In a pop world far beyond reality TV, welcome to an artist and Dj with her very own personal X factor.

Alex Saidac is creating her own particular brand of hit music from Stockholm, one of the global capitals of upmarket dance-pop, where she was born 22 years ago. In a business where “manufactured” has become a byword, Alex music announces the arrival of a self-made young pop star and respected songwriter. It’s also quite a dramatic career shift for someone who used to play top-level polo.

Alex’s attitude to her own music might sound startling, but it’s based on the fact that one way or the other, you will notice her. “I want the chords to be big and a little bit annoying to people, so they remember it,” she says with her ready laugh. “I know you remember the chords, because they’re something that can really annoy you. But they’re quite big at the same time, and you just like them.”

Saidac is looking forward to launching her new single and video “Stay In This Moment” in march 2012, as the buzz about her debut single ‘We Shine’ continues to reverberate.
‘We Shine’ was the club anthem giving Alex a top positions on both Swedish Dance Chart, Swedish iTunes Chart and UK Commercial Pop Club Chart!

“I’m in a really good position to evolve this project exactly as I want it to be,” she says. “It’s very normal that artists are just artists and the label come in and tell them what to do, what to wear, what to say. I’m totally free in that sense, so I’m really happy with the record company because they give me a free hand.

“‘We Shine’ was my door-opener to everything. It was at the beginning of the project, and now that’s taking different turns, a bit more poppy. That’s the kind of music I want to write, and ‘We Shine’ is just a fragment of the rest.”
“Stay In This Moment” is really taking off to the next level!

Leafing back through her musical education, Alex cites longtime heroes and more current ones that have all informed her own style. “I grew up listening to soul music. I love Motown. I love Aretha, I love all that. Other influences are Pharrell Williams, Jay-Z – a lot of rappers, I love rap music – and Foo Fighters. You can’t really hear them in my music, but they inspire me a lot.”

Before performing, there was songwriting, and before songwriting, there was…being on horseback. “I studied two years at Music Makers, a Swedish music academy, up north, a songwriters’ school. I didn’t study to become an artist, that was just something I always wanted to do. But then songwriting took over.

“That was the best thing I’ve ever done, the best two years of my life, because before that I was playing polo at quite a high level. Then I just decided to change path, and my parents were about to kill me, but I just wanted to go with the music and as I say, it was the best life decision I ever made. Polo was what my parents wanted me to do, and I spent so many hours on horseback every day, day in and day out, since I was like 13.”

Her parents didn’t appreciate the change of direction at first, but now they do. “They thought I was completely mad, but I said ‘No, this doesn’t make me happy anymore.’ Now, they’re very proud, but in the beginning they were like ‘Oh my god, what are you doing, are you crazy.’ I had to struggle a lot, there were a couple of months where we didn’t talk at all. But then I came home with my contract and I put it on my dad’s table, and he said ‘Now I understand what you’re doing.’”

Saidac wrote ‘We Shine’ with the respected Stockholm production duo of Oscar Holter and Jake Erixson, with whom she’s continued to develop the album. “When we started on this project it was basically for fun, so it’s really our own sound, it’s not like a manufactured pop phenomenon, we really created it from the beginning.

Alex has been fuelling the fire by touring around Europe, singing completely live with two dancers and a DJ. But her ambitions stretch well beyond the pop charts. “My career is not only as an artist,” she says. “My dream is to have my own record label one day and pick up writers that deserve a chance. Especially kids that don’t really have a lot of support from home.”

Meanwhile, she’s focusing on her own musical development. “I’m a musician because I write songs, but I’m not a formal musician that can read notes, play guitar. I mean, I play the guitar but I’m not Jimi Hendrix. All I wanted was to go out there and have a message in my songs, and be a role model for young girls.”

Just as importantly, Alex Saidac is focusing on being herself. “I’m a complete tomboy,” she says. “I’m not trying to hide it. I’d rather be a tomboy than a girlie-girl that just cares about my nails. When you tell me sit down,” she concludes with a final laugh, “I stand up.”