Alexis Jordan Beams With “Happiness” In Her Debut Video

Look, you don’t have to win a reality talent competition to become a pop star, but you already knew that. Alexis Jordan certainly does. At age 14, she entered America’s Got Talent and turned in a knockout performance before being eliminated. In the four years since, she’s steadily built a following, and — through her popular YouTube performances — discovered some influential fans. Among them: Jay-Z (who signed her to his own Roc Nation label) and the Norwegian production team Stargate (Ne-Yo, J-Lo), who wrapped her powerful pipes in a slick pop sheen for first single “Happiness”.

Alexis just came to visit us the other day, and told us about making her Aggressive-directed debut video in the California desert. She actually had to get a piggyback ride out to the shimmering pool where she performs (See? She really did). Check out the vivid, physics-deying video — and see Alexis show off her pipes in a special acapella performance of Mariah Carey’s “I Can’t Live”:

And here’s Alexis in person, revealing just a bit of her raw vocal power on a mini-cover of Mariah’s “I Can’t Live”, live from Idolator HQ:

We think she’s a lot of fun, and we’re intrigued to see how she balances her vocals with Stargate’s sometimes icy production. “I really want to be a positive artist,” she told us. “They bring me positive music.”

What do you think?