Saxobeats

   Saxobeats is the debut studio album recorded by Romanian singer and songwriter Alexandra Stan, released on August 29, 2011 by Play On Records. It was mainly written and produced by Marcel Prodan and Andrei Nemirschi, who recorded it at their Maan Studio.

Commercially, Saxobeats was moderately successful on European album charts, while reaching number 15 in Japan. According to the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ), it sold more than 68,000 copies in that territory as of May 2012. To promote the album, Stan performed on various concert venues and released four tracks as singles and two as promotional singles.

Background
In her teenage years, Alexandra Stan participated in various music-related contests, including the Mamaia Music Festival. In 2009, the singer was discovered by Romanian producers and songwriters Marcel Prodan and Andrei Nemirschi at a karaoke bar, who offered her a record deal with their own label, Maan Records. She also recorded a promotional single called "Show Me The Way" that year.

Saxobeats was recorded at the producers' Maan Studio, with the singer recalling in an interview with Direct Lyrics prior to the record's release that it "was the best time of her life. She really enjoyed working with them and had a lot of fun."

Writing and production were both handled by Prodan, Nemirschi and Marcian Alin Soare. In the same interview, Stan further revealed that all songs on Saxobeats "are part of her life and they represent her.

Promotion
In order to promote the record, it was accompanied by several concert tours, with Stan also making an appearance for Romanian radio station Radio ZU.

In an interview prior to the record's release, Stan revealed that it is set to premiere in September 2011. To celebrate the release of Saxobeats, an event with the singer's friends, collaborators and journalists was held. A special website had also been launched to commercialize the album. Saxobeats was first released physically in France by Play On, following which it was digitally distributed in that country on April 2, 2012 by Play On/Jeff. While a deluxe edition premiered on June 20, 2012, the record was further released in September to Germany and Poland. In the United States, it was both physically and digitally distributed in late October 2011 by Ultra Records; the same label also released Saxobeats in Canada that month. The album premiered in Japan on March 7. 2012, with its respective deluxe edition being released one month later. On October 22, 2012, the record was finally distributed to the United Kingdom. In 2013, Saxobeats was re-released in Japan under the name Cliché (Hush Hush), featuring new singles "Lemonade", "Cliché (Hush Hush)" and "All My People".

Covers
Saxobeats was commercialized with three different covers shot by Andrei Nemirschi.

For European standard releases, it featured Stan wearing a bob in front of a black-white backdrop, with one of her hands being attached to her head.

In Japan, the release was accompanied by a photograph of the singer standing with headphones on her shoulders against a black background.

All deluxe editions featured Stan leaning on a plastic mannequin, sporting a blue blouse along with various accessories on her hand.

Singles
"Show Me The Way" was released as a promotional single on November 16, 2009, on Maan Studio's website.

"Lollipop (Param Pam Pam)" was the first single released in late 2009 in native Romania, where it reached number 18 on the Romanian Top 100 aided by the heavy airplay received. The song was accompanied by a low-budget music video, which was not received well by the audience.

"Mr. Saxobeat" was the second single, distributed in early 2011, initially reaching number one in Romania for eight consecutive weeks. Subsequently, it became commercially acclaimed worldwide, topping the record charts in nine other countries: Austria, Denmark, Germany, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Slovakia, Switzerland and Turkey.

"Get Back (ASAP)", released in March of 2011, failed to reach the same success, although it reached the top 40 of many European charts. The recording's music video further acts as a continuation to that of Mr. Saxobeat.

"Crazy" was released as a second promotional single in August of 2011, three days before the album's release.

"1.000.000", the last release of the album, was distributed in early 2012, and features vocals from German-Zimbabwean rapper Carlprit, following his involvement with Stan in a remix of Mr. Saxobeat. Promoted by a clip that served to emphasis her image, the track commercially reached the top 40 in Italy and Romania.

Tracklist
All the tracks from the album were written and produced by Marcel Prodan and Andrei Nemirschi. 1.000.000 was also written by Marcian Alin Soare.

Standard
1. "Mr. Saxobeat": 3:15 2. "Ting-Ting": 3:56 3. "Show Me The Way": 3:43 4. "Lollipop (Param Pam Pam)": 3:55 5. "Crazy": 3:28 6. "Bitter-Sweet": 3:37 7. "Get Back (ASAP)": 3:29 8. "1.000.000" (ft. Carlprit): 3:17

Japan
9. "Mr. Saxobeat [Maan Studio Remix]": 3:41 10. "Lollipop (Param Pam Pam) [Club Version]": 4:11 11. "Get Back (Asap) [Maan Studio Remix]": 3:20 12. "Mr. Saxobeat [Extended Version]": 4:15 13. "Get Back (Asap) [Studio Club Remix Extended Version": 4:27 14. "1.000.000 [Maan Studio Remix": 4:31

Deluxe
15. "Mr. Saxobeat (Smart Move Records Remix)": 3:29 16. "Mr. Saxobeat (Yasutaka Nakata Remix)": 3:17