AJ Brix releases single Trny. Co-producer of a track from the album Donda also worked on the beat

Czech rapper AJ Brix, whose real name is Albert Bately, presented a new single, Trny, on 25 September 2026. It was created at his first songwriting camp. According to a Universal Music press release, the single shows how perfectly AJ Brix can bend genres. Universal Music ↗ An official music video was released on YouTube the same day. YouTube ↗



According to the rapper, the impulse was a concert by the band 5 Seconds of Summer: "I've just come back from a 5 Seconds of Summer concert and wanted to make something exactly in that spirit." The track was meant to sound pop-like yet still have punch. "I wanted it to sound poppy, but still have balls. That's how Trny came about: a synth thing about the moment when you don't know whether to keep trying to save a relationship or just give up on it," AJ Brix explains. At the same time, one doesn't want to go through getting to know someone again and start from zero, and so one asks oneself: "isn't it too late to start over?" Universal Music ↗

The beat was made by basscrime and Bastian Völkel, and the mix and master were handled by Deynyel. Universal Music ↗

Völkel is a keyboardist, music director and producer based in Germany. He studied in Mannheim, Hamburg and Tilburg in the Netherlands, and according to keyboard maker Nord he has toured all over the world with Alice Merton. Nord Keyboards ↗ Wikipedia lists him as a co-producer of the track Pure Souls from Kanye West's album Donda (2021). It reached number 52 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and earned RIAA gold certification. Wikipedia ↗ Grammy.com also lists him among the nominees at the 64th Grammy Awards, for Album of the Year, Donda. Grammy.com ↗ He is linked to Timbaland through the album Scriptures (2019) by rapper Tee Grizzley, which Timbaland executive-produced. Völkel is credited on it among the producers of the track Sweet Thangs. Wikipedia ↗

At the start of the year, AJ Brix released two other singles. The first was Wrestling in January, which came out while he was on a trip around the world with friends. The lyrics combine Czech with English phrases and rely on simple imagery, humour and self-confidence. Musically, it recalls the pop-rap of the early 2000s. The beat was made by markmywords, and the road-trip video was shot by The Visuals. "I wanted to create a track that's energetic, positive and works both live and on streaming platforms," said the rapper, who called the single "the beginning of a new chapter" of his work. According to him, Wrestling is about the moment when you meet someone and immediately know that there's something there. GREGI.NET ↗

STARS, released in February, is according to its author about the moment when a person finally opens their eyes, and about leaving a toxic relationship. "There's a bit of anger, a bit of irony, but above all a decision to move on. It's not a hate song, more an honest statement about how to stop playing a game that stopped making sense long ago," says AJ Brix. The producer was the Hungarian multi-genre producer Anyvibe. Deynyel did the mix and master on both Wrestling and STARS, just as he did now on Trny. GREGI.NET ↗ Universal Music ↗

AJ Brix has been making music since the beginning of 2021, and a year later he began working with Universal Music. Among his most successful singles were No Limit, which according to PLAY.CZ in May 2023 passed four million streams on Spotify, and Nějaká doba. In May 2023 he released his debut album Nemůžu tě držet za ruku, with thirteen tracks. "In the three years I've been making music publicly, this is the first complete project," the rapper said at the time. "I put the album together from singles that mirror one stage of my life." Most of the album was recorded at the Unbeatable studio, where the sound was handled by sound engineer and producer Štěpán "Stewe" Bárta. PLAY.CZ ↗

AJ Brix. Photo: Lukáš Matoušek / press kit (Universal Music)