XS4Rina

XS4RINA for the Star (EP) photoshoot, 2021.

## Overview

**Alex** (born October 23rd, 2006), professionally known as **XS4Rina** (stylized in all uppercase), is a British fancam artist. He is part of the Second Generation of fancam artists. He has made many notable contributions to the industry, specifically with helping with the technical side behind projects such as VISION Family Concerts and the 4th Fancam Grammys. In June 2021, XS4RINA took over the label VISION Records from former fancam industry member Sechito. XS4RINA is currently the co-owner of VISION Records, with an unknown creator being the second owner.

Debuting in late January 2021, Alex has released 2 EPs, 6 singles, 2 remix singles and 1 promotional single. He will be releasing his debut album 'ECLIPSE' in November 2021. Since his debut, Alex has been credited as one of the biggest non-English fancam creators of all time. Alex holds the record as the first artist to reach the top position on the ST100 chart with a non-English single (5 Star). As of October 2021, he is the highest selling Korean language artist, with over 1.5M sales. He has placed 7 fancams in the top 10 of the ST100 singles chart throughout his career, and has scored two #1 singles. He has received many awards throughout his career, with his debut EP containing 3 Grammy winning singles.

## Personal Life

Alex was born in the West Midlands, UK in 2006 to Polish and Pakistani parents.

He started making fancams in November 2020 for his Instagram account, before joining Twitter, and the industry, in January 2021.

## Career

### Before Debut

Alex had created a few fancams before his debut in the industry. While a majority of these are still unknown, some made their way on his 2021 EP 'Star'.

### *Star: The 1st Mini Album* (January 2021 - May 2021)

In January 2021, Alex made a fancam for real-life artist 'Rina Sawayama' to the song 'HWA' by CL. This fancam was originally meant to be a droplet. In February 2021, Alex discovered the industry through friend and collaborator BP. Alex began to submit the single to charts in that same month, where it reached a peak of #5 in the following month, with over 35K units sold. The second single, 'Post Up', came in March 2021, where it reached a peak of #4 in the following month, with over 175K units sold. The third single, '5 Star' came in April 2021, along the release of the mini album, on April 2nd, and became Alex's biggest hit. With the original version selling over 200K, the album version peaked at #2 on the charts. In May 2021, Alex released a new version of the single called '5 Star (Extended Mix)', originally released as a digital single, it was included on the physical versions of the mini album. The single peaked at #1 with over 475K units sold. It is still the highest charting Korean language fancam to date.

### *Star: Galaxy Connected - The 1st Mini Album Repackaged (May 2021 - June 2021)*

Following the success of his first mini album, Alex released a remix to his debut single 'HWA' with rap legend BP titled 'HWA (Playroom Remix)'. The remix debuted at #1 with over 350K units sold to date. Alex revealed in an interview that the repackage was "never meant to come out" and that VISION Records, his label, pushed for him to release it. The repackage was released on June 11th with the fancam 'MTBD'. Debuting and peaking at #7, 'MTBD' was the last single from the mini album to become a single, despite demands from fans to make R&B track 'Streets' a single.

## Trivia

### Star: The 1st Mini Album

* The original tracklist had 6 tracks, two of which were scrapped and may be used for later projects
	+ A collaboration with BP called 'All In' is known to be one of these scrapped tracks. Not much is known about this track except the fact that the audio for CL's 'All In' would've been used.
	+ The second scrapped track is called 'Black Swan'. It would've marked Alex's first BTS fancam.
* The original concept of the mini album would've followed with the 'Rina Sawayama' concept more, with FKA Twigs inspirations included.
* The project was produced from November 2020 to February 2021

### *Star: Galaxy Connected - The 1st Mini Album Repackaged*

* The repackage was never meant to happen, Alex fought with his label for it to not release and lost.
	+ Alex originally wanted 'HWA (Playroom Remix)' to be a stand-alone single, as a way for the Star era to end, with MTBD as its b-side.
	+ Alex revealed during promotions for HWA that BP was the one to first propose the idea to him
* The repackage is the first Korean project to ever exceed 1M in units.
* The project was produced from April 2021 to June 2021.

### *ECLIPSE: The 1st Album*

* The current version of ECLIPSE was produced from March 2021 to November 2021.
* ECLIPSE had two names before its name was decided.
	+ These names were All Or Nothing, which was originally meant to release on June 11th, as seen in leaked documents from VISION Records, and Pastella, which was originally meant to release on August 20th.
		- Some Pastella tracks still remain on the ECLIPSE album. Alex stated in an interview in September that the first half of ECLIPSE was inspired by the "summery feel of Pastella"
* ECLIPSE will be released on November 19th 2021. On this date, a real-life eclipse will also take place.
* The album features 3 collaborations.