STUDIO SPOTLIGHT: Ava Max

When Ava Max wandered into the Young Hollywood Studio, I knew we were in for a treat. She strolled in looking the part, with a stylish red, white, and blue-striped kimono, chunky platform sneakers, and a hair style that demanded attention, with one side cut at her shoulder and one side reaching down her back. I now understand why people compare her to Lady Gaga for her ostentatious presentation. But her pop star look isn’t the only thing that caught our attention. The spunky up-and-comer radiates energy, and she constantly has a smile on her face. She’s girly, but edgy. Sassy, but fun-loving. Care-free, yet ready to conquer the music industry with her upcoming debut album.

Amanda Ava Koci was born on February 16, 1994, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to Albanian parents. Her Albanian roots have always been very important to her, and she makes a point to give back to the Albanian community whenever she can. When she was 8 years old, she moved to Virginia with her family where she competed in numerous singing competitions before she entered high school. She always knew she wanted to be a singer, and when she was 14 years old, she relocated to Los Angeles in pursuit of a music career. As a young teen, she found the city to be overwhelming, so she moved back to Virginia a year later for a normal childhood. When she was 17, she moved back to L.A., confident that this time around would be different. And it definitely was.

Max debuted her singing career when she released the single “Take Away the Pain” in May of 2013 under her stage name Ava. After years of having demos rejected from record producers and songwriters, she met record producer Circuit at a dinner party in L.A. After singing “Happy Birthday” to him, he knew she had something special. Together the duo opened a lot of doors for Ava, and in July of 2016, she released the single “Anyone but You” on SoundCloud. The song was a hit and gained her the attention of various record labels, ultimately leading her to sign a record deal.

The year 2018 was a very big one for Max. In April, she released another single titled “My Way” with Cirkut. Similar to their previous single “Anyone but You”, it gained a lot of traction and peaked at #38 on the Airplay 100 chart of Romania. In May of the same year, she released another single called “Slippin’" in collaboration with Gashi, and a month later she made a guest appearance on American roarer Witt Lowry’s song “Into Your Arms”. In July, her single “Salt” appeared on SoundCloud. Following the new single, she rereleased the song “Not Your Barbiee Girl” as a promotional single in August.

On August 17, 2018, Max had her big breakthrough when she released her third single “Sweet but Psycho”. Produced by her mentor Cirkut, the song went viral and reached #1 in more than 20 countries, including Sweden, Finland, and Norway. Her most notable accomplishment thus far was when “Sweet but Psycho” reached the top of the Billboard Dance Club Songs chart. Following the success of the single, she was featured on David Guetta’s album 7 on the track “Let It Be Me”, and she released the single “So Am I” in March of this year as the official follow-up to “Sweet but Psycho”. The song was recently re-released in collaboration with K-pop group NCT-127. Max shared with us that the she ran into the group at a concert earlier this year, and when they showed interest in doing a collab, Max said, “I’m such a fan of K-Pop, so when they wanted to jump on the track, I said of course.” The singles “Salt”, “Sweet but Psycho”, and “So Am I” are all set to be featured on her upcoming debut studio album, which is expected to be released sometime this year.

When we asked her whether she was more sweet or psycho, Max answered, “Different people would say different things. I’ll let you’d decide.” Well, we’ve decided, and you can take it from us that she’s definitely a sweetie!

Check out our "Lipstick N' Lyrics" sesh with the singer below!