Alexandra Stan

Alexandra Ioana Stan[1] was born on 10 June 1989 in the city of Constanța, Romania, to Daniela and George Stan.[4][9] Her mother worked as a saleswoman and her father was hired as a groundskeeper.[9] Stan also has one sister, Andreea.[10] 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 Șaguna.[4]

Stan's public singing debut was at a Romanian televised show when she was 15 years old.[11] She eventually participated in various music contests, including the Mamaia Music Festival in 2009.[4][12] Romanian producers and songwriters Marcel Prodan and Andrei Nemirschi discovered Stan that year at a karaoke bar in Constanța and signed her to their record label, Maan Records. The singer also recorded the promotional single "Show Me the Way".[12] 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.[4] The song's provocative, low-budget music video was criticized by some viewers for emphasizing her physical and not her vocal qualities.[4]

Stan at the Austrian Sports Personality of the Year awards in 2011.

In 2010,[upper-alpha 1] Stan released her international breakthrough single "Mr. Saxobeat".[4] The song first achieved success in Romania, where it peaked at number one on the Romanian Top 100 for eight consecutive weeks.[2] It then became acclaimed worldwide, topping the record charts in several other countries, and selling almost one million copies in less than year.[4][15][16] It has also received various Music recording certifications, including Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).[17] At the 2011 Romanian Music Awards, Stan and "Mr. Saxobeat" won several awards and received nominations.[18][19] Stan also won the Best Romanian Act and was nominated for Best European Act at the 2011 MTV Europe Music Awards.[20][21]

After the success of "Mr. Saxobeat", Stan released the follow-up single "Get Back (ASAP)" (2011),[4] which achieved modest success, reaching the top 10 in Finland and Romania and the top 20 in other European countries.[20] The singer's debut studio album Saxobeats was released in August 2011;[22] it was moderately successful in Japan and Europe.[23][24] For Stan's international achievements in 2011, she won a European Border Breaker award.[25] Her chart success followed into 2012 with "Lemonade", which was certified Gold in Italy.[26] 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.[27] The case attracted widespread media coverage in Romania.[15] 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.[28]

In April 2014, Stan released her comeback single "Thanks for Leaving", which she said was personal.[29][30] Several observers connected its lyrical message to her violent incident with Prodan.[31][32] The follow-up "Cherry Pop" became the most sought-after ringtone on the Recochoku service in Japan within two hours of its release,[33] while "Dance" experienced similar success on its release.[34] Unlocked, Stan's second studio album, was premiered in August 2014, and charted at number 21 in Japan.[35][36] Stan had also signed a new record deal with Fonogram Records.[37] Later in 2014, the singer performed Cher's "Strong Enough" (1999) translated into Catalan ("Sóc forta") for La Marato, an annual Spanish charity event,[38][39] and also appeared at the Spanish Carnival of Las Palmas as a special guest.[40]

In June 2015, Stan released "We Wanna", a collaboration with Romanian singer Inna and American reggaeton performer Daddy Yankee.[41] The track reached the top 60 in multiple countries including Romania, Argentina and Italy.[42] It was certified Gold in the latter region.[26] The follow-up, "I Did It, Mama!", reached the top ten in her native country.[43] The singer's third studio album Alesta was issued in March 2016,[44] and was supported by a tour in Japan.[45] It debuted at number 34 on the Oricon albums chart.[36] Later that year, Stan made her fashion debut with a Japan-only range of clothing called Alesta X Bershka.[45]

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.[46][47] She also launched her own record label, Alexandra Stan Records.[5] 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.[48][49] 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.[50][51] In April 2018, Stan released her fourth studio album, which is titled Mami,[52][53] and peaked at number 119 in Japan.[36] 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".[54] It also reached the top ten in Romania.[55] The singer opened the 2018 Neversea Festival, which had selected "Miami" as its anthem.[56][57]

In June 2019, following several months spent in the United States,[58] Stan released "I Think I Love It", her first single as a lead artist in over a year after "Mami" (2018).[59][60] She also signed record deals with Universal Music Romania and MediaPro Music.[6] The follow-up release, "Obsesii", attained success in Romania, reaching number 12 on the local Airplay 100 chart in June 2020.[61]