The multi-talented Romanian vocalist, songwriter and also a DJ, Alexandra Badoi is showing absolutely no signs of slowing down anytime soon. And I say this because, now with her brand new DJ show ‘A Beautiful Cosmos’, she is all set on a journey to conquer another territory of the dance music world. Fun fact, Alexandra has also worked as a TV Anchor (2008-16), a model and also is a brand ambassador for quite a few brands too.
Now coming into the music realm, Alexandra has been doing great over the past couple of years and has been a part of such top-notch trance tunes. Best examples are ‘Goodbye‘ (w/ Andrew Rayel), ‘Born To Love‘ (w/ FEEL), ‘Lifetime Change‘ (w/ Deniz Kenzo), ‘Cold Shower’ (w/ Snatt & Vix), ‘I’ll Be Fine‘ (w/ Sunlounger) and tons more which were all signed on major international music labels such as Armada Music, Black Hole Recordings and Suanda Music. She has also attended huge music festivals like The Mission Dance Weekend, Liberty Parade, Armada Night, Trancemission Moscow and other Trance Festivals in Malaysia and Indonesia where she was a part of the opening act for famous DJ’s like Armin van Buuren, Tiesto, Paul van Dyk, W&W, Above & Beyond, Ferry Corsten, ATB, Moby and more.
But the biggest highlight of her career is, of course, the track ‘Cosmos‘ with the trance god himself Mr. Armin van Buuren (under the Rising Star alias) which received immense love from the fans. Back in the year 2019, she joined Armin at the Untold Festival in Romania to perform their collaboration in front of more than 70,000 people. We got an amazing opportunity to chat with her regarding her influences, music production & much more, check it out below:
Hey Alexandra, we would like to congratulate you on the launch of your brand new show, “A Beautiful Cosmos”. So, how does it feel hosting your own show?
Thank you so much! ☺ I’m so grateful for all the love and for the great feedback I’ve received so far! So many people are asking about the second episode and I’m super happy to see their excitement and hopefully, all my future shows will delight my audience. I decided to make a monthly show and to release it around the 20th day of each month. It’s a lot of work for a good show and I’m new in Dj-ing, so I want to take my time, and more than that, I want to have enough time for singing or for creating new songs as well. But I’m thrilled to share the music I love and to mix the music my friends or my fans appreciate it. In a way, this show reminds me of my high school moments, when I used to be a radio presenter/entertainer in my hometown(Targu Jiu).”
We would love to know what inspired you to become a vocalist and a songwriter and now also a DJ?
I’ve dreamed to be a singer since I was a child, I think my mom inspired me. She has a lovely voice and she used to sing me traditional songs or ballads. I remember that I’ve started to create some childish songs since I was in kindergarten. But unfortunately, I didn’t have the opportunity to study music properly, I learned to play a little bit the guitar, some basic chords later on, in high school. This helped me to write some ballads and thanks to my teachers from Palatul Copiilor – Tg-Jiu (an Art Institution for Children from my town) I created a song which was selected for the National Eurovision Contest. This encouraged me a lot, I was only 18 years old and suddenly I was singing my song in the same contest with other singers I appreciated in my country. That was the moment when I told myself that anything is possible. Unfortunately, the music industry is not an easy one, many disappointments, difficult agreements followed and along with the education received from my parents made me focus more on my University studies, my jobs, my career. But I always dreamed to sing and to compose songs and when I was finding some spare time, I was trying to get to a studio, to create, to record vocals. I started to create and to sing trance music thanks to Snatt & Vix – my friends, trance producers and DJs from Romania. They introduced me to this world. I remember that they sent me a lot of trance music to listen to and we were so happy when we signed our first track “Cold Shower” to Cold Harbour Recordings – Armada Music. Life is so beautiful and so sad sometimes… Snatt passed away 3 years ago and this was a shock for all of us… he reminded us that tomorrow it’s not a certainty, we must do what we love, we must appreciate what we have, what we are… I become more motivated than ever to follow my dreams, to dare to ask, to create more ideas and opportunities, to learn new skills, to become a better me. A few months ago I had an amazing experience at Point Blank Music School in London, I was studying singing & songwriting and a Complete DJ course. In 3 months I learned more music than I ever knew. I improved my singing and songwriting techniques, I learned the basic for music production, the basic piano and to DJ! ☺ And I am inspired by all the great DJs: Armin van Buuren, Tiesto, Ferry Corsten, Andrew Rayel etc!
So what goes in the process while you’re writing those amazing lyrics and how do you prepare yourself before a recording?
Thank you! ☺ Now I’m lucky enough to have my professional home studio setup and it’s more easier than it was before. Sometimes I receive the instrumental or only a piano from the producer and I start to create from that point, being inspired by them, some other times I have some nice words, an expression in mind, a beautiful chord progression on piano or simply a melody line stuck in my head and I’m trying to figure out what is the filling out for that piece. Sometimes the creativity is like a river, it is flowing, some other times I dig into poetry, dictionaries, looking for the right sentence. I use to record all my ideas on my phone and when I’m happy with the result I’m preparing for the professional recording. I do my vocal warm up and after that I am singing and I am recording in various ways, trying to express my feelings. I choose the vocal I like the most, I make them as clear as I can, I create some adds or harmonies and I send the result to the producer.
What was it like to have worked with the legend Mr. Armin van Buuren? Also, you performed along with Armin in front of more than 70,000 people at the UNTOLD Festival, how was the experience?
It was magical! ☺ Imagine that I’ve dreamed of collaborating with Armin since I first heard “In and out of love”… after I signed my first track with his label, I began to believe that one day we could have a track together. I met him 8 years ago, before his show in Romania and I told him my dream. He recommended me to send him ideas, which I did… and finally that „one day” came last summer. I received his e-mail where he wrote me that he liked the “Cosmos” idea and he would love to create this track and more than that, he invited me to sing in his Untold show. Suddenly, tears of happiness appeared on my eyes and everything was like a dream… Even now I’m watching the Cosmos video with the images from Untold and it’s like a fairytale… ☺
You’ve worked with quite a few artists and we would like to know, who’s your favorite artist to work with? And who would you like to work or collaborate in the near future?
I still want to collaborate with Armin, with Andrew, with Feel, with Bogdan Vix, Claudiu Adam, Airborn and many others. I would love to have new songs with Ferry Corsten, ATB, Richard Durand, Gareth Emery etc ☺
These days how are you coping up with the lockdown situation and how do you keep every single day a productive one?
I never have time to get bored. These days I need to finish some administrative tasks for my company, to prepare my DJ show, to sing, to play piano, to create new ideas, to be active on Social Media, to find solutions for my company, to learn to produce better my ideas, to learn new music softwares, to do some mash-ups, to read in English, to improve my vocabulary, to do some gym… to take care of my house, of me, to cook… pff…I have many things to do ☺
Tell us the top 4 tunes on your playlist at the moment
When I do the paper / the business work I love to listen to Mozart or Chopin – let’s say: Le nozze di Figaro, K. 492, Act I: “Non più andrai” (Mozart) or Nocturnes (Chopin) La Resistence de l’amour – Armin & Shapov, Rooftops – Super 8 & Tab and Christina Novelli
Any message for all your fans across the world? I love you and I feel blessed to have your love!
She will be releasing the second episode of her show “A Beautiful Cosmos” on 20th April, 7 CET.
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