At just 22 years old, Emelia Vero is already making a name for herself in the Bronx. The singer / songwriter’s unique sound has attracted many listeners, with her most popular upload on youtube reaching almost seven thousand views. Anacaona Rodriguez Martinez went to the Bronx to hear for herself.
AMBI: Emelia playing R&B melodies on keyboard.
I’m here in Emelia Vero’s home studio in Hunts Point, a neighborhood of about 12,000 residents, that has a reputation for crime and poverty. However, Emelia’s goal is to paint her neighborhood in a better light.
“I feel like a large part of why I do what I do in terms of music is wanting to represent. Growing up I always felt I was in this awkward middle ground. In DR, I was never Dominican enough: I was always the American. Over here I was never American enough: I was always that Dominican. Kind of being criticized for not knowing Spanish as well as someone from the island, I guess you could hear the difference, and then being here and not speaking English well enough for some people.”
AMBI: Emelia’s cover of Cardi B’s “Be Careful.”
Even though music is something Emely’s now comfortable sharing, her love for sharing her music wasn’t always something that came naturally.One place where she was able to find her confidence, however, was at a train station on the L Line.
“It wasn’t that hard of a transition because I always viewed train station performers as celebrities as a kid whenever I took the train, which was barely. I would always be shy to give them a dollar and stuff like that, so I always a deep appreciation for them. But I guess by forcing myself to do that was, I don’t know. I guess intimidating: there’s people walking by you, people looking confused, mad sometimes. And there’s great people that you come by. It helped me, I guess, become more confident in myself and my abilities, see what works. That’s how I met a lot of the people that I know today. So, I guess that was a really good start to, I guess, the whole music journey I’ve been on,” she said.
AMBI: Emelia practicing scales on nylon guitar.
Emelia’s passion for music also comes with a passion for sharing her story.
“It’s like my music represents that middle ground: that first generation upbringing where it’s Spanglish, you know? I throw in some Spanish lines whenever I can. I try to throw in some references and try to include my culture into it. I feel like that’s what touches me the most is being able to listen to my music and have my family, my grandma, be able to understand some parts of it even if it’s not the entire song; still kind of get a gist of what’s going on. My music is kind of like, I do it to represent the middle ground: the first generation upbringing.”
AMBI: Emelia live at the Tiny Bronx Contest performing ‘Nice Smile,’ an original.
She says, “So, the next song I’m going to do is an original, and it’s called ‘Nice Smile’.”
“The reason I like this song so much is because it was so hard for me to write. It was like pulling teeth because it’s a flirty song. I tried to not include insecurity into it because I feel like a lot of my love songs come out of pain and a place of admiring the other person but putting myself down a little bit. I wanted to kind of grow from that, and that was my first song that kind of demonstrated it. It’s kind of like, it has a little more confidence to it in comparison to, like, the songs written previous to that point, and I’ve seen myself grow a lot after that point. So I feel like ‘Nice Smile’ was the first song where I really grew in terms of my own confidence and trying to demonstrate that.”
AMBI: Emelia rehearsing ‘Nice Smile’ in her homemade studio.
She describes her sound as “an influence of all the influences she’s had.
“So if you were to listen to three of my songs, in terms of the production and stuff, back to back they would sound very different. But I would say the baseline is R&B influenced. There’s kind of like R&B chord progressions and little bits of that in every song. Some songs might sound a little bit more poppy. Some songs might sound a little more latin-influenced. Some songs I sping and I just go straight up Hip Hop, Trap in it. I guess just an influence of all the influences I’ve had.”
AMBI: Emelia practicing a guitar solo on a nylon guitar.
To Emelia, the best piece of advice she’s received is to never forget why you started in the industry.
“Interestingly enough, I got that piece of advice after playing at the subway. I went out on 42nd Street and Dua Lipa was doing an interview at one of, I don’t know, one of those music station things. When she walked out to say ‘hi’ to the fans, I stopped by. I was just like, “Hey, any advice you would give to someone that’s trying to make it into the industry?” She told me that and said that that’s what her father told her. So that was really nice, and it’s still the most relevant and the best piece of advice I’ve heard to this day,” she said.
TRACK: Emelia live at the Tiny Bronx Contest performing ‘Nice Smile’
For the future, Emelia hopes to keep following Dua’s advice, and have her music be an inspiration to others for years to come. From Hunts Point, this is Anacaona Rodriguez Martinez.