Snoh Aalegra

Snoh Aalegra is a wondrous R&B and “cinematic soul” singer who left her native Sweden to find success in the United States. With numerous awards in the bag, including the 2021 iHeart Radio Award for Best New R&B Artist and a trio of Grammy nominations — not to mention the 100-million-streaming, Adult R&B number-one single ‘I Want You Around’ — she has found greater success than she could have imagined. Her second and third albums, Ugh, Those Feels Again (2019) and Temporary Highs in the Violet Skies (2021) both made the Billboard 200 and saw her mentioned in the same breath as inspirations such as Janet Jackson. Today, she is carrying the torch for sophisticated, sensual R&B.

Aalegra was born Shahrzaf Fooladi in Sweden to Iranian parents. She started writing songs when she was just nine years old and signed a deal with Sony Music Sweden aged 13. She later released successful music in Sweden under the alias Sheri, but things began to change in 2013 when she signed to ARTium Records. Renaming herself Snoh Aalegra, she became a protégé of Prince and established herself in Los Angeles, determined to follow in the footsteps of idols such as Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, Brandy, and so many other greats.

Her first album as Aalegra, Feels, gained traction, but it was its follow-up, Ugh, Those Feels Again, that broke her into the mainstream, reaching three on the R&B Charts and helping Aalegra to become one of the most prominent rising R&B stars. She signed with Roc Nation in 2020 and set to work on her third album, Temporary Highs in the Violet Skies, which capitalised on her momentum when it dropped in July 2021.