As we all know, it is not in the music industries’ priority to
knock on anyone’s door. Many starving musicians are looking
for a hint of light at the end of a dark, endless tunnel. Some will go
to a record label and knock on its doors until someone
answers, many will give up their dream, but if your name is Carmelina
Vargas, you just start a label of your own.
Born in the Dominican Republic and raised in Harlem, Carmelina was the
little girl that always liked to sing and dance. Her
father was in a Merengue band and always taught her to be herself. One
day he gave her a Madonna CD and from that point
on she decided to be a singer.
After years of trying and waiting record label to
sign her, Carmelina got proactive and stepped
up to the plate. In 2006,
Carmelina decided to start her own record label! “It’s
all a matter of investing your lunch money.” said Carmelina. She
signed with a digital distribution label to sell her music online. This
all sounds like a piece of cake right? Not necessarily, it
took Carmelina a while to find her voice as a singer. It’s all about
finding your voice and staying true on what you want to do.
After a while of pushing her music and not getting any response from the
mainstream, Carmelina did get discouraged and put
everything on the backburner. Until one day, she was on her way to her
mother’s house and heard one of her old demos on her
Ipod. “My voice was calling me again!” said Carmelina. And from then on
she has not stopped.
Carmelina is now signed to Rainysongs Entertainment and is working on her
new album, “Generation Ñ”, which it is set to be
released June of this year. She named it “Generation Ñ” because we are
part of a generation that is tech savvy, multi-lingual,
multi-generational and has a lot of buying power. “It is hard to put a
finger on us, but we know who we are.” said Carmelina.
Expect “Generation Ñ” to be an eclectic concoction of music blends. She
loves all types of music from Madonna to Shakira to
Britney Spears. Let’s just say she is starting a new genre called, “pop-reggaeton”.
Her upcoming single is entitled; “Mueve
las Caderas” (Shake your Hips). Which she shot a video for the single on
her own!
In closing, Mija Magazine asked Carmelina for any words of advice that
she would like to give to our readers Carmelina replied:
”Don’t sit around waiting for someone else to do things for you. Just be
driven and find that inner voice AND don’t listen
to the haters.”
