Alexander Jean Details Behind-The-Scenes "Waiting For You" Pictures

Timing is everything, and it definitely was for Mark Ballas and BC Jean. The duo, known as Alexander Jean, got married in 2016 after a few years of dating. And although they were actually connected in a lot of ways beforehand, they finally found each other at the right time (their first date was Taco Tuesday!) — they were just waiting for each other. The couple, who are Elvis Duran's new Artist of the Month, tells this story in their latest single, "Waiting For You." 

BC tells iHeartRadio of their new song, "We wanted to take it to a really edgy place, and talk about where we've been with relationships before we met, what we've been through with heartbreak to the point where we met, and learning to trust and love again through each other."

Mark Adds, "We wanted to kind of open the song in an explosive way. Like, the first line of the song is 'When I was younger, I put up with s*** you wouldn't believe/ That b*tch was ruthless/ I made excuses/  She f***ed my friends and with my head to get the better of me/ She was savage and she did damage.' And that was really true for me. Like I went through a whole situation that was a hard time in relationships and stuff. And then, BC and I always talk about, we had so many mutual friends when we were living in Los Angeles. And we always say, how many times were we at the same bar? Because we had so many similar friends in the same circles. How many times did I go to the ATM and you were at the bar? How many times did I go to say hello to someone at a table and you were right there? So I'm just convinced we used to just pass each other all the time."

"Waiting For You" is only the beginning of new music for Alexander Jean, as the duo has a lot more on the way, and even teased their next new track. While the song title is still under lock and key, BC hinted at the tune by showing her new (and very first) tattoo, an arrow. And Mark has a matching tat. BC explained, "There was this whole metaphor and it was really meaningful to both of us. And it was the only reason I got a tattoo because I've never had one for a reason. I've waited a long time."

While fans wait for more new Alexander Jean music, they can enjoy "Waiting For You." Mark and BC shared some exclusive behind-the-scenes photos from the writing and recording of the song, as well as from the filming of its colorful corresponding music video, and told us the stories behind each of them. Read on below.

BC: "This is the last shot of the day from our music video for 'Waiting For You,' and we were really rushed on time. And we're independent artists, so we only had one day to shoot because financially that's what we had and [Mark] had actually come back to New York to rehearse for Kinky Boots. And there was no AC. This is supposed to be a really romantic ... I mean the video has a lot of chemistry and romance, but at the end of the day we were fighting so bad, and we wanted to kill each other probably in this moment. But you can't tell. And, this is the last fun shot I styled."

Mark: "The cool thing was we shot the video all day and we wanted to have an hour, an hour and a half to shoot photographs, but I think we had ten minutes. Not even. And, our photographer, Sydney, she kinda said 'You sit down, you sit here, hold her leg," and we just kinda did it fast. And luckily afterwards, when we left I was like, 'There's no way we got the cover. No way.' We didn't think we had the video. And then, she sent over the pictures and this was the first pic she took and she got it. She got the cover in, like, one image so that was pretty cool, because we were sweating bullets."

BC: "We kind of let the single art help us with the song, because we put a couple song titles in there and just kinda looked at it visually, what makes the most sense, so it was just a piece of the puzzle and it all came together. And this place was called Popsicle LA, where we shot the music video, and the ceilings were really low, and there was somebody with a remote control that could light up the ceilings. So in the beginning of the video, we had it red and he would switch it, but the second verse, we had it blue. And then by the end of the song, it was multicolored. So it was pretty cool."

Mark: "This is us at our producer, Brian West's, studio in Laurel Canyon. Laurel Canada, we call it. He's Canadian. And his studio [is] another place with zero AC, and we were having a Los Angeles heat wave. So, BC ran to the store to get us all popsicles while we were doing a rough mix. When we're tracking vocals or guitar, we have to turn all the air conditioning off, because you don't wanna have the [humming] get into the tracks, so we're literally sweating. So this is us on a little break having some popsicles, cooling down little bit. And then a couple of days later he fitted a AC unit and it was a lifesaver."

Mark: "This is at also the studio. And you can see I've got my pants pulled all the way up because it's so hot. And that's me tracking vocals for "Waiting For You."

BC: "Me, vocal producing Mark and us trying not to have a heat stroke. But still obviously having a good time."

Mark: "And the cool thing is because we know each other so well, obviously, we're married and we write all our songs together, but we got to vocal produce each other. Because we can tell by the way one sounds, like, if you're completely comfortable or if you could do it a different way or if we need a break. So it's cool to have the person you trust the most on the other side of the booth."

Mark: "That's some Bullet Rye. We would take a break at, we would call it, Rye O'clock.

BC: "Rye O'clock, and we'd also say, 'Great, great minds drink alike.'"

Mark: "Around 5 o'clock, Brian, myself and BC, I made [an] Old Fashioned for everybody."

BC: "Mark's the Old Fashioned connoisseur. He even makes his own ice, which was what we needed because there was no AC. So, we would take popsicle breaks [and] we would take Old Fashioned breaks."

BC: "That's from one of our boomerangs. That's actually in our home studio to get some of the final harmonies and last minute touches. Because we kinda, we have a little setup that I built a little home studio in one of our guest rooms. And I'm not very tech-savvy, I'm still learning, but somehow I was able to build this little room get up, and it works."

Mark: "For weeks, [she said], 'I'm gonna build this.' I'm like, 'No, you're not.' I'd just say, 'Let's just hire someone to build.' She's like, 'No, I'll do it.' And I went on a trip, I came back, she'd hung the panels, she drilled in all the plug-ins and everything. Completely set up and it works."

BC: "I'm still impressed I did that."

BC: "When we get writer's block or when we need break, when there is AC, I suppose this is when we weren't dying, we know what to do. If we don't know what to write about, we just start making out and then usually the inspiration kicks in."

BC: "Elvis [Duran]. He was the first guy to ... we did the Today Show the other day as his Artist of the Month. And then we did his radio show and got to spin 'Waiting for You.' It was the first time Alexander Jean, for us, has been on actual radio, and the first time 'Waiting for You' was on radio."

Mark: "It was pretty cool to be picked by him. We've been fans of his show for a long time and just his passion, his love for independent artists, what he's done to put people like us who are still carrying their own gear, pushing their own amps around, funding everything themselves, selling merch out of the trunk. To finally be recognized by him [and] be on his radar, be invited on his show, and not just him, his whole staff, everyone over there's been so supportive. Over the last few months, we've really seen some love from their hearts, so it's been really, really cool."

Mark: This was actually in that studio we went to with Brian. It was like a big studio and we were tracking down some stuff and doing it old school; so around a mic all at once, simultaneously, which is rare. Usually everything now is done as layers in studios. So we were getting some ideas down and we actually captured some magic in this moment, and this is actually a picture through a camera. Our photographer and videographer, Josh Shultz, was there, who directed our video. He's been doing our videos. And we got some magic in this, in this moment that will be coming out later on. But it's still part of the session."

BC: "That's from the shoot day. The same [shoot]. And, and just some more, hurry up, gotta look sexy and cool in a couple shots. But we got a couple like that."

Mark: "This is my favorite [picture]. This is Kevin Kadish, who we co-wrote 'Waiting for You' with. He was the third writer. That's in Nashville. This is BC and him, and a bit of his producer chair broke, and they spent twenty minutes in this position looking for this small little piece."

BC: "We were leaving for the night, it was really late and I know Kevin pretty well, and we found this broken piece of plastic. I knew he'd stay awake until he figured out where it came from. So I was like, 'Mark, we can't leave him like this.' So I got on the ground."

Mark: "So these two are on their hands and knees and I'm just like, filming them. But Kevin, he's an amazing amazing writer. He's written some great songs. He wrote 'All About that Bass,' he wrote 'Lips Are Moving,' he's written some great stuff. He's become a real part of the team and like a family member, and we're looking forward to writing some more tunes with him."

BC: "He's become a great friend. I told him I'm gonna use this picture as blackmail, though. So he has to continue to write with us."

Photos Courtesy of Alexander Jean