Dafina Zeqiri

Dafina Zeqiri (; born 14 April 1989), also known mononymously as Dafina, is a Kosovo-Albanian singer, songwriter and composer.
Life and career.
Dafina Zeqiri was born on 14 April 1989 into an Albanian family from Kosovo in the city of Varberg, Sweden. Her siblings are Tringa Zeqiri and Besa Tafari "née" Zeqiri. Zeqiri's father, Nebih Bajraktari, left her family at a very early age and was absent since then. He later gave a public speech asking her to forgive him, although Zeqiri never made any replies. Her mother is Melihate Zeqiri, a former singer in the 1980s.
In 2007, Dafina performed in Polifest Festival and is nominated for her song, "Rrallë e Përmallë," and eventually won the competition. In 2008, Dafina she received a BOOM Award Nomination for her song "Adios," and was awarded with the audience award. In the same year, she launched her first album titled "Knock Down". Shortly afterwards, in her continued participation in "Kënga Magjike," she received the "First Magic" award with her song, "Bateritë".
Zeqiri's success continued with two collaborations with known singers Blero & F-Kay with the song "La Vida Loca" and Capital T & 2po2, "Shumë Naltë". Both songs turned into hits of the summer. In May 2009, she won "Best RNB" in Top Fest 6 with the song "Dua që ta di," a song which was a great success. Then Duffy'e also made the a mix of the song with the acclaimed DJ-Zap. During 2009, two of her clips were very successful: "Shumë Larg" (directed by Stamps Pictures) and "Amazing Girl" (Directed by Entermedia). In 2010, she traveled to Australia to shoot the music video for "Rock This Club." The video clip of the song "Amazing Girl" by Dafina was the main winner of this year's edition of Music Videofest, sweeping away the award for best videospot, 'Best of All'. She was nominated in eight categories and won four of them. In December 2011, Dafina Zeqiri released her newest album. In her album, the song D&G was included, a song she has made with Albanian rapper Getoar Selimi. She has already launched "Tonight," which is also included in the new album "Just Me".
She launched 2 new music videos "Veç Ti" and "Bloodah" which were successful.
2015–present.
In 2017, following several months spent in the United States, Zeqiri released "Four Season" as the lead single from her first extended play "King EP", which also featured guest appearance by Moroccan-American rapper French Montana. In October 2017, she premiered the follow-up single "Told Ya", which went on to reach number one in Albania. "Ti e din" followed in December 2017 and peaked at number 2 in the aforementioned country. In 2018, four subsequent singles, "Fuego", "Kalon", "Kurgjo nuk kallxojna" and "Alo", were released, with the latter two reaching the top 35 in Albania.
In March 2020, Zeqiri was featured on Albanian producer Cricket's "Një herë në jetë", which peaked at number 5 in Albania and 132 on the Spotify charts in Switzerland. In June 2020, she announced her upcoming second studio album, "Dafinë moj". Later in July 2020, she released Aman, the lead single from "Dafinë moj", a collaboration with Albanian rappers Ledri Vula and Lumi B, which peaked at number 4 in Albania and 79 in Switzerland. The second single, titled "Million $", was moderately successful and reached number 20 in Albania and 82 in Switzerland. Two subsequent singles, "Zili Zili" and "Mos shko" featuring Albanian singer Yll Limani, were released from the album. "Zili Zili" reached the top five, while "Mos shko" peaked at number 4 in Albania.
Artistry.
Zeqiri has cited American singer and songwriter Aaliyah as her major musical and style influence. Other inspirations include Ciara, Destiny's Child, Lauryn Hill, Michael Jackson, TLC and the Spice Girls. Her musical style has generally been regarded as R&B and soul also having incorporated a variety of other genres into her music, including electropop, trap and Urban Albanian pop.
Activism.
Zeqiri is an outspoken advocate to help raise critical awareness for health and mental health issues beyond her community, including by sharing her experiences with depression. She has also expressed her support for the LGBT community in the world and the Albanian-speaking Balkans. In 2020, she extended her support to the Black Lives Matter movement, in connection with the wider George Floyd protests.