspired by Disney's 'Alice In Wonderland' was released, containing two songs performed by Kerli, 'Tea Party' and 'Strange', performed with Tokio Hotel.
After the release of 'Love Is Dead', Kerli began working on her second studio album, and 'Army Of Love' was made available for free download on her official website, before being released as a single for purchase on 12 April 2011. A song titled 'Skyscraper' was written by Toby Gad, Lindy Robbins, and Kerli for the 'Utopia' album, but she instead gave it to American musician Demi Lovato for her album 'Unbroken', and the same happened with 'I Feel Immortal', which was gifted to Finnish musician Tarja for her album 'What Lies Beneath'. 'Zero Gravity' was rescued from a previous project and was supposed to be the first single from the new album, but it was later announced the both this and 'Army Of Love' were only buzz singles, and not official releases. The album was complete by May 2012, and in September it was confirmed that a single from it, titled 'The Lucky Ones', would be released on 29 October 2012, with the album to follow in the Spring of 2013. However, in December the whole record leaked online and so the label decided to cut a number of the tracks and release it as an EP instead, and this appeared digitally in March 2013 and physically the following May, but in the Baltic states and Finland only. So that we can hear what a full album could have sounded like, here is the complete 'Utopia', as it was intended to sound in the Spring of 2013, and as about half of this album has been officially released, I've added her contribution to the 'Almost Alice' album, plus one of those songs written for the record but given away.
Track listing
01 The Lucky Ones
02 Can't Control The Kids
03 Sugar
04 Kaleidoscope
05 Love Me Or Leave Me
06 Zero Gravity
07 Speed Limit
08 Last Breath
09 Supergirl
10 Chemical
11 Here And Now
12 Tea Party
13 Skyscraper
