Awa Matilda Isakine Santesson-Sey (born 6 July 1997), known

mononym A mononym is a name composed of only one word. An individual who is known and addressed by a mononym is a mononymous person. A mononym may be the person's only name, given to them at birth. This was routine in most ancient societies, and remains ...

ously as Awa (stylised as AWA), is a Swedish singer based in London. Her father is Senegalese, her mother Swedish. At age 12, deciding she wanted to study classical music, she applied to and later attended

Adolf Fredrik's Music School Adolf Fredrik's Music School () is a general municipal junior high school () in Stockholm, Sweden with a focus on choral music, and highly competitive admission based on audition in singing and musical ability. The school has two campuses and thr ...

in Stockholm.

Career

Awa was the winner of the first series of the Swedish version of ''The X Factor'' in 2012, at age 15. In 2013, she won a Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Award and released the single "Not Ready to Say Goodbye". Taking her time to work out her sound, she released the single "Obvious" in 2015. During this time, Awa worked with producers and collaborators including Aston Rudi and Show N Prove. In 2019, Awa was signed to

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American reco ...

. She released three songs on the label, followed by a six-track EP titled ''cry.baby''. "F**kin' Love Songs (ft. Ebenezer)" was premiered by

Julie Adenuga Julie Oluwatoyin Chidozie Adenuga (born 1988) is a British broadcaster, radio host and the creator of Don't Trust The Internet. She was one of the three lead DJs for Beats 1, Apple's 24/7 radio station as part of Apple Music. Early life Julie ...

Beats 1 Apple Music 1, previously branded as Beats 1, is a 24/7 music radio station owned and operated by Apple Inc. It is accessible through iTunes or the Apple Music app on a computer, smartphone or tablet, smart speaker (such as the Apple HomePod), ...

and was Yasmin Evans' 'Track of the Week' on

BBC Radio 1Xtra BBC Radio 1Xtra is a British digital radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It broadcasts Black music and urban music, including hip hop and R&B and is a sister station to Radio 1. Launching at 18:00 on 16 August 2002, it had been ...

. ''

Complex Complex commonly refers to: * Complexity, the behaviour of a system whose components interact in multiple ways so possible interactions are difficult to describe ** Complex system, a system composed of many components which may interact with each ...

'' premiered the official video. In November 2019,

Vevo Vevo LLC ( , an abbreviation for "Video Evolution", stylized in all caps until 2013) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational video hosting service, best known for providing music videos to YouTube. The service is also available ...

named Awa one of its "Artists to Watch" for 2020.

Discography

Singles

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Santesson-Sey, Awa The X Factor winners X Factor (Swedish TV series) contestants Swedish people of Senegalese descent 1997 births Living people 21st-century Swedish singers 21st-century Swedish women singers English-language singers from Sweden Singers from Stockholm