Russian-born, Los Angeles-based singer and songwriter Polina has co-written hits for a wide variety of artists and has appeared as a guest vocalist on dance tracks by numerous top producers. She's contributed to songs by Sean Kingston and Eminem and was featured on Felix Jaehn's 2015 single "Book of Love," which topped the German airplay charts. Additionally, she has sung on tracks by Tiësto, David Morales, Steve Aoki, and others. As a solo artist, she records dramatic electro-pop as Contessa and dance-pop under her first name, including several Russian-language songs as well as English tracks like 2021's "Faena" and 2023's "Crave."

Polina Goudieva was born in Moscow to a pop singer mother (Anka) and an abstract artist father (Ruslan Gudiev). Polina learned piano at a young age, winning accolades in Russia before enrolling at Berklee College of Music on scholarship at the age of 16. In the '90s, she fell in love with electronic music and decided to delve deeper into that world. Her first feature was on 2009's "Escape" with Dutch producer the Scumfrog; her first solo song was "Shotguns," which came out the same year. In 2010, she contributed to the songwriting team -- which also included Stargate and Sandy Vee -- that wrote Sean Kingston's "Party All Night (Sleep All Day)." The song ended up topping the U.K. R&B Singles chart, earning silver certification.

Polina released music on Ultra Records with David Morales, and went on to work with Felix Cartal ("Don't Turn On the Lights"), Tiësto ("Tornado"), Kaskade ("Human Reactor" and "To the Skies"), Steve Aoki ("Come with Me"), and, most prominently, on Eminem's "Legacy" from his Grammy-winning Marshall Mathers LP 2.

Polina's solo single "Fade to Love" was released in 2014, and subsequently became a hit, earning a gold certification in Italy. In 2015, she collaborated with Felix Jaehn on "Book of Love," which went gold in Germany after reaching number one on the airplay charts. Polina released additional solo tunes like 2016's "Little Babylon" and guested on tracks by artists such as Paper Diamond, Moguai, and Matrix & Futurebound. She also released electro-pop ballads like "Oxygen" and "Immortals" under the name Contessa. She began issuing Russian-language singles in 2018, including a duet with pop star Dima Bilan, as well as the 2020 single "JANGA," which sported a heavily streamed video. Polina's single "Faena" appeared in 2021, and a Latin version featuring Colombian artist Llane followed in February of 2022. Polina recorded "Keep Holding On" for the soundtrack to the mobile game Arknights in 2022 and wrote "Crave" for Crave Theater Moscow; the song was issued in 2023. ~ Neil Z. Yeung & Paul Simpson