Ava Max is on top of the charts and feeling top of the world
Ava Max has very much arrived with the monster hit Sweet But Psycho. The US-Albanian singer tells why she’s so proud of her immigrant background and her path to fame
Ava Max is buzzing. She’s bright eyed, bushy tailed, and raring to go at the start of what critics are already predicting will be a stellar pop career.
Although you may not be familiar with her yet, there’s a strong chance you’ve heard her breakout single ‘Sweet But Psycho’, which was the Christmas number one in Ireland, and is still topping the charts here.
She narrowly lost out on the festive chart accolade in the UK to YouTube star LadBaby’s novelty charity single about sausage rolls, but the American pop star top the chart the following week, and she’s also just done it again, nabbing the first number one single of 2019.
Not a bad start for anyone, let alone a newcomer.
“For me, it’s disbelief,” Max admits, reflecting on the past few months of her life.
“It’s exciting for sure, but I want to achieve more, I want to release more songs, I want to release an album.”
In case you haven’t heard ‘Sweet But Psycho’ or seen the video, think Just Dance-era Lady Gaga. Max is all peroxide blonde hair and bold outfits; the track infectiously catchy, earworm-friendly dance-pop, with a heavy dose of sass.
Her style is unashamedly pop, a bold move at a time where it’s still sometimes considered a weaker genre, and she cites her musical inspirations as The Beatles, Whitney Houston, Christina Aguilera and The Fugees.
She was first introduced to listeners as a featured artist on American electronic musician DJ Le Youth’s ‘Clap Your Hands’ last year.
In early 2018, she dropped her debut single My Way followed by viral hit ‘Not Your Barbie Girl’, a playful reimagining and ode to Aqua’s 1990s hit ‘Barbie Girl’.
She then released another single, ‘Slippin’, and featured on David Guetta’s album as a vocalist, before ‘Sweet But Psycho’ put her firmly on the map.
To some it may seem the 24-year-old’s success has happened overnight with that one great song, but Max insists that was simply not the case.
“It’s been a chase my whole life,” Max explains.
After years of moving around and honing her craft she finally met Cirkut, a Canadian record producer who has worked with the likes of Rihanna, The Weeknd, and Katy Perry.
He took her under his wing, and they started writing and recording music together before putting a song on audio platform SoundCloud.
Born Amanda Ava Koci to Albanian parents, the singer-songwriter said she understands what it was to struggle in her own career, having watched her parents face battles following their move to America from war-torn Albania.
“In 1990, 1991, they left Albania and went to Paris for a year. They ended up in Paris and they lived in a church for a whole year. It was very hard for them, but it was beautiful because they were in Paris.
“They met a lady in Paris that gave them passports and they ended up in Wisconsin — that’s where I was born.
“They went to America with nothing, no money, no language. It was very hard for them and I remember watching them as I grew up, struggling, working three jobs each. Watching them do that sometimes I think, wow, I feel so lucky to be doing what I am doing.”
Max confesses that she often felt like she wanted to give up, particularly while she spent time in Los Angeles during her first difficult year, but that her “strong family” pushed her to succeed.
“They were like, ‘really, you’re going to come this far and give up?’”
Max says she “can’t wait to give it all back” to her parents, but also that she wants to carve out a persona as a bit of a philanthropist in general, alongside a hopefully triumphant music career.
Despite being born in America, she says she is “100% Albanian”, and that she “definitely wants to give back to the Albanian community ”.
But before she achieves all of that, Max’s goal for the next 12 months is to release her debut album, as well as more singles, all the while dealing with her newfound fame.
“I definitely don’t like red carpets,” admits Max. “I go on the red carpet because I have to but I’m not a big fan of the ‘look what I’m wearing’, and all those flashing lights.
“That’s not my thing. I’d rather be in the studio making music and performing.”
Of her forthcoming new album, she gushes: “I’m really excited to show everybody the next side of me.
“Yes, they’ve seen the Sweet But Psycho side and they’ve seen me being like that, but I want to show them more of a real side.”
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