BQL are a Slovene duo from Prevalje founded in 2016. It consists of two brothers; Rok (vocal, piano) and Anej Piletič (vocal, guitar).[1] They are the first domestic artists at the Slovenian official singles charts SloTop50, who managed to hit the peak chart positions with two singles: one week with "Muza" and four weeks with "Heart of Gold".
BQL | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Background information | |
| Origin | Prevalje, Slovenia |
| Genres | Pop |
| Years active | 2016–present |
| Labels | Nika Records Raay Production |
| Members | Anej Piletič Rok Piletič |
| Website | facebook.com/BQLpage |
Career
edit2010–2013: Slovenia's Got Talent
editBoth brothers competed at Slovenia's Got Talent (Slovenija ima talent). Older Rok in 1st season (2010) and together with Matej Prikeržnik in 3rd season (2013).[2][3] Younger Anej was one of the finalists in 4th season (2014).
In 2015 they began to publish various covers on social media together and "Ledena", a cover song of Slovenian alternative rock band Siddharta, draw the most attention of all.[4]
2016: First single
editIn June 2016 they released their first single "Muza" (Muse), acoustic pop song with electronic layer under the name of BQL (short for be cool). Song was written and produced by Raay and his wife Marjetka Vovk, more known as duo Maraaya, recorded in their studio. The song became an instant hit which the fourth most played song of the year 2016 in Slovenia.[5][6][7][8][9]
It took the peak position at the Slovenian official singles charts SloTop50 and twenty-first position at the year end chart in 2016.[10][11] On 1 September 2016 they released a YouTube video for the song.
2017: Second at EMA
editThey performed at the EMA 2017 with their second single "Heart of Gold".[12] The song got more than 370 thousand views on YouTube in one week. They won the first place with public votes and they took only the fourth place by the jury. Unfortunately that wasn't enough to win EMA 2017, instead they were second in the final. This is already their second single to hit the peak chart position at the Slovenian official singles charts SloTop50 and became first Slovenian artists with at least two singles in number one.
In March 2017 "Heart of Gold" was ranked on Spotify, a Swedish global internet music platform, appeared in "10 Tracks You Must Hear" category.[13]
On 26 May 2017, Maraaya featuring BQL premiered their fifth single "It's Complicated" and the video for the song at the same time on the Cankar street in Ljubljana. This single was officially released on 7 June 2017 and Croatian version two days later.
2018: Second attempt at EMA
editThe next year, the duo took part again at the EMA 2018. After performing the song "Ptica" during the semifinal on 17 February, they managed to qualify to the final, where they sang an English version of their song, named "Promise". For the second year in a row, BQL had the highest score from the televote, but they took only the third place by the jury. Overall, they ended second once again and didn't get to represent Slovenia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018.[14]
Discography
editSingles
editAs lead artist
edit| Title | Year | Peak chart positions | Album | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SLO [15] | |||||||||||
| "Muza" | 2016 | 1. | Non-album singles | ||||||||
| "Heart of Gold" | 2017 | 1. | |||||||||
| "Ni predaje, ni umika" (BQL & Nika Zorjan) |
6. | ||||||||||
| "Zimska" | 2018 | — | |||||||||
| "Promise / Ptica" | 11. / 14. | ||||||||||
| "Peru" | 12. | ||||||||||
| "Ko je ni" | 2019 | 40. | |||||||||
| "Na vrhu" | — | ||||||||||
| "Šampioni" | — | ||||||||||
| "Na frišno" | 2020 | 16. | |||||||||
| "Ko bo to za nama" | 14. | ||||||||||
| "Budala" | — | ||||||||||
| "Ulala" | 2021 | — | |||||||||
| "—" denotes a single that did not chart or was not released. | |||||||||||
As featured artist
edit| Title | Year | Peak chart positions | Album |
|---|---|---|---|
| SLO [16] | |||
| "It's Complicated" (Maraaya featuring BQL) |
2017 | 9 | Non-album singles |
| "Sjaj" (Maraaya featuring BQL) |
— | CMC Vodice 2017 | |
| "Vroče" (S.I.T. — Zorjan, Palma, Sešek, Jazbec...) |
2018 | 5 | Non-album singles |
| "—" denotes a single that did not chart or was not released. | |||
Other charted songs
edit
As featured artist
edit| Title | Year | Peak chart positions | Album |
|---|---|---|---|
| SLO | |||
| "White Christmas / Bel božič" (Maraaya & BQL & Nika Zorjan & Manca Špik & Luka Basi & Klara Jazbec & Ula) |
2017 | 31 | Non-album singles |
| not released as a single, but did chart in some countries. | |||
References
edit- ^ "Biography of BQL duo". MMC RTV Slovenija. Retrieved 19 February 2017.
- ^ "Slovenija ima talent; 6. oddaja-avdicija" [Slovenia's Got Talent; 6th show audition] (in Slovenian). Archived from the original on 28 April 2010. Retrieved 26 April 2010.
- ^ "Slovenija ima talent, šesta avdicija" [Slovenia's Got Talent; sixth audition] (in Slovenian). Retrieved 3 March 2013.
- ^ "Brata Piletič; talenta osvajata najstniška srca" [Talents who drives teenagers crazy]. mladismo.si. Archived from the original on 20 June 2016. Retrieved 10 December 2015.
- ^ "Nov fantovski duet, za punce pravi magnet" [New boy's duo, magnet for girls] (in Slovenian). 24ur.com. Retrieved 6 July 2016.
- ^ "Brata obnorela slovenske najstnice" [Brothers made teenagers crazy] (in Slovenian). Slovenske novice. Archived from the original on 15 February 2017. Retrieved 11 September 2016.
- ^ "S Prevalj med zvezde: Kariera po talentšovu obstaja" [Career after talent show] (in Slovenian). Večer. Retrieved 5 October 2016.
- ^ "Rok in Anej Piletič: Povezana že od malega" [Brothers connected since ever] (in Slovenian). govori.se. Retrieved 6 October 2016.
- ^ "BQL izdal videospot za poletni hit Muza" [Video for Muza was released] (in Slovenian). citymagazine.si. Retrieved 2 September 2016.
- ^ "Photograph največkrat predvajana leta 2016" [Photograph: most played song of the year] (in Slovenian). Archived from the original on 15 February 2017. Retrieved 31 January 2017.
- ^ "Duo BQL osvaja najstniška srca" [Teenagers mania] (in Slovenian). žurnal24. Retrieved 12 September 2016.
- ^ "Predstavitev izvajalcev Eme 2017" [Presentation of EMA 2017 artists] (in Slovenian). MMC RTV Slovenija. Retrieved 28 February 2017.
- ^ "BQL se sliši čez mejo" [Known also over the Slovenian border] (in Slovenian). svet24.si. Archived from the original on 28 April 2017. Retrieved 22 March 2017.
- ^ "Slovenija na Evrovizijo 2018 pošilja Leo Sirk!" [Slovenia sends Lea Sirk to Eurovision 2018!] (in Slovenian). rtvslo.si. Retrieved 24 February 2018.
- ^ Peak positions in Slovenia:
- For "Muza": "SloTop50 Week No.38 in 2016" (in Slovenian). SloTop50. Archived from the original on 21 October 2016. Retrieved 28 September 2016.
- For "Heart of Gold": "SloTop50 Week No.09 in 2017" (in Slovenian). SloTop50. Archived from the original on 9 December 2017. Retrieved 5 March 2017.
- For "Ni predaje, ni umika": "SloTop50 Week No.50 in 2017". SloTop50. Archived from the original on 22 December 2017. Retrieved 17 December 2017.
- For "Zimska": "SloTop50 Week No.3 in 2018". SloTop50. Archived from the original on 23 January 2018. Retrieved 21 January 2018.
- For "Promise": "SloTop50 Week No.9 in 2018". SloTop50. Archived from the original on 6 March 2018. Retrieved 4 March 2018.
- For "Ptica": "SloTop50 Week No.13 in 2018". SloTop50. Archived from the original on 5 April 2018. Retrieved 1 April 2018.
- For "Peru": "SloTop50 Week No.2 in 2019". SloTop50. Archived from the original on 15 January 2019. Retrieved 13 January 2019.
- ^ Peak positions in Slovenia:
- For "It's Complicated": "SloTop50 Week No.24 in 2017" (in Slovenian). SloTop50. Archived from the original on 29 July 2017. Retrieved 28 June 2017.