By: Kat Harlton
http://gabrielageneva.com
Pop/R&B artist Gabriela Geneva recently released Her new single, ‘You Were Right’. Co-written and recorded with Shobha and Rob Wells (Selena Gomez, Justin Bieber, Nelly Furtado), ‘You Were Right’is a deeply personal track that Geneva says she pulled from life experience,”Usually in writing sessions I have a general idea about what I want to write about. I knew I wanted to write about this specific thing and I had one of the first lines of the song ‘You said you didn’t have a leash that could hold me’ in my mind. It was something that my ex had said to me and it always stuck with me. I came out of that relationship with a bit of a complex, am I too loud? am I bit too sassy or outspoken? and in recent years I’ve come to embrace those things and find the positivity and I really wanted to write about that.”
No stranger to the stage Gabriela has opened for JUNO Award Nominees Shawn Hook and Ria Mae. She cites Ria Mae and Toronto itself for pushing her to refine her sound and songwriting process. “There were a lot of people who told me to come to Toronto. Ria Mae was one of them, I opened for her and she’s the best person ever. After we played that show, we kind of stayed in touch and she’s always giving little tidbits. She was one of the people who told me to go and check out Toronto and see how it is. I came during CMW, fell in love with it and saw there was so many things pointing to me to being here, so I came. If I’m in any position to give advice, it would be to just go. I mean it’s terrifying, and sucks to leave something comfortable behind but it pays off tenfold.”
Born in Bulgaria, Geneva’s family moved to England when she was just 9 years old, and then to Canada’s West Coast (Vancouver) at the age of 15. Geneva says her parents continue to be role models for her on a personal level “They’re just the strongest people I know.” and musically that she looks to Camilla Cabello for inspiration, “I know everyone says this, but Camilla Cabello is on my mind right now. When I heard her album, and how emotionally driven the music was, and how much substance the lyrics had, it was really inspiring pop music to me. I feel like a lot of people think of pop as a dirty word and I don’t understand why.”
For more on Gabriela Geneva, please visit: http://gabrielageneva.com