Maja Keuc

Maja Keuc is a Slovenian singer. She is also known under her stage name Amaya (occasionally spelled AMAYA). Born on January 16, 1992, in Maribor, her journey in music began from a young age. She spent seven years performing with the English Student Theatre and honed her skills as a lead vocalist for three years with the rock band Hrošči.

Keuc’s rise to fame in Slovenia was marked by her remarkable performance in “Slovenia’s Got Talent” in 2010, where she secured the second position in the show’s inaugural season. That same year, she became part of the Papir project and was instrumental in releasing the album “Po viharju.”

Her talents led to a significant milestone in 2011 when RTV Slovenia, the national broadcaster, invited her to compete for the Slovenian entry in the Eurovision Song Contest. Performing “Vanilija,” a song by Matjaž Vlašič, Keuc emerged victorious in the superfinal, outperforming the singer April. This win earned her the role of Slovenia’s representative at the Eurovision 2011, where she impressively finished 13th in the final round.

Following her Eurovision experience, Keuc launched her debut album, “Indigo,” on December 1, 2011, under the label Reflektor Music. The album, comprising 11 tracks with lyrics in both English and Slovene, showcased her versatility as a lyricist. Collaborating with prominent figures like Krešimir Tomec, Marco Grabber, and members of Papir, including Sebastijan Duh, Tadej Kampl, and Rok Vilčnik, the album marked a significant phase in her career.

In 2012, Keuc’s musical journey took her to Rotterdam, where she was accepted into the Codarts music academy. She focused on vocal studies in the pop music department, a period during which she met Jonah Nilsson, vocalist and keyboardist of the Swedish band Dirty Loops. Their relationship blossomed, leading them to relocate to Stockholm in 2014. Keuc further expanded her musical education by joining the jazz program at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm, from which she graduated in 2016.

Embracing her stage persona, Amaya, Keuc started performing under this name in 2014, initially using it for her international performances. In March of the same year, reverting to her birth name, she premiered the song “Close to You” in the Ema show program.

Keuc continued to make strides in her career in 2016 by qualifying for Ema 2017, although she later opted out of the competition. In 2017, she ventured into new musical territories with the release of her EP “Fairytales,” a collaborative effort with producer Orphée Noah under the Spinnup label.

Expanding her horizons, Keuc ventured into songwriting for other artists, particularly targeting the Asian market in South Korea and Japan. Her collaborations include working with artists like PRISTIN, HyunA, Red Velvet, and SHINee. In 2016, she participated in a songwriting workshop at SM Entertainment in Korea. Notably, she co-wrote a song for Japanese singer Namie Amuro, which earned a Japanese Grammy equivalent and the title of Musician of the Year.

Her versatility also extends to film music, contributing to three movie songs. She collaborated with Reconceal for “End of Night,” the soundtrack of “Kresnik: The Lore of Fire” (2014), and delivered the song “Naredi srce” for the film “Gajin svet” (2018). Additionally, under the alias Maria Maya, she featured in Laibach’s “The Coming Race,” created for the 2019 movie “Iron Sky – The Coming Race.”

In 2020, Maja Keuc returned to music and released the single “Trust Issues”. In the same year, she teamed up with Joakim Molitor. They released the Tracy Chapman-cover “Crossroads” as a single. 

In 2021 she released the singles “Goodbye…” and “Sleep Alone/Sanjam Sama”. She also featured in the songs “Naked” (for Lucas Estrada & Wahlstedt) and “Mladi samo enkrat” (for Drill). “Rdeče” was a new song of her own, released in December 2022 on all platforms. Maja teamed up with Batista Cadillac to feature in their track “Pust me do besede”.