Emilia

Emilia is the stage name of Emilia Mernes, an Argentine pop singer, songwriter, model, and dancer. Her slightly grainy, breathy alto singing melds South American cumbia and hooky dancefloor pop with polished, beat-conscious, state of the art production. After a stint as the only female vocalist in Uruguay’s premier cumbia pop group Rombai, she left for a solo career that has netted her more than a handful of charting singles. Her second single, 2019′s “No Soy Yo” (featuring Darrel), broke her internationally. It registered on the upper rungs of the Top Latin Songs Chart in the U.S. Emilia was nominated in 2020 for a Premio Juventad award as Best New Female Artist. Tú Crees en Mí? her debut long-player, appeared in May 2022.
Born María Emilia Mernes Rueda in Nogoyá, Entre Ríos. The daughter of a baker and a chef, Emilia was a vivacious child, her early passions included reading, singing, and dancing. That began to change at age 12, when her grandfather presented her with a guitar. She taught herself some chords and learned to play by ear, strumming and singing along with pop hits on the radio. In 2016, while studying literature at National University of Rosario, a classmate heard her singing and playing on the quad and asked her why she was studying instead of performing. A light bulb went on. Emboldened, she locked herself in the bathroom — where the acoustics were better — and used her phone to record covers of current pop songs. She uploaded the video to social media. Three days later, she received a call from Fer Vázquez, leader of Uruguayan cumbia-pop group Rombai, who invited her to audition. After a Skype interview, she and her mother were flown to Buenos Aires. She joined the band that day. Within two weeks she was fronting Rombai in front of tens of thousands of fans.
Emilia remained with Rombai until 2018, recording nearly ten singles — including “Que Rico Baila” and “Besarte” — and performing all across Latin America. She left the group in 2018 to pursue a solo career and emigrated to Miami, Florida. After a year of singing backup gigs wherever she could, posting videos to social media, and auditioning, she signed a management deal with W.K. Entertainment, the largest representative of Latin music artists in the United States (some of their artists include CNCO, Wisin, and Maluma). With the influential assistance of her company she was signed to a record deal with Sony.
“Recalienta,” her February 2019 debut single, peaked at 68 on Argentina’s Hot 100 and at 11 on Uruguay’s long-established Monitor Latino chart. In May she collaborated with Ana Mena and Nio Garcia on the song “El Chisme.” In August 2019, she released the single and video for “No Soy Yo,” featuring Darrel. Its provocative video was set in a bowling alley/nightclub and co-starred CNCO’s Joel Pimentel and Latin pop singer Johann Vera as prospective suitors who Emilia briefly entertains, then rejects, for female singer Oriana Sabatini. The video racked up more than 25 million views, while the streaming single placed at 11 on the Top Latin Songs chart in the U.S. In November, Emilia was a co-billed collaborator on the dancefloor hit “Boomshakalaka” with Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike, Afro Bros, Sebastián Yatra, and Camilo. Her fourth single, “Billion,” appeared in December and registered at 14 in Uruguay.
In January 2020 she released the streaming single “Policía.” It reached number ten on the Monitor Latino chart. In February “No Más” appeared on Vevo’s new artist-centric Vevo DSCVR channel. It was one of only nine singles released in the format to reach more than three million views, regardless of language or genre. In March she collaborated with Latin pop duo MyA on the video and single for “Histeriqueo,” which netted some ten million views on YouTube and entered the Top Ten on the Monitor Latino chart. While working on her own material, she also co-composed the Lele Pons’ single “Bloqueo.” In August, Emilia issued “Já É Tarde (No Más)” in collaboration with Brazilian vocalist Bianca and reggaetoñero Cabrera. She collaborated with Alex Rose on the single “Bendición. Released in mid-October, it charted during its first week of release.
Unable to tour due to the global pandemic, Emilia spent the latter part of 2021 recording her debut album, Tú Crees en Mí? Co-written with a team that included her producer Big One (Daniel Ismael Real), it also featured several collaborators including Duki, Nicki Nicole, and Tiago PZK. The eight-song set appeared in May 2022. ~ Thom Jurek