Kazakhstani singer Yernar Sadirbayev, known as Amre, spoke about his participation in the New Wave 2026 music contest held in Kazan from August 20 to 26. The artist thanked everyone who supported him during the festival, reports infohub.kz.
According to the singer, he became a contestant after an official invitation from Igor Krutoy last year, although he had no such plans before. "11 years ago I was already a participant of New Wave as part of a boy band, and honestly, I didn't think I would return to the contest as a solo artist. But out of great respect for the maestro, his work, and his personal invitation, I decided to take part. Everything that happened later on the project is a completely different story. I don't want to revisit it, discuss it, or give any assessments. I perceive my participation in New Wave 2026 not so much as professional experience, but as life experience. An experience from which I drew certain conclusions and which will undoubtedly remain part of my creative journey," Amre noted.
As the newspaper Vechernyaya Kazan writes, in the final, 12 participants from four countries competed for victory: Russia, Armenia, Belarus, and Kazakhstan. The winner of New Wave 2026 was Flora Bichakhchyan from Armenia. Second place went to 16-year-old Anastasia Ivanova from Russia, who was the youngest contestant. Third place was taken by TROFIM GRANN from Russia.
Recall that before the start of New Wave, Igor Krutoy shared archival photos with Dimash and Alex Lim, the winner of New Wave 2025.