Recently I was able to get into contact with Miami-raised singer/songwriter Riela through a post on her instagram. A simple comment, on said post, asking for an interview led her and I to have a short conversation. I asked her a few questions about her music and her career as well as her biggest inspirations and favorite artists.

Riela was raised in Miami by Cuban and Panamanian immigrants. There she went to school where she took an interest in music that was quickly noticed.

“I grew up listening to a lot of R&B, and pop, and always loved to sing,” she said. “My elementary music teacher told my mom he saw a lot of potential and he told her she should put me in voice lessons and I haven’t stopped since!” 

Riela’s love for R&B is evident in some of her tracks such as “your place,” “mala maña,” and “poco a poco,” to name a few. These are some of my favorite tracks of hers and whenever I listen to them I can hear those elements of R&B, and I can’t help but wonder who her favorite artists are right now that influence her. So, of course, I asked her.

“My favorite artists are Kehlani, 070Shake, Bad Bunny, and Porches,” Riela said. Her love of the queen of R&B, Kehlani, makes her music make more sense to me. I can definitely detect some elements of Kehlani’s influence in Riela’s music as well as some elements of Bad Bunny’s influence. It’s like the perfect combination of style along with Riela’s beautiful delivery and voice.

Of course there are many inspirations in the music industry but what about those closest to Riela? I asked her about who inspires her the most in her life right now. “My family inspires me most in my life because they’ve always supported me and my siblings in anything we do and I think it’s incredibly progressive for immigrant parents to encourage their children to work in creative fields (all of us are in art),” Riela said.

It is through Riela’s family that she finds her true inspiration and that’s beautiful. Her music definitely reflects an atmosphere of love that she surrounds herself in. Now that I knew about her biggest influences and inspirations, I was curious as to what her favorite part of the song making process was.

“My favorite part of the creative process is connecting with the producer/writer and sharing my story and making it into a cohesive piece of music,” Riela said.

Music has always been about telling a story through your point of view and putting a meaning to things that sometimes are easier to put into a song than anything else. This is what makes music our universal language, and that is why it’s so important to be able to connect well with the people helping you put those pieces and emotions together into a song.

It was time to wrap up the interview so I closed us off by asking her who she hoped to collaborate with in the future. “My dream collab are Bad Bunny, VF7, and Kehlani,” She said.