Rising US popstar Stanaj may be new to the music world, but his vocal range has caught the attention of some big celebrity names.
The 23-year-old writes and sings love songs, lives in New York and has close to 400,000 Instagram followers, and his fans include Justin Timberlake, Kim Kardashian and Jennifer Lopez.
He's also performed on Jimmy Fallon's TV show.
Stanaj has been singing since he was six and always had a big audience thanks to his big Albanian family.
"I have 43 first cousins on my dad's side," he told Newshub.
He expanded outside the home and began singing in bars and karaoke joints in LA.
One day a famous basketballer was watching and got out his phone.
"He posted a video of me singing, and literally it was a snowball, just thrown down Mt Everest and it kept getting bigger," Stanaj said.
Now he has been touring alongside Jojo in the US and will be performing in Queenstown on Tuesday night.
"My parents call me Forrest Gump because the luckiest things that happen, just happen."
Lucky things like J-Lo inviting you over to her place to sing and eat tacos.
"She was there, Drake, Nick Jonas - there was a whole bunch of just great people around and great artists and I got to perform in her living room," he said.
But if you think this Albanian kid from New York is making it on luck and a few celebrity endorsements, think again.
Before that basketballer spotted him, Stanaj was performing to empty karaoke bars.
"I remembered what my dad told me, he said, 'The harder you work, the luckier you get'," he said.
Newshub.
