Korolyova was born in Ukrainian capital Kiev. She gave her first public performance in 1976, at the age of three, singing The Cruiser Aurora at the annual congress of the Komsomol. In 1985, at the age of 12, Korolyova wrote several songs including “World Without Miracles” and “Where Went the Circus”, achieving popular success in Ukraine. In 1987, Korolyova won the Golden Kamerton music prize. From 1988 to 1991 she studied vocal performance at the Kiev-pop circus school.

Korolyova made her first international appearances, in the United States, in 1989. Shortly thereafter she moved to Moscow. She participated in many competitions and television broadcasts, among them Christmas Meeting and Morning Mail. In 1990 she recorded the song Yellow Tulips, which launched her success both within the USSR and internationally. The song reached the finals of the Pesnya goda festival.

Between 1990 and 1997, Koreleva made twelve music videos for television: Yellow Tulips (directed by Mogilevskaya, 1990), First Kiss (directed by Pesotsky), Under the Summer Rain (director Vladimirov), Why the Love Dies (director Pesotsky), Kiev Boy (director Pesotsky, 1993), Sunflowers (Fix, 1995), Is It Me? (Fix), Small Country (Gusev), The Man With Bellows (Fix, 1996), Do Not Die (Gavrilov), Summer Castanets (Nikolayev, 1997) and Diamonds of Tears (Bazhenov).

In 1992, Korolyova embarked on her first concert tour of Russia, concluding with major shows at the Olympic Stadium. She toured Israel in 1993, Germany in 1994, and performed in New York City in 1997.

Korolyova appeared in several film roles, including Recipe Witch and The Cheerful Family 2, the latter for Ukrainian television. She has also undertaken jewelry design, releasing a collection entitled Daughters-Mothers in 2008. In 2009, she published the novel Male Striptease.

In 2018 Korolyova was banned from entering Ukraine for three years because of “committing illegal acts related to encroachment on the territorial integrity of Ukraine. Using the media, she supports the actions of the Russian Federation on the annexation of Crimea”. Crimea is currently under dispute by Russia and Ukraine. Korolyova lost an 2018 appeal at the Supreme Court of Ukraine, its verdict referred to Korolyova as “a foreigner.”