NEED TO KNOW
- Australian Idol hopeful Eva Ilov shocked the judges when she didn’t prepare anything for her first audition
- The singer has revealed to New Idea that she’s doing the show for her grandfather Peter, who gifter her her first guitar when she was seven
- Peter, who shares a love for music with his granddaughter, can no longer play guitar due to his arthritis
- Dubbed as this year’s winner by fans, Eva is hopeful she can make her pop proud and go far this season
This season of Australian Idol is in full swing.
And emerging as an early frontrunner from the group of talented songbirds is Eva Ilov, who was declared a sure-bet for the crown by viewers the moment she stepped on to the Auditions stage.
Eva, 20, has always loved singing, with music playing a big part in her life since childhood.
“I have a big musical family on both sides,” the Queensland-native tells New Idea.
“Music was everywhere! Weekends were often spent at weddings doing traditional dances, celebrating, and I was always surrounded by sounds that felt alive and different.
“Growing up in and around different cultures shaped the way I hear music and it inspired me to blend those elements to my own style as well.”
For her initial Idol audition, Eva accompanied herself on the guitar.
She calls the instrument her “safe place” and says that “it needed to be there” with her that day.
It was Eva’s grandfather, Peter, who gave her her first guitar.
Eva was seven and she breaks into a wide smile while remembering the special moment.
“One Christmas, my Pop gifted me a guitar,” she says. “He wanted to pass on something that he loved, and that changed everything for me.”
Eva had never played before, but her mum enrolled her in guitar lessons.
She says that she picked it up “pretty quickly” and not long after the vocals came along as well.
Peter, now 69, was a talented guitar player with a passion for music just like his granddaughter.
Sadly, he now struggles to play due to his arthritis.
“When Pop gave me his guitar, it felt like he was passing on something that he could no longer do himself,” Eva says.
“That pushed me to take a chance to play for both of us and to make him proud. His strength and determination remind me that no matter what I face, I’ll always keep going in music and life.”
Eva famously shocked the judges when she went to the Auditions without a song prepared.
Instead, she asked them to pick something for her, a move that made her stand out from the get-go.
Wanting to impress judge Kyle Sandilands in the hopes he’d see her in a “positive light”, Eva confesses she was praying they’d only choose “well-known songs”.
“I have a wide repertoire in popular songs and things that people really connect to,” she says.
Expected to continue to shine as the competition progresses, Eva is determined to make her family – especially her Pop – proud, and is willing to do whatever it takes.
