Alexander Jean

Indie pop outfit Alexander Jean consists of both creative partners and romantic ones, having first crossed paths in the early 2010s. Their introduction to listeners came via the single “Roses and Violets,” which gained traction after appearing on Dancing with the Stars and later anchored the 2016 EP Head High; a follow-up short-player, High Enough, surfaced the next year. Throughout the 2020s they issued a consistent run of standalone tracks, among them the Lindsey Stirling collaboration “Stampede” and the song “Drunk.”

Prior to forming the duo, guitarist-producer-songwriter Mark Ballas accumulated modest screen credits and earned an Emmy nomination for his long-running role on Dancing with the Stars, while singer-songwriter BC Jean supplied Beyoncé with the hit “If I Were a Boy.” The pair, whose moniker blends their middle names, began writing together in 2012, starting with gentle guitar-driven pieces; their initial joint composition was “Head High.” A fortuitous introduction to Stephan Moccio—co-writer of Miley Cyrus’s “Wrecking Ball”—steered them toward the romantic ballad “Roses and Violets,” their first significant release. Once the track received Dancing with the Stars exposure and entered the charts, it cleared the path for Head High in 2016, with High Enough arriving the following summer.

Subsequent high-profile team-ups included the 2017 holiday recording “We Three Kings” alongside American Idol alum Casey Abrams and the violin-driven “Stampede” with Lindsey Stirling. Roughly a dozen further singles, encompassing seasonal material along with “Dreams” and “Drunk,” carried the project forward into the new decade.