NUR-SULTAN – Kazakhstan’s rising star Imanbek Zeikenov has been nominated for the 63rd annual Grammy Awards for his remix of Saint Jhn’s “Roses,” as nominations for Grammy Awards were announced Tuesday.
Imanbek Zeikenov. Photo credit: Zeikenov’s Instagram account
Zeikenov will compete with RAC, Morgan Page, Louie Vega and Haywyre in the Best Remixed Recording category. The full list of nominees in 83 categories is available here.
“I’ve been nominated for a Grammy! Quite unexpected? Anyways huge thanks to everyone who’s been supporting me,” wrote Zeikenov on his Instagram account.
Zeikenov rose to fame in the summer of 2019 after releasing his remix for Saint Jhn’s 2016 song “Roses.” He posted his remix on Russian social media, but in the internet era, where the majority of young people grow up online, the remix immediately went viral.
It hit the charts across Europe becoming No. 1 in the United Kingdom, “blowing up the whole world,” as Zeikenov told The New York Times.
Many consider Zeikenov’s remix to be superior to the original track in terms of popularity. It has now over 1 billion streams on Spotify and is now in the top 100 most streamed tracks on Spotify. It is also in the top 20 list of most searched for tracks of all time on the Shazam platform.
In August 2019, Zeikenov signed with the Russian label Effective Records.
In an interview with The New York Times, Zeikenov, a 20-year-old talent living in a small village of Aksu and studying railway engineering, said he was influenced by local DJs and producers and learned the making of electronic music through YouTube tutorials.
“I understand where I am now, that my success is truly global. Now I need to prove that I’m not just a one-hit-wonder,” he told the New York Times.
In October, Zeikenov released a mix with Usher and Marshmello called “Too Much” that hit 8.4 million views on YouTube since Oct. 23. A week later, Zeikenov and Don Diablo released their track “Kill Me Better.”
As Grammys are scheduled to take place in January next year with Trevor Noah hosting the show, Imanbek Zeikenov seems to have high chances of receiving the award.
