With an impressive string of hits, numerous awards under her trendy belt and the clubs of Europe, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East already at her feet, INNA is a fierce musical phenomenon.
The most exciting new voice in the dance world, the Romanian has blazed through the global charts with hits like “Hot,” “Sun Is Up” and “Déjà vu,” collaborating with the likes of Pitbull, Flo-Rida, Daddy Yankee, Juan Magán, JBalvin, Yandel and reaching the top slots in dozens of countries, from her native Romania to Japan, Mexico, Turkey, Argentina, Spain, Finland, Poland and the U.S.
With looks and dance moves that match her musical talent, INNA has won multiple MTV Europe Awards, Romanian Music Awards and RRA Awards and in 2012 became the first and only European female artist to reach 1 billion YouTube views, in addition to boasting 12 million Facebook fans and over 600,000 Twitter followers.
INNA, real name Elena Alexandra Apostoleanu (INNA, a diminutive of Alexandra, is what INNA’s grandparents called her as a child) was born in Romania to a Romanian father and mother. The family was humble and Romania still doesn’t have a track record of exporting talent. But music dominated her life.
“All my childhood memories are about music,” she says. “My mom was a singer of traditional Romanian music and my grandmother was a singer and I remember singing in the church choir with both of them when I was really little. I come from a big religious family and we would go to church on Sunday mornings. Those were my first ‘shows,’” she says with a laugh.
Soon, it was clear that INNA was no ordinary talent. When she was seven, her mother dug into the family’s meager savings and took her to a vocal coach for formal training.
Torn between music and education, INNA would eventually enroll in the university as a political science major, but she couldn’t escape her calling. At the time, INNA was working as a secretary for a real estate firm and, after hearing her sing in the office, a co-worker (who would later become her manager) convinced her to give music another shot and took her to the well-known Romanian production team of Play & Win.
INNA initially applied her vocal prowess to rock and pop, but Play & Win also convinced her to record a few dance songs. One of those was “Hot,” an up-tempo, empowering dance track featuring Inna’s soaring voice, singing in English.
What happened next is the stuff dreams are made of. INNA posted the track on YouTube and drove to Paris to spend a week with her family.
Without benefit of a label, a marketing team or any sort of structured promotion, “Hot” became a YouTube hit and DJs around the country were clamoring for the song—and the singer.
“When I returned home, every single radio station wanted the song, and every single label wanted to sign me,” remembers Inna. “It was so unexpected.”
“Hot” would become one of those rare, unstoppable tracks that transcends language and geography, climbing charts in Russia, Poland, Bulgaria Serbia, Slovakia, Greece, Belgium, the Netherlands and Spain. INNA’s subsequent singles—“Love,” “Deja-Vu,” “Amazing” and “Sun Is Up” all became major European hits. By the end of 2009, INNA had released Hot, the album, throughout Europe, collecting MTV Romania Music awards and MTV Europe Music Awards—among many other accolades—along the way, even as “Hot,” the single, continued its romp across the continent and eventually, across the Atlantic, also topping Billboard charts in the U.S.
INNA’s follow-up, I Am the Club Rocker, also produced by Play & Win, was released throughout Europe in 2012 and featured a handful of continent-wide radio hits, including first single, “Sun Is Up,” whose steamy video—featuring the stylized choreography and sensational outfits that would become an INNA signature—has garnered close to 70 million views on YouTube.
I Am the Club Rocker also included “Club Rocker,” a collaboration with Flo-Rida, and “Un Momento,” INNA’s first Spanish-language track and her first major bid for the Latin marketplace in its own language.
INNA fully explored her Latin side on 2013’s Party Never Ends, an album that includes collaborations with reggaetón king Daddy Yankee, Spanish DJ and hitmaker Juan Magán and reggaetón star Yandel.
INNA was also invited to collaborate with Pitbull on his album Global Warming (in the track “All The Things”), underscoring her status as one of Europe’s biggest stars.
But it’s not all fun and games for the Romanian star.
On November 25th, International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, INNA released the single “Endless,” a song that calls for an end to domestic violence and is the foundation of the social campaign “Bring The Sun In My Life,” which seeks to provide support to abused women.
“Bring The Sun In My Life” has expanded to multiple countries thanks to interest and support from various non-profits that are using Inna’s music and image to convey a message of empowerment for women. In addition, INNA has been deeply involved with various NGO’s such as Unicef, Save the Children where she serves as an endorser and activist or Let’s Do It, Romania!, the biggest social movement in Romania which involved 1.7 million volunteers.
2014 brought “Cola Song”, an irresistible, bubbly mix of dance, electronica and Latin, laced with sax riffs and featuring rising Latin star J Balvin, done with the likes of Axident (Far East Movement), TJR (Pitbull, “Funky Vodka”), Thomas Troelsen (Pitbull, Alexandra Burke, Junior Senior) and Andrew Frampton (The Script, The Wanted). This song surpassed 205 million views and it was used to promote that year’s FIFA World Cup and was used in the dance video game Just Dance 2017.
In 2014, INNA collaborated for the second time with Pitbull on “Good Time” and was featured on Romanian rapper Puya’s “Strigă!” which peaked at number two in Romania. She released her fourth, eponymous studio album “INNA” in October 2015. Another version of the album, Body and the Sun, was released in Japan in July 2015.
One of the singles released from the record was “Diggy Down” (2014), her third number-one hit in Romania. Based on airplay, it won the Best Dance award at the Media Music Awards. INNA’s next single, “Bop Bop” (2015), peaked at number two in Romania and “Rendez Vous” (2016) was certified Gold in Poland. Also in 2015, INNA won the Best Romanian Act and was nominated for Best European Act at the MTV Europe Music Awards.
In August 2016, INNA was the opening act at the Untold Festival, Best Major Festival in Europe. She also became a member of the supergroup GGirls, with whom she released two singles (“Call the Police” and “Milk and Honey”).
In 2016 and 2017, INNA collaborated with Cartoon Network for an anti-bullying campaign and she sang the Romanian version of the anthem of famous cartoons “Powerpuff Girls”.
For the past year and a half, INNA has been working hard at reinventing herself, creating her own music, her own sound. The result is “YO”, an eclectic, powerful album that will be released later this year. This is INNA as you’ve never heard her before; the tracks on the album are exclusively written by INNA in Spanish and produced by the creative David Ciente.
Moreover, INNA has been starring as a judge on The Voice Kids Romania for two seasons now, the TV-show being broadcast by the biggest TV channel in the country – PRO TV. Along with the kids from her team, the artist released an upbeat song, entitled “Kids in Town”.
Furthermore, INNA is a brand ambassador to many top brands such as Coca-Cola Romania, Clear Turkey, Huawei Romania, AVON Romania, LIDL Romania and Jaguar Romania.
At the end of a busy 2017, the artist released her banging album “Nirvana” along with the hit single “Nirvana”, a track which recorded more than 71 million views on YouTube. The tracklist includes the smashing hit “Ruleta” with more than 178 million views on YouTube, as well as “Cum ar fi”, “Tu si Eu” featuring acclaimed artist Carla’s Dreams and “Nota de Plată” featuring The Motans, the #1 track in Romania for a long time. Additionally, “Gimme Gimme”, one of the singles featured on the album scored more than 130 million views on YouTube.
For the album’s release, her team at Global Records organised her a special airport surprise upon her arrival from one of her international concerts. Video here.
INNA has also been working with Dannic on the track “Stay”, as well as with Sam Feldt with Lush & Simon for “Fade Away”.
This year, in partnership with Coca-Cola Romania & Shazam, the artist released 4 tracks in the most innovative way. The songs were exclusively rolled out on 6 pack Coca-Cola cans, the first musical album released on a soda can, ever. Fans were extraordinarily thrilled by the tracks, which they could listen to by simply scanning INNA’s picture with Shazam.
On top of all that, INNA was also featured on several magazine covers in Romania: ELLE, VIVA, UNICA and Sky Lady, as well as on the cover of Lucy’s Magazine Los Angeles. She also made appearances in the interiors of A LIST MAGAZINE, Harper’s Bazaar, Sky Lady and Dolce Vita.
Currently #78 on YouTube’s Artist Chart, INNA has more than 3.7 billion views on Youtube, more than Wisin, Akon, Sean Paul, Madonna, Lana del Rey, Kanye West, Lil Wayne, Justin Timberlake, Mariah Carey, Will.I.Am.
As far as social media goes, the artist logs more than 11 million fans on Facebook, more than 2.3 million on Instagram and more than 1.5 million on Twitter.
Regarding her concerts, INNA has performed in more than 800 shows throughout her whole career in countries such as Japan, Turkey, Mexico, Poland, Spain, France, UK, Germany, Estonia, Finland, Dominican Republic, UAE and Argentina. This year marks her first performance in Canada, along with her remarkable US tour.
The release of “YO” highlights this new path in INNA’s career: deep introspection, new meaning of her music, feelings, emotions, everything envisioned by the artist in 11 songs that will make you dream and sing along with her.
An intense chapter that will reveal all sides of INNA that you wouldn’t expect to discover: crazy, with no boundaries, no limits, all for the love of music.Pure joy and connection to her soul.
Get ready to dance, vibe, get wild and feel the rhythm of her new sound listening to all her 11 songs: “Locura”, “Si, Mama”, “Te Vas”, “Ra”, “Tu Manera”, “Me Gusta”, “Sin Ti”, “Fuego”, “ConTigo”
Ra
This is Inna as you’ve never heard her before. With a cool, unique sound, piercing beats and latino influences, “Ra” is definitely something else.
Iguana
Inna’s killer attitude will get you up and dancing in no time. “Iguana” is a story of survival, an eclectic mix of sounds that create an exotic, fresh piece of music.
Gitana
“Gitana” is a melody that flows beautifully from beginning to end. The track brings a feel good vibe that will undoubtedly have you in the mood.
Locura
“Locura” tells a story of craziness and spontaneity, sending out the joy of life. A mix of powerful vocals and bold beats give you a dramatic, yet undeniably cool sound. The night will surely last with “Locura”.
Si, Mama
“Si, Mama” brings a more personal and relatable view of the artist. Besides its captivating sound, “Si, Mama” is a track with a message, highlighting the importance and accuracy of a mother’s advice.
La Vida Es Como Un Eco
A story about the unyielding forces of life, “La Vida Es Como Un Eco” oozes with chill vibes, overarched with hypnotising beats and latino flavors.
Tu Manera
“Tu Manera” is an upbeat, club-worthy track. Its cool sounds and fresh beats will take over your whole body. Listen, dance and get wild!
Fuego
“Fuego” is a love story. A close feel, yet intertwined with sensational beats, you will be spellbound by its arresting sound. This track is certainly “fire” !
ConTigo
A fusion of strong beats and soothing vocals, “ConTigo” is a story of you and me. Its intoxicating, catchy sound will quickly have you dancing and singing along.
Sin Ti
“Sin Ti” is a track that is full of emotion. Its personal yet cool feel exude the artist’s passion, creating a striking piece of music.
Te Vas
“Te Vas” is the perfect dance track. The combination of magnetising beats, charming vocals and latino vibes creates an incredibly attractive sound that you will most definitely fall in love with!
INNA on social media
Available on:
https://smarturl.it/yo-inna