Aneeka (born Andrea Martínez; August 18, 1985) is a

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

n singer born in San Cristóbal. Her name means ''believe'' in

Wayuu The Wayuu (also Wayu, Wayúu, Guajiro, Wahiro) are an Amerindian ethnic group of the Guajira Peninsula in northernmost part of Colombia and northwest Venezuela. The Wayuu language is part of the Maipuran (Arawak) language family. Geography ...

Career

Aneeka sought opportunities to record an album in

but was unsuccessful. She found willing investors in

Mexico Mexico (Spanish language, Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a List of sovereign states, country in the southern portion of North America. It is borders of Mexico, bordered to the north by the United States; to the so ...

and after working in different music clubs for seven years, she recorded an album that was never released. She released her first album ''Ni Antes, Ni Después'' (''Not Before, Nor After''), produced by Ettore Grenci, in 2013. It consists of a mix of

Pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop!, a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Albums * ''Pop'' ( ...

, R&B and

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the mi ...

music. ''Ni Antes, Ni Después'' included ten songs written by Mexican

Latin Grammy Award The Latin Grammy Awards are an award by The Latin Recording Academy to recognize outstanding achievement in the Latin music industry. The Latin Grammy honors works recorded in Spanish or Portuguese from anywhere around the world that has been ...

winner Mónica Vélez, whose lyrics deal with topics such as jealousy, infidelity, revenge, sex, and solidarity. The album was pre-produced in Mexico, with

melodies A melody (from Greek μελῳδία, ''melōidía'', "singing, chanting"), also tune, voice or line, is a linear succession of musical tones that the listener perceives as a single entity. In its most literal sense, a melody is a combinati ...

by Anneka and her producer Grenci. It was recorded at the

Sonic Ranch Sonic Ranch, in the border town of Tornillo, Texas, is the world's largest residential recording studio complex. There are five studios designed by Vincent Van Haaff on a pecan orchard, which borders the Rio Grande and Mexico. Located east of ...

studio in

El Paso, Texas El Paso (; "the pass") is a city in and the seat of El Paso County in the western corner of the U.S. state of Texas. The 2020 population of the city from the U.S. Census Bureau was 678,815, making it the 23rd-largest city in the U.S., the ...

. Reflecting on the album, Aneeka declared: "Today I see my dream crystallized and it was worth the sacrifice of being away from my family and having lived through my teens quickly. This is what I was born to do". Anneka has stated that her musical influences include the American singers

Mariah Carey Mariah Carey (; born March 27, 1969) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and record producer. Referred to as the " Songbird Supreme", she is noted for her five-octave vocal range, melismatic singing style and signature use of the w ...

Whitney Houston Whitney Elizabeth Houston (August 9, 1963 – February 11, 2012) was an American singer and actress. Nicknamed "Honorific nicknames in popular music, The Voice", she is Whitney Houston albums discography, one of the bestselling music artists ...

and

Aretha Franklin Aretha Louise Franklin ( ; March 25, 1942 – August 16, 2018) was an American singer, songwriter and pianist. Referred to as the " Queen of Soul", she has twice been placed ninth in '' Rolling Stone''s "100 Greatest Artists of All Time". Wit ...

. She remarked that she attempted to include their musical styles on the album, blending them with pop music. Three singles were released from ''Ni Antes, Ni Después'': "Ojo por Ojo"; "Sin Combustible"; and "Demasiado Tarde". The music video for "Ojo Por Ojo" was directed by the photographer and fashion designer

Indrani Pal-Chaudhuri Indrani Pal-Chaudhuri is a multidisciplinary artist, film director, fashion and documentary photographer, public speaker, television personality, Princeton University educator, founder and chief marketing officer, known mononymously as "Indrani" ...

. "Sin Combustible" was successful in Mexico as the fourteenth best performing single of 2013, reaching number two in the

airplay Airplay is how frequently a song is being played through broadcasting on radio stations. A song which is being played several times every day (spins) would have a significant amount of airplay. Music which became very popular on jukeboxes, in n ...

charts. In the United States, the track peaked at number 24 in the ''Billboard'' Tropical Songs chart. Aneeka was nominated for

Best New Artist The Grammy Award for Best New Artist has been awarded since 1959. Years reflect the year in which the Grammy Awards were handed out, for records released in the previous year. The award was not presented in 1967. The official guidelines are as ...

and performed at the

Latin Grammy Awards of 2014 The 15th Annual Latin Grammy Awards was held on November 20, 2014 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Paradise. This was the first time that Latin Grammys has been held at this location. The main telecast was broadcast on Univision at 8:00PM EST. ...

. She lost to fellow Venezuelan singer

Mariana Vega Mariana Vega (born 11 February 1985) is a Venezuelan singer-songwriter, successful in her native country and Mexico, and the winner of the Latin Grammy for Best New Artist in 2014. Biography Mariana Vega was born in Caracas, the youngest of four s ...

. Aneeka received a nomination for the

Lo Nuestro Awards The Lo Nuestro Awards or Premios Lo Nuestro ( Spanish for "Our Thing") is a Spanish-language awards show honoring the best of Latin music, presented by Univision, a Spanish-language television network based in the United States. The awards began i ...

for New Artist of the Year. In December 2014, it was announced that Aneeka would join the vocal coach

Gary Catona Gary Anthony Catona (born September 25, 1952) is an American author and voice coach, who describes himself as a "Voice Builder". His clients have included Whitney Houston, Andrea Bocelli and Muhammad Ali. Career Catona was born in Philadelphia ...

's team in the reality show ''The Ultimate Diva'', a singing competition to be broadcast on the

video-sharing An online video platform (OVP), provided by a video hosting service, enables users to upload, convert, store and play back video content on the Internet, often via a structured, large-scale system that may generate revenue. Users will generally u ...

website

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

in 2015.

Discography

*'' Ni Antes... Ni Después'' (2013) *'' Ni Antes... Ni Después "en vivo"'' (2015)

References

{{authority control 1985 births Living people Venezuelan emigrants to Mexico 21st-century Venezuelan women singers Venezuelan pop singers Rhythm and blues singers Women in Latin music