Akcent

Akcent—whose name is a play on the word “accent”—is a Romanian dance-pop project. It was founded in 1999 by DJ Adrian Sina (also known as Adrian Sina) while he was working for Radio Contact, initially as a duo with singer Ramona Barta.

Their debut album, Senzatzia, released in 2000 only on cassette in an electro-pop style, includes the Romanian summer hit Ultima Vara. After Ramona Barta left, the group became a boy band with the addition of Sorin Brotnei, Mihai Gruia and Marius Nedelcu.

Their second album, În culori (2002), was certified gold in three weeks. They then scored hits such as Ţi-am promis, Buchet de trandafiri and Suflet pereche from the album 100 BPM (2003).

Their international breakthrough came in 2004, following in the footsteps of O-Zone, with the European hit Kylie (the English version of Dragoste de inchiriat), which notably reached No. 21 in France. This led to their first English-language album, French Kiss With Kylie (2006), made with Gigi D'agostino.

The line-up changed in 2008 when Marius Nedelcu left to pursue a solo career. He was briefly replaced by Corneliu Ulici, a former member of the boy band Bliss Team, who left the project after nine months.

The album Fără lacrimi (2009), retitled True Believers for its international version, includes the singles Stay With Me and That's My Name, written with contributions from Edward Maya. The collaboration ended in 2010, with Adrian Sînă accusing Edward Maya of plagiarizing the melody of “That’s My Name” for his own track “Stereo Love”.

Adrian Sînă then wrote new songs for Akcent on his own, such as Love Stoned and My Passion, which became very successful in Arab countries, Pakistan and India.

The group split in September 2013 after a conflict, leaving Adrian Sina as the sole holder of the name. The other members, Mihai Gruia and Sorin Brotnei, later formed the duo TWO.