"Balans" is a song recorded by Romanian recording artist

Alexandra Stan Alexandra Ioana Stan (born 10 June 1989) is a Romanian singer. Born in Constanța, she made her worldwide breakthrough with the 2010 single " Mr. Saxobeat", which was written and produced by Marcel Prodan and Andrei Nemirschi. They had previous ...

for her third studio album, '' Alesta'' (2016). Released on 2 March 2016 through Global Records, the track features the vocal collaboration of

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

Congolese Congolese or Kongolese may refer to: African peoples * Congolese people (disambiguation) * Kongo people, a Bantu ethnic group who live along the Atlantic coast of Africa from Pointe-Noire (Republic of Congo) to Luanda, Angola, primarily defined by ...

singer-songwriter

Mohombi Mohombi Nzasi Moupondo (born 17 October 1986) is a Congolese- Swedish musician, singer, composer and dancer. He grew up in Norsborg and Kista near Stockholm. Mohombi was RedOne's first signing to 2101 Records in joint venture with Universa ...

. "Balans" was produced by

Play & Win Play & Win is a Romanian songwriting and music production project that was formed as a trio in 2008 by Radu Bolfea, Marcel Botezan and Sebastian Barac. It became a solo project by Bolfea after Botezan and Barac left and formed Marco & Seba in 201 ...

members Sebastian Barac and Marcel Botezan, while the writing process was handled by the latter two in collaboration with Mohombi and Breyan Isaac. A

dance-pop Dance-pop is a Music genre, genre of electronic dance music that originated in the late 1970s to early 1980s. It is generally uptempo music intended for nightclubs with the intention of being danceable but also suitable for contemporary hit ra ...

song incorporating

tropical music Tropical music () is a term in the Latin music industry that refers to music genres deriving from or influenced by the Spanish-speaking areas of the Caribbean. It includes the islands of Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, and the Caribbean ...

and

Latin music Latin music (Portuguese language, Portuguese and ) is a term used by the music industry as a catch-all category for various styles of music from Ibero-America, which encompasses Music of Latin America, Latin America, Music of Spain, Spain, Mu ...

influences into its sound, the recording was compared by critics to the works of fellow Romanian female singer

Inna Elena Alexandra Apostoleanu (born 16 October 1986), known professionally as Inna (stylized in all caps), is a Romanian singer. Born in Mangalia and raised in Neptun, Romania, Neptun, she studied political science at Ovidius University before ...

. An official music video for "Balans" was shot by Anton San and was uploaded on 9 March 2016 onto YouTube to accompany the single's release. It portrays both Stan and Mohombi being present at a party held in a hall filled halfway by water. Following its release, the song received a mixed review by ''RnB Junk''; they commended the collaboration, but criticized its lack of innovation and formulaic production. Commercially, the song peaked in Japan, Portugal and Russia.

Background and reception

"Balans", the third single released from Stan's third record, ''Alesta'' (2016), was written by

members Sebastian Barac and Marcel Botezan, Mohombi and Breyan Isaac, while production was handled by both Barac and Botezan. The artwork used to commercialize the track in Japan was a photograph picked up from the photo shooting for her album, while the international cover sees Stan and Mohombi sporting the outfits from the official music video. The track is an up-tempo

song, which includes musical elements of

and

latin music Latin music (Portuguese language, Portuguese and ) is a term used by the music industry as a catch-all category for various styles of music from Ibero-America, which encompasses Music of Latin America, Latin America, Music of Spain, Spain, Mu ...

. Upon its release, the recording received a mixed review from Italian publication ''Rnb Junk'' writer Umberto Olivio, who commended that the song resembles the works of fellow Romanian female singer

. He went on into praising Stan's collaboration with

, but also saying that the "formula" for the recording was "nothing innovative", with him describing the track as "quite obvious". Olivio as well named "the level of palatability" of the tune "a lot weaker than the other songs from ''Alesta''", and denied the possible success of the track in mainstream clubs.

Promotion and music video

Stan included "Balans" on the setlist for her Japanese one-week concert tours that promoted the release of her studio album, ''Alesta'', in that territory. Stan performed an acoustic version of the song on Romanian radio station

Pro FM Pro FM is a radio station in Romania and Moldova, it broadcasts in Romanian. It was sold by Central European Media Enterprises to RCS & RDS Digi Communications N.V., also known as DIGI Group, is a Romanian telecommunications holding company, w ...

. After this, she had also performed a live acoustic version of " Be the One" by English recording artist

Dua Lipa Dua Lipa ( ; born22 August 1995) is an English and Albanian singer, songwriter and actress. List of awards and nominations received by Dua Lipa, Her accolades include seven Brit Awards and three Grammy Awards. Lipa worked as a model before v ...

. An accompanying music video for "Balans" was directed by Anton San and released onto Stan's YouTube channel on 2 March 2016; by May 2016, the clip amassed over one million views. The clip was filmed in an abandoned warehouse or a polygon where the inside temperature was of 6 °C. About the video, Stan particularly confessed that " tis very dinamic and colored, the way that the life of a pop artist looks like." The clip commences with Stan standing on a pickup, with fellow background dancers being present inside the car. Following their leaving, she looks from above at a partying crowd in a hall, which appears to be halfway filled with water, while sporting pink and red clothing. Subsequently, Stan is displayed dressing a pink

fur coat Fur clothing is clothing made from the preserved skins of mammals. Fur is one of the oldest forms of clothing and is thought to have been widely used by people for at least 120,000 years. The term 'fur' is often used to refer to a specific item ...

and pants, while walking in the surroundings and finally discovering Mohombi. Following this, he provides his singing part when flirting with Stan, with her dancing around him. Following this, the crowd is once again shown dancing together to the song, and the clip closes with Stan being left alone in the room. Scenes interspersed through the main video show her posing in front of a blue wall or her lying atop the pickup car, with her head being placed on a golden purse. Italian publication ''RnB Junk'' writer, Umberto Olivio, criticized the clip for not having a plot and for being "unrealistic".

Track listing

Credits and personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of ''Alesta''. ;Vocal credits *Alexandra Stan – lead vocals *Mohombi – featured artist ;Technical and songwriting credits *Sebastian Barac – songwriter, producer *Marcel Botezan – songwriter, producer *Mohombi Nzasi Moupondo – songwriter *Breyan Isaac – songwriter ;Visual credits *Anton San – director,

director of photography The cinematographer or director of photography (sometimes shortened to DP or DOP) is the person responsible for the recording of a film, television production, music video or other live-action piece. The cinematographer is the chief of the camera ...

*Bogdan Filip – director of photography *Claudiu Sarghe –

hair styling A hairstyle, hairdo, haircut, or coiffure refers to the styling of hair, usually on the human head but sometimes on the face or body. The fashioning of hair can be considered an aspect of personal grooming, fashion, and cosmetics, although ...

*Razvan Firea – styling *Marius Ferascu – styling

Charts

Certifications

Release history

References

External links

Alexandra Stan's official websiteMohombi's official website
{{authority control 2016 songs Alexandra Stan songs Mohombi songs Tropical songs Songs written by Mohombi Song recordings produced by Play & Win Songs written by Breyan Isaac