Darin Zanyar (born 2 June 1987), better known simply as Darin, is a Swedish singer and songwriter of Kurdish descent. He grew up in a musical family and began singing at an early age, citing Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder and Whitney Houston as some of his biggest inspirations. He started writing and recording songs at the age of 14 after being discovered by a music producer in school after a performance.
He would gain national attention in 2004 when he participated in the first season of the Swedish ”Idol” at the age of 16. He quickly became one of the favorite contestants in the show and was the only one to receive 78% of the public votes at the semi-final. He ended up as the runner-up and was signed by Sony BMG the day after the finale. In February 2005 his debut album The Anthem was released. The album enjoyed much success entering the Swedish Album Charts at number 1 and eventually being certified gold by the IFPI. His first single Money For Nothing was written by Robyn and went straight to No. 1 on both the single chart and the radio chart. In 2005 Darin was the most exposed person in the media in the country.They often wrote about his hysterical fans and referred to him as ”The perfect popstar”.
Later the same year Darin released his second self-titled album Darin which became Darin's second chart topping album[4] and also the first to be released outside of Sweden, being released in Finland. This second album had greater success than The Anthem, being certified platinum by the IFPI. It was a different sound to Darin's debut album, he worked more with Red One on this album, writing together the platinum selling "Step Up", this single, when released in September 2005 spent a total of 26 weeks on Sverigetopplistan, the Swedish Singles Chart and was also the first single to be released in Finland. The album also included the singles "Who's That Girl" and "Want Ya!" which was the most played music video on MTV Nordics in 2006.
Besides being a famous performer, he also wrote a number of hits for various artistes like Shayne Ward,Ediie Razaz and 2011 Idol winner Amanda Fondell to name a few. He recently came out as gay.
Discography
Albums- The Anthem (2005)
- ''Darin "(2005)
- ''Break the News" (2006)
- ''Flashback "(2008)
- ''Lovekiller" (2010)
- ''Exit "(2013)
- ''Fjärilar i magen" (2015)
- ''Tvillingen "(2017)
Tropes related to Darin:
- Bilingual Bonus: He mostly sang in English in his previous albums. That all changed in 2015 when he began singing in Swedish. He can also speak Kurdish as well.
- Curse Cut Short: F*** Your Love.
- Darker and Edgier: His second album began that trend though the album that really made it work was Flashback.
- The Runner-Up Takes It All:He was the runnerup of the first edition of Swedish Idol. Despite this, he arguably became more successful than that year's winner Daniel Lindström.
