ÁLI

Well this is quite amazing. Successful Scandinavian opera singer turns underground Scandinavian electro singer, produces a dancepop track as her debut single, plonks some opera vocals on parts of it as a reference point to her past, and releases it as a free download.

What’s not to love here?!

In her past incarnation as an opera singer, half Danish, half Canadian Alexandria Beck did all of the good stuff – performing to audiences of up to 60,000, opening Olympic venues, sharing the stage with Andrea Bocelli, and singing to royalty and Prime Ministers. That was all well and good. Now though, she wants to try something different.

Renaming herself ÁLI and delving into a sound that she says incorporates her classical origins in opera, and is rooted by her love of Scandinavian culture (we hear ya, sister), she’s come out with a track that encapsulates this transformation – ‘Cocoon’. “I’m coming out of my cocooooon” etc. It’s a euphoric dancepop track, with an pop-opera middle eight breakdown (we love it when that happens), post-chorus, and outro. And it’s bloody good. - Karl Batterbee

Emerging from her cocoon, Danish-Canadian singer Alexandria Beck or otherwise known as Áli, has just released her debut single, ‘Cocoon’, which features an innovative mix of pop music with a classical crossover undertone. A classically trained lyric soprano, Áli is no new to the scene, having performed alongside many world-renowned artists such as Andrea Bocelli. Her new single though marks a new beginning for the singer who decided to experiment with a more contemporary sound in an attempt to create music which would appeal to both the mainstream audience and those who are new to opera. The result is an upbeat pop song which echoes of the singer’s transformational journey; a path filled with struggle, pain, risk and reward. - Yannis Tzannis