AleXa, a Korean-American singer, proved that K-pop is conquering the world — or at least, America. She won first place in NBC’s “American Song Contest” (2022) earlier this month.

Based on the Eurovision Song Contest, the American adaptation ran from March 21 to May 9 and was hosted by rapper Snoop Dogg and singer Kelly Clarkson.

Representing Oklahoma, her home state, AleXa competed against singers who each represented 49 other U.S. states, five territories and Washington D.C. AleXa was the only K-pop singer. These 56 singers battled to earn the title of Best Original Song.

In the grand final stage, AleXa received a whopping 710 points from votes from the jury and public with the song “Wonderland” (2022). It was almost a 200-point difference from second place — Colorado’s Riker Lynch, who got 503 points.

Among AleXa’s 55 other competitors was Grammy-winning singer Michael Bolton, who represented Connecticut with the song “Beautiful World” (2022). Bolton came in seventh place in the grand final with 338 points.

During a press conference to celebrate her win last week, AleXa gleamed with joy, saying that she “could not believe it” and that it “feels like a dream.”

When asked what she thought was the secret to her success, AleXa said that the charms of K-pop definitely helped. Elements such as "the performance, the stage setting, costumes, hair and makeup" were upgraded every time she performed “Wonderland” on the show.

AleXa’s “Wonderland” is certainly a spectacle. With each performance of the track she made sure to bring something new to the table and her bright blue hair definitely helped her to stand out.

“Pullin’ the strings on my heart,” she sings in the first verse, as she synchronized with back-up dancers who tugged on thick red strings. On a checkerboard-patterned stage floor that flickered, the screen in the background showed images of flying ace of cards, giving an “Alice in Wonderland” vibe to her performance.

She even sings in the song, “I’m Alice that is lost, wonder if we had a chance, maybe in wonderland.”

Toward the end of the song, AleXa runs up a flight of stairs while grabbing onto the red string, with the back-up dancers seemingly making an effort to pull her back. She then lets go of the string and falls back-first behind the stairs, earning applause from the audience.

In her last performance in the grand finals, she made a glamorous appearance on stage by lowering down to the floor from a chair hanging from the ceiling.

“I like being up high, so it wasn’t scary. It was so exciting to see the stage, audience and dancers from above — it made my heart pound so much,” AleXa laughed.

According to Kim Jun-hong, co-founder and CEO of ZB Label, this element was added to the final performance to portray AleXa like a queen.

AleXa’s grand win was not expected, as she initially came in fifth place in the semi-finals.

“AleXa’s win is something we’ll never be able to forget,” Kim said. “We really think it was a performance that announced a new beginning to K-pop.”

AleXa has already taken part in two other audition shows, “Rising Legends: Season 2” (2017) (sponsored by Soompi and Cube Entertainment), and Mnet’s “Produce 48” (2018), both under the name Alex Christine. AleXa won the former and went on to participate in Soompi’s show “Legendary: Making of a K-pop Star” (2017) but was not as successful in the latter.

After about a year as a trainee under ZB Label, she finally made her official debut with the single “Bomb” (2019), which had a dystopian sci-fi concept, rare for a K-pop act.

She continued to go down the futuristic road with singles “A.I Trooper” (2020), “Do or Die” (2020), “Villain” (2020) and “Revolution” (2020).

AleXa (Alexaundra Christine Schneiderman)

Date of birth: Dec. 9, 1996
Zodiac sign: Sagittarius
Birthplace: Oklahoma, United States
Debut: October 2019 through the single “Bomb”
Agency: ZB Label

Singer AleXa, whose real name is Alexaundra Christine Schneiderman, was born in the United States to a Russian father and Korean mother. She debuted with the single “Bomb” (2019), which was released in both a Korean version and English version. Before that, she took part in two audition programs: Soompi’s “Rising Legends: Season 2” (2017), in which she won first place, and Mnet’s “Produce 48” (2018). AleXa is known for having futuristic concepts for her earlier songs, like “A.I Trooper” (2020), “Do or Die” (2020), “Villain” (2020) and “Revolution” (2020). Her latest single “Wonderland” (2022) earned the title of Best Original Song for NBC’s “American Song Contest” (2022).

This information was confirmed by ZB Label on May 24, 2022.

BY SHIN MIN-HEE [shin.minhee@joongang.co.kr]