Klemen Returns to ‘Golden Hour’: Where the Mask Comes Off

For years, Klemen was best known for becoming other people.

Through razor-sharp impersonations of world leaders, pop stars, and political caricatures, the Slovenian artist built a digital presence that travelled far beyond borders. His videos, equal parts satire and spectacle, amassed hundreds of millions of views, landing him features across BBC, Reuters, Euronews and beyond. Klemen was, to much of Europe, a familiar face in unfamiliar guises.

Golden Hour asks a quieter question: what happens when the mask comes off?

Following his standout appearance at Eurovision Song Contest 2025, Klemen returns to his debut album Golden Hour with renewed focus, supporting its upcoming physical release in early 2026 and ahead of a London headline show at Notting Hill Arts Club on February 17, 2026. Where his online work thrived on precision and performance, Golden Hour unfolds slowly, built on tenderness, restraint, and emotional presence.

The 11-track album reveals a different emotional architecture. Gone is the need to impress or inhabit characters; instead, Klemen leans into stillness. The songs move with deliberate care, favouring vulnerability over punchlines, honesty over control. It’s a record that feels less like a debut statement and more like a confession long held back.

At the heart of that shift sits ‘Is Anybody Out There?’ Written during an intimate session with Shelly McErlaine and Michèl Vedère, the track emerged from open conversation rather than concept. It captures a familiar emotional weight - the quiet loneliness of searching for connection - without collapsing into despair. There’s uncertainty here, but also warmth.

“It’s about searching for connection, finding hope, and believing in a silver lining when life feels overwhelming,” Klemen explains. “The track turns vulnerability into optimism and self-doubt into togetherness.”

That same vulnerability first reached a global audience through ‘How Much Time Do We Have Left’, the deeply personal ballad Klemen performed at Eurovision 2025. Written for his wife Mojca, the song reflects on the years following her diagnosis with what was once believed to be an incurable illness. Her full recovery - and the couple’s shared appearance on the Eurovision stage - transformed the performance into something communal. It was a moment that cut through spectacle, resonating across Europe not because it was grand, but because it was real.

Golden Hour reframes Klemen’s earlier work in this light. The viral comedy videos: from ‘Putin, Putout’ to his Eurovision winners impersonation medley - remain part of his creative identity, but the album reveals what sits beneath them. Comedy, here, becomes context rather than centre stage. A learned craft that taught him timing, control, and character - now gently loosened.

This duality will shape Klemen’s upcoming London show. At Notting Hill Arts Club, the set is expected to move fluidly between satire and sincerity: beloved impersonations sitting alongside the intimate songs of Golden Hour. Rather than choosing between entertainer and confessional songwriter, Klemen allows both to coexist.

That balance mirrors a creative life spanning disciplines - an acting degree, eight years at the Slovenian National Theatre, television hosting, and more than 150 impersonations across music, politics, and popular culture. Few artists understand performance as instinctively. Fewer still are willing to step outside it.

In an era where audiences often meet artists first through algorithms and caricature, Golden Hour offers something rarer: a quieter self, shared at full volume. It’s a widening of the frame. Proof that behind every character is a human story waiting to be told.

Golden Hour is available digitally now, with vinyl and CD editions available via klemenslakonja.com.

Listen to Golden Hour:

 Instagram | Spotify | YouTube