ALEXANDRA STAN

Alexandra Stan was born on 10 June 1989 in the city of Constanța, Romania. Showing an interest in music from a very young age, Stan studied at the Traian Secondary School and later at the Faculty of Management Andrei Saguna.

Stan’s public singing debut was at a Romanian televised show when she was 15 years old. She eventually participated in various music contests, including the Mamaia Music Festival in 2009. Romanian producers and songwriters Marcel Prodan and Andrei Nemirschi discovered Stan that year at a karaoke bar in Constanta and signed her to their record label, Maan Records. The singer also recorded the promotional single “Show Me the Way”. Stan rose to moderate fame in Romania with the release of her debut single “Lollipop (Param Pam Pam)” (2009), which was given notable radio airplay. The song’s provocative, low-budget music video was criticized by some viewers for emphasizing her physical and not her vocal qualities.

In 2010, Stan released her international breakthrough single “Mr. Saxobeat”. The song first achieved success in Romania, where it peaked at number one on the Romanian Top 100 for eight consecutive weeks. It then became acclaimed worldwide, topping the record charts in several other countries, and selling almost one million copies in less than year. It has also received various Music recording certifications, including Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). At the 2011 Romanian Music Awards, Stan and “Mr. Saxobeat” won several awards and received nominations. Stan also won the Best Romanian Act and was nominated for Best European Act at the 2011 MTV Europe Music Awards.

After the success of “Mr. Saxobeat”, Stan released the follow-up single “Get Back (ASAP)” (2011),which achieved modest success, reaching the top 10 in Finland and Romania and the top 20 in other European countries. The singer’s debut studio album Saxobeats was released in August 2011; it was moderately successful in Japan and Europe. For Stan’s international achievements in 2011, she won a European Border Breaker award. Her chart success followed into 2012 with “Lemonade”, which was certified Gold in Italy. The release of Stan’s second studio album was postponed following an alleged violent incident between her and Prodan and a resulting lawsuit against him in June 2013. The case attracted widespread media coverage in Romania. In August 2013, Stan was featured on German group Follow Your Instinct’s single “Baby, It’s OK”, which fared moderately well in German-speaking Europe.

In April 2014, Stan released her comeback single “Thanks for Leaving”, which she said was personal. Several observers connected its lyrical message to her violent incident with Prodan. The follow-up “Cherry Pop” became the most sought-after ringtone on the Recochoku service in Japan within two hours of its release, while “Dance” experienced similar success on its release. Unlocked, Stan’s second studio album, was premiered in August 2014, and charted at number 21 in Japan. Stan had also signed a new record deal with Fonogram Records. Later in 2014, the singer performed Cher’s “Strong Enough” (1999) translated into Catalan (“Sóc forta”) for La Marato, an annual Spanish charity event, and also appeared at the Spanish Carnival of Las Palmas as a special guest.

In June 2015, Stan released “We Wanna”, a collaboration with Romanian singer Inna and American reggaeton performer Daddy Yankee. The track reached the top 60 in multiple countries including Romania, Argentina and Italy. It was certified Gold in the latter region. The follow-up, “I Did It, Mama!”, reached the top ten in her native country. The singer’s third studio album Alesta was issued in March 2016, and was supported by a tour in Japan. It debuted at number 34 on the Oricon albums chart.Later that year, Stan made her fashion debut with a Japan-only range of clothing called Alesta X Bershka.

Also in 2016, the singer joined the supergroup G Girls along with Antonia, Inna and Lori, and premiered the single “Call the Police”, which was successful in Poland. She also launched her own record label, Alexandra Stan Records. To promote the launch of Virgin Radio Romania in early 2017, Stan recorded a cover version of Madonna’s song “Like a Virgin” (1984), saying she was a fan of it. She also recorded “Favorite Game” for the soundtrack of the Japanese movie Miko Girl; it served as its opening song. The film premiered during the 30th Tokyo International Film Festival in October 2017, where Stan appeared on the red carpet with its cast and crew. In April 2018, Stan released her fourth studio album, which is titled “Mami”,and peaked at number 119 in Japan. She also contributed guest vocals on Manuel Riva’s track “Miami”, which reached the top ten on the US Dance Club Songs chart; this was Stan’s first appearance on an American Billboard ranking since 2011’s “Mr. Saxobeat”. It also reached the top ten in Romania.The singer opened the 2018 Neversea Festival, which had selected “Miami” as its anthem.

In June 2019, following several months spent in the United States, Stan released “I Think I Love It”, her first single as a lead artist in over a year after “Mami” (2018). She also signed record deals with Universal Music Romania and MediaPro Music.The follow-up release, “Obsesii”, attained success in Romania, reaching number 12 on the local Airplay 100 chart in June 2020. Stan’s fifth studio album, Rainbows, is scheduled to be issued in 2021. From September to October 2020, the singer appeared as a contestant on reality singing competition Masked Singer Romania. In November 2020, “Mr. Saxobeat” reached 200 million streams on Spotify, making it the most streamed song by a Romanian artist on the platform.

In 2020 Alexandra Stan presented interesting colalborations – “Tikari” featuring which was followed by “Bandit” in collaboration with Paul Damixie.