Alejandro Chal Salazar (born May 30th, 1986), professionally known as A. Chal (stylized A.CHAL),[5][6] is a Peruvian-American singer-songwriter, rapper, and record producer.[7][8] He released his first EP, Ballroom Riots, in 2013.[8][9] His debut studio album, Welcome to GAZI, was self-released in June 2016.[8][10] His single, "Round Whippin'", was premiered by Zane Lowe in 2015.[9][10] He has performed at the Day N Nite Fest.[5][6][8] Pigeons & Planes named him one of the best new artists in 2015.[11]
A.CHAL | |
|---|---|
 A. Chal in 2018 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Alejandro Chal Salazar[1] |
| Born | May 30, 1986[2]
[3] Trujillo, Peru |
| Origin | Queens, New York, U.S. |
| Genres | |
| Occupations |
|
| Instrument | Vocals |
| Years active | 2011–present |
| Labels | |
| Website | gazi |
Early life
editAlejandro Chal Salazar was born in Trujillo, Peru, where he lived for 4 years before his family moved to Queens, New York City. His mother was from rural northern Peru.[7] His stage name is derived from his brother's name, Ichal who died at 2 weeks old, which in turn originated from a mountain that was named after that his father grew up near in Peru, along with being closer to large Peruvian cities.[1] He began rapping at age 12 and later started making beats and writing songs with a friend at the Museum of Science in Cambridge, Massachusetts. In 2010, he moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career as a songwriter and producer.[5]
Career
editA.CHAL released his debut EP, Ballroom Riots, in 2013. The album found some success, which he later signed a publishing deal with Sony/ATV Music Publishing.[5][7] In June 2014, he produced the song "Never Satisfied" by American singer Jennifer Lopez, from her eighth studio album A.K.A.
2015 – 2017
editHowever, after this appearance A.CHAL kept low profile for two years before taking up his artistic pursuits in a highly diversified way. In 2015, he began a series of single releases, which one after another forged his community of followers.
He then spent two years out of the public spotlight before beginning to release a variety of singles in 2015.[5][9] One of those singles, "Round Whippin'", was debuted online on The Fader and then followed up with a world premiere on Zane Lowe's Beats 1 channel and supported on Canadian rapper Drake's OVO Sound Radio.[9][10][12] As a result of this publicity, A.CHAL was named one of Pigeons & Planes best new artists of 2015.[11] He also performed at the Interview Magazine event during Coachella that year.[5][6]
In February 2015, he released the single "GAZI", which he co-produced with Count Justice.[5] In September 2015, A.CHAL released another a single, "Vibe W/U", which was first publicized by American rapper ASAP Rocky on his Twitter profile.[9][10][12] In 2016, A.CHAL performed at the Day N Nite Fest.[8] He also released a few more singles before self-releasing his debut studio album, Welcome to GAZI, in June 2016.[7][10] He has since premiered the official music video for "Round Whippin'" with Complex.com[13] and been featured on tracks by Ro James,[14] Stwo,[15] and Tess.[16]
On June 2, 2017, he released the single "Cuánto", featuring American rapper ASAP Nast.
2018 – 2019
editOn January 25, 2018, Alejandro released the remix of his single "Love N Hennessy", featuring American rapper 2 Chainz and reggaeton singer Nicky Jam.
In March 2018, A.CHAL signed a record deal with Epic Records.[17]
In November of the same year, he produced the song "Bottled Up" by American singer Dinah Jane, with rapper Ty Dolla Sign and singer Marc E. Bassy.
In April 2019, A. CHAL was featured in Spanish singer Rosalía's song "Me Traicionaste", which appeared on the American TV series Game of Thrones soundtrack, "For the Throne: Music Inspired by the HBO Series Game of Thrones".
2020–present
editOn May 6, 2020, Alejandro released the single "Hollywood Love", featuring American rapper Gunna.
Musical style
editA.CHAL's music generally fits into the hip hop and R&B genres. USA Today has described his music as falling somewhere "in the negative space between Hip-Hop, R&B, chillwave, and pop music."[12] A.CHAL himself has described his music's genre as soul.[7] His sound has also been characterized as "sedated", "hazy", and "almost-psychedelic".[5][11][18] Remezcla has called his voice "sultry, sparse, and desperate".[5]
Lyrically, he largely discusses anecdotal experiences. Writing about his 2016 album Welcome to GAZI, Jules Muir of Pigeons & Planes noted that A.CHAL attempts to cut "to the core of many of society's ills and triumphs by tapping into a deep well of personal experiences and anecdotes."[9]
Discography
editStudio albums
edit| Title | Details |
|---|---|
| Welcome to Gazi | |
| On Gaz |
|
EPs
edit- Ballroom Riots (2013)
- Exotigaz (2018)
Singles
editAs lead artist
edit| Title | Year | Peak chart positions | Album | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US R&B Airplay [19] |
US Latin Pop [20] |
US Rap Airplay [21] |
US Rhy. [22] | ||||||||||
| "Round Whippin'" | 2016 | — | — | — | — | Welcome to Gazi | |||||||
| "To the Light" | 2017 | — | — | — | — | On Gaz | |||||||
| "Matrix" | — | — | — | — | |||||||||
| "Love N Hennessy" (solo or featuring 2 Chainz and Nicky Jam) |
50 | — | 24 | 20 | |||||||||
| "Perdóname" | — | — | — | — | |||||||||
| "Cuánto" (featuring ASAP Nast) |
— | — | — | — | |||||||||
| "000000" | 2019 | — | 40 | — | 28 | Exotigaz | |||||||
| "Hollywood Love"[23] (featuring Gunna) |
2020 | — | — | — | — | Non-album single | |||||||
| "—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory. | |||||||||||||
As featured artist
edit| Title | Year | Peak chart positions | Album | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ARG [24] |
ECU [25] |
MEX [26] |
URU [27] | ||||||||||
| "No Promises" (Youth Is Dead featuring A.Chal) |
2014 | — | — | — | — | Non-album single | |||||||
| "Out at Night" (Stwo featuring A.Chal) |
2016 | — | — | — | — | D.T.S.N.T. | |||||||
| "Endlessly" (Tess featuring A.Chal) |
— | — | — | — | Tess | ||||||||
| "Primavera" (Soso and Hansaa featuring A.Chal) |
2017 | — | — | — | — | Non-album single | |||||||
| "No Te Pegas" (C.Tangana featuring A.Chal) |
2018 | — | — | — | — | TBA | |||||||
| "100 Grados" (Lali featuring A.Chal) |
19 | 53 | 38 | 8 | Brava | ||||||||
| "Madonna" (Hamza featuring A.Chal) |
2019 | — | — | — | — | Paradise | |||||||
| "Me Traicionaste" (Rosalía featuring A.Chal) |
— | — | — | — | For the Throne: Music Inspired by the HBO Series Game of Thrones | ||||||||
| "—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory. | |||||||||||||
References
edit- ^ a b "An Afternoon and Evening with A.Chal, the Peruvian Singer-Songwriter up Next". Archived from the original on August 9, 2019. Retrieved March 10, 2024.
- ^ @AlejandroChal (May 30, 2020). "I am about to go protest [on my birthday]" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- ^ "A. Chal, Astro Databank". August 19, 2022. Retrieved March 10, 2024.
- ^ Suarez, Gary (December 28, 2018). "As Latin Trap Thrives, A. CHAL Is The One To Watch In 2019".
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Montano, Zoe (July 10, 2015). "Meet A.Chal, the Sultry R&B Singer You Won't Be Able to Get Out of Your Head". Remezcla. Retrieved December 5, 2016.
- ^ a b c Williams, Megan (June 3, 2015). "Meet A.CHAL: LA's Rising Star". Idol Magazine. Archived from the original on May 5, 2017. Retrieved December 5, 2016.
- ^ a b c d e Krastz, Roger (September 28, 2016). "A.Chal Has His Sights Set on World Domination". XXL. Retrieved December 5, 2016.
- ^ a b c d e Seabrook III, Robby (September 13, 2016). "Welcome to A.CHAL's Changing World". Noisey. Retrieved December 5, 2016.
- ^ a b c d e f Muir, Jules (August 17, 2016). "A.CHAL on the Afterlife, Equality, and Reaching GAZI Level". Pigeons & Planes. Retrieved December 5, 2016.
- ^ a b c d e "A.CHAL Drops Regretful but Cathartic "Far From Home"". Noisey. May 31, 2016. Retrieved December 5, 2016.
- ^ a b c "Best New Artists of 2015". Pigeons & Planes. December 17, 2015. Retrieved December 5, 2016.
- ^ a b c Peters, Micah; Scott, Nate (October 16, 2015). "The 10 best songs of the week". USA Today. Retrieved December 5, 2016.
- ^ Mench, Chris (August 10, 2016). "Premiere: A.CHAL Shares the Dreamy Video for "Round Whippin'"". Complex. Retrieved December 5, 2016.
- ^ Kellman, Andy (2016). "Eldorado – Ro James – AllMusic Review by Andy Kellman". AllMusic. Retrieved December 5, 2016.
- ^ Wilson, Zanda (June 21, 2016). "Hear A.CHAL Vibin On Stwo's New Cut 'Out At Night'". The Interns. Retrieved December 5, 2016.
- ^ "Tess – Endlessly (Ft. A. CHAL)". Fashionably Early. November 16, 2016. Retrieved December 5, 2016.
- ^ Estavez, Marjua (March 5, 2018). "A.CHAL Signs Deal With Epic Records". Vibe Magazine. Archived from the original on March 8, 2018. Retrieved March 8, 2018.
- ^ Montes, Patrick (June 23, 2015). "A.Chal – Round Whippin". HypeBeast. Retrieved December 5, 2016.
- ^ "A.CHAL Chart History: R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay". Billboard. Archived from the original on August 9, 2018. Retrieved August 9, 2018.
- ^ "A.CHAL Chart History: Latin Pop Songs". Billboard. Retrieved May 7, 2019.[dead link]
- ^ "A.CHAL Chart History: Rap Airplay". Billboard. Archived from the original on August 9, 2018. Retrieved August 9, 2018.
- ^ "A.CHAL Chart History: Rhhythmic Songs". Billboard. Archived from the original on May 21, 2018. Retrieved August 9, 2018.
- ^ "Top 40 Rhythmic Crossover". All Access. Archived from the original on July 9, 2020. Retrieved July 9, 2020.
- ^ "Top 20 Argentina – Del 21 al 27 de Mayo, 2018" (in Spanish). Monitor Latino. Retrieved May 29, 2018.
- ^ "Top 100 Ecuador – Semana 26 del 2018 – Del 22/06/2018 al 28/06/2018". National-Report. Archived from the original on June 29, 2018. Retrieved July 2, 2018.
- ^ "Mexico Airplay : Jun 09, 2018". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved June 5, 2018.
- ^ "Top 20 Uruguay – Del 25 de Junio al 1 de Julio, 2018" (in Spanish). Monitor Latino. Retrieved July 13, 2018.