Balladero

Balladero is the stage name of Dominik Bagola, a Slovenian singer-songwriter born on 2 October 1981 in Murska Sobota. He writes and sings piano-led songs, ballads and band pop with touches of rock and blues, in Slovenian and in English.

He began playing the piano at seven and the drums at thirteen. As a drummer he played in the bands Tribelectric, ConFusion and Soundtrade, together with his brother Aljoša, and in 2005 he joined Psycho-Path, replacing drummer Matej Šavel. He stayed until the band retired in 2009, playing on its last album, The Ass-Soul of Psycho-Path (2008), where he also added the piano to "Cookie Jar".

After Psycho-Path he set out alone as a piano singer-songwriter. His first album, Club Deuce (2012), was made with the American producer Bobby MacIntyre in his studio in Miami. Its singles were "Če bi", a duet with Jadranka Juras, and "I Guess", which took him to the semi-finals of the International Songwriting Competition. The second album, Perfect You (2016), was produced by Uwe Bossert, guitarist of the German band Reamonn, and recorded at Achtung Music in Munich. Its herald, "Zlati časi", was the most played song on Val 202 in 2016. Both albums came out on his own Club2 Records, mostly with English lyrics; the first was quieter and more piano-based, the second more of a band record.

In May 2019 he returned with "Še živim", again with Jadranka Juras, and it became Val 202's song of the week. Then came "Ponesi me", a reworking of "This Grace" from Perfect You, and "Drugačen svet" (2020), both produced by Žan Serčič, and "Najina" (2021). In May 2021 he played the radio show Izštekani, and in September he sang "Marelice" at Slovenska popevka, finishing eighth; the studio version came out as a single in June 2022.

His third album, Neon srce, followed in 2023. In 2024 Balladero sang his own "Kantina" at Melodije morja in sonca, where it earned him the special MMS bodočnost award, and he returned to the festival in 2026 with "Za naju".