For Los Angeles based musician and creative director Andrekza, 2021 has been a year of expansion. Not only did she release seven simmering singles and one killer debut EP, she’s also created a live stream series via Instagram and is boasting a new urban clothing line soon to drop, all under the umbrella of self empowerment, self expression and representation.
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After working on several other creative projects for other artists and brands, Andrekza decided to return to making music of her own and started releasing music in 2020 under Steve Aoki’s Latin music imprint, Dim Mak En Fuego. Since then, Andrekza has been carving deep emotional canyons out of sharp lyricism and mesmerizing reggaetone adjacent beats. The leap back into music comes from Andrekza’s desire to spread love and express more of herself to the world.
Intrinsically personal, Andrekza’s music also touches on her Venezuelan roots, being an immigrant in America and being a Latin woman. Representing the elements that makes her who she is, she punctuates her identity not just for herself, but to create a strong sense of positivity, inclusivity and Latin empowerment.
In her debut EP, Cassette – Lado B, Andrekza speaks directly to her Latin American sisters with “Sangre Poderosa,” mixing Afro indigenous beats with Latin rhythms to create something organic and representative of her ethnic background. She pairs her standout single with an urban music video that includes Latin women of all backgrounds and professions.
Her latest single “Miedo” is a rhythmic deep dive into the terror of letting go and giving into the unknown. It’s a song about ending something that no longer makes sense in our lives, but also how an ending, though scary, can lead to better opportunities, even if we don’t see them right away.
“I wrote this song when I was heartbroken,” says Andrekza. “It’s a really special song to me because it makes us think and be conscious of what relationships we deserve.”
The subsequent music video, produced by Dim Mak En Fuego, Lotus Visual Arts, and NINE and created and directed by Andrekza and her close collaborator Sebas Coto, is a dramatic dreamscape, drenched in saturated lighting and filled with punchy close ups and sweeping camera angles as it captures a crumbling relationship where the two people involved are holding on until there is just too much toxicity to bear.
On top of her musical endeavors, Andrekza has also launched UNIKORLANDIA Live, an ongoing series where she invites friends and creatives together to discuss various topics and personal experiences as well as share the music they’re currently listening to, and will soon drop a new urban clothing line as she fulfills her lifelong obsession with cultivating her own style and being in charge of what she wears.
On top of all these accomplishments this year, Andrekza continues to build off of her artistic nature and will have more to come in 2022.
Words: Patti Sanchez
For more on Andrekza, make sure to follow her on Instagram, Twitter and Spotify.
