Alexander Shapovalov (, Latn, ru, Aleksandr Shapovalov; born 28 January 1989, in
Smolensk
Smolensk is a city and the administrative center of Smolensk Oblast, Russia, located on the Dnieper River, west-southwest of Moscow.
First mentioned in 863, it is one of the oldest cities in Russia. It has been a regional capital for most of ...
), better known by his stage name Shapov, is a Russian
record producer
A record producer or music producer is a music creating project's overall supervisor whose responsibilities can involve a range of creative and technical leadership roles. Typically the job involves hands-on oversight of recording sessions; ensu ...
and
DJ. He is also a former member of the electronic project
Hard Rock Sofa
Hard Rock Sofa is a Russian electronic dance music duo formed in Smolensk in 2005. Composed of Alexander Shapovalov and Denis Chepikov, they were signed by popular EDM labels like Axwell's Axtone Records and Steve Angello's Size Records. Prior t ...
, and in his solo career has most notably collaborated with
Axwell
Axel Christofer Hedfors (; born 18 December 1977), better known by his stage name Axwell, is a Swedish DJ, record producer, remixer and owner of Axtone Records. He is a member of Swedish House Mafia along with Sebastian Ingrosso and Steve Angello ...
and
Armin van Buuren.
Biography
Hard Rock Sofa
Alexander was interested in music from a young age and began experimenting with production when he was 16 years old. In 2005, he and another DJ and producer Denis Chepikov joined together to form the music project
Hard Rock Sofa
Hard Rock Sofa is a Russian electronic dance music duo formed in Smolensk in 2005. Composed of Alexander Shapovalov and Denis Chepikov, they were signed by popular EDM labels like Axwell's Axtone Records and Steve Angello's Size Records. Prior t ...
.
Shapov
In 2015, Alexander left
Hard Rock Sofa
Hard Rock Sofa is a Russian electronic dance music duo formed in Smolensk in 2005. Composed of Alexander Shapovalov and Denis Chepikov, they were signed by popular EDM labels like Axwell's Axtone Records and Steve Angello's Size Records. Prior t ...
and began his solo career under the stage name Shapov. In the same year he joined the British label Axtone Records, which was founded by
Swedish House Mafia
Swedish House Mafia (SHM) are a Swedish house music, house Supergroup (music), supergroup consisting of Axwell, Steve Angello and Sebastian Ingrosso. The group officially formed in late 2008, were placed at number ten on the ''DJ Mag'' Top 100 D ...
member Axwell.
On 23 February 2015, Shapov released an
extended play
An extended play (EP) is a Sound recording and reproduction, musical recording that contains more tracks than a Single (music), single but fewer than an album. Contemporary EPs generally contain up to eight tracks and have a playing time of 1 ...
on Axtone titled “Shapov EP”. On 5 October 2015, he released a second EP titled “Everybody”, with both songs on the EP being collaborations with duo Meg & Nerak.
A month later, Shapov released the track “Our World” featuring American singer and songwriter
Justin Tranter
Justin Drew Tranter (born June 16, 1980) is an American songwriter, singer, and activist. Tranter has written songs for artists such as Britney Spears, Gwen Stefani, Linkin Park, Kelly Clarkson, Sara Bareilles, Selena Gomez, Justin Bieber, DNCE, ...
. This composition was included in the anniversary album “Axtone Ten", which celebrated a decade since Axtone's formation. At the end of 2015, he was named as a “Breakthrough Artist of the Year" in the
EDM category by
Beatport
Beatport is an American electronic music-oriented online music store owned by LiveStyle. The company is based in Denver, Los Angeles, and Berlin. Beatport is oriented primarily towards disk jockey, DJs, selling full songs as well as resources that ...
. Early in 2016, Shapov released the song “Future Rave”, which he debuted in a guest mix he recorded for the Diplo & Friends show on
BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and Contemporary hit radio, current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including ...
.
In 2017, Shapov released a third EP titled "Four Corners", consisting of four tracks across both Axtone and
Armada Music
Armada Music is a Dutch independent record label that specialises in releasing electronic dance music. Armada Music was founded on 1 June 2003 by Dutch producer Armin van Buuren, Dutch business executive Maykel Piron, and music manager David ...
. Among the songs released on this EP were “Breathing Deeper”, which was another collaboration with duo Meg & Nerak, and “Some People”, which was written with Russian electronic group Beverly Pills. The next project in his career was the release of “The Way" together with the trio
Trouze
Trouze is a Singaporean-American electronic music trio consisting of Declan Ee, Jovany Javier and Tat Tong.
The group had a Billboard charts, Billboard Dance Top 20 hit in 2016 with the song "Age of Innocence" with Elephante and Damon Sharpe.
...
.
In 2018 Shapov collaborated with Dutch
trance
Trance is a state of semi-consciousness in which a person is not self-aware and is either altogether unresponsive to external stimuli (but nevertheless capable of pursuing and realizing an aim) or is selectively responsive in following the dir ...
DJ
Armin van Buuren to release “The Last Dancer", accompanied by van Buuren inviting Shapov up to play their track together during van Buuren's mainstage set at
Ultra Music Festival
Ultra Music Festival (UMF) is an annual outdoor electronic music Music festival, festival that takes place in March in Miami, Florida. The festival was founded in 1999 by Russell Faibisch and Alex Omes.
It was first held on Miami Beach, but bes ...
in
Miami
Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...
. Shortly afterwards, the pair released a new collaboration called “Our Origin”, which van Buuren played to open his set at
Tomorrowland Tomorrowland may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Tomorrowland (Disney Parks), a theme land at a number of Disney theme parks around the world
* Tomorrowland (festival), an annual electronic dance music festival in Boom, Belgium
* ''Tom ...
that year. “Our Origin” was also used in the Tomorrowland 2018 festival aftermovie.
Near the end of 2019, a collaboration with Magnificence titled "Unboring the Future" released and was subsequently used in the promotional presentation video for the new generation of the
Peugeot 208
The Peugeot 208 is a subcompact car (B-segment in Europe) produced by the French automaker Peugeot. Unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show in March 2012 and positioned below the larger 308, the 208 replaced the 207 in 2012, and is currently at its se ...
. In 2020, Shapov continued to experiment across genres such as psy-trance, leading to a collaboration with
Vini Vici and
Nervo Nervo may refer to:
People
*Nervo (DJs), Australian DJs Olivia Nervo and Miriam Nervo
*Amado Nervo, a Mexican poet
*Carlo Nervo (born 1971), Italian professional footballer
*Hugo Nervo (born 1991), Argentine football defender
*Jacques de Nervo (1 ...
for a song titled 'My World'.
Tracks by Shapov under both his time in Hard Rock Sofa and his solo ventures have been featured in
Hollywood movies
The cinema of the United States, primarily associated with major film studios collectively referred to as Hollywood, has significantly influenced the global film industry since the early 20th century.
Classical Hollywood cinema, a filmmakin ...
and
TV shows
A television show, TV program (), or simply a TV show, is the general reference to any content produced for viewing on a television set that is broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, and cable, or distributed digitally on streaming platfo ...
, such as
Fast & Furious 6
''Fast & Furious 6'' (titled onscreen as ''Furious 6'') is a 2013 action film directed by Justin Lin and written by Chris Morgan. It is the sequel to ''Fast Five'' (2011) and the sixth installment in the '' Fast & Furious'' franchise. The fil ...
, The Lego Batman Movie, and
Netflix
Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...
series such as Quicksand, Werewolf, and The Last Days of American Crime.
Discography
Extended plays
Singles and collaborations
Remixes
References
External links
*
Shapov VK
{{Authority control
1989 births
Living people
Russian record producers
Russian electronic dance music DJs