Havana (singer)

Havana is an American singer from San Diego, California. Her singing style incorporates elements of progressive soul music, electronic music, and a style of soul music that originated in the 1990s in the United States termed "hypersoul", performed by artists such as Whitney Houston and Destiny's Child, blending elements of Eurodance, with a focus on electronic beats, slicker production, materialism, and heightened sexuality in both rhythm and lyrics. Hypersoul is described as a precursor to modern, high-production R&B, featuring a more European sound influence compared to other subgenres of soul and is characterized by a mix of traditional soul vocal techniques and sensibilities with modern, technology-driven dance music. She is most known for her 2005 album "Life: Living in Fearless Emotion", released by Detroit-bred, San Diego-based music label Skoolcraft Music. As of 2010, 18,000 copies of the album have been sold and the album has caught the attention of mainstream brands like NBC, MTV, Scion and Adidas, who each respectively reached out to the musician to link up on select licensing deals. She has worked with various music producers such as Nicolay, Symbolic One and Waajeed.

Early life and career

Born in San Diego, Havana faced many hardships during her childhood. She faced issues such as abandonment, domestic violence and drug abuse from her parents, her mother being a drug addict and her father who ended up in jail multiple times. As a result, she turned to music to express herself, which provided comfort to draw herself away from the struggles she experienced early in her life. She got her stage name "Havana" after people noticed her wearing a shirt that said "South America by way of Havana" and asked her if she was from Cuba. She chose the name "Havana" after several people called her by that name and, according to her, "the name just stuck". She chose the stage name "Havana" also because of the situation in Havana, Cuba in 2010, with citizens experiencing new-found freedom. Havana found herself transferring aspects of the events occurring in Cuba to her music, expressing her liberation and freeing herself from the hardships she experienced as a child. The lyrics to her music incorporate elements from her childhood experiences growing up. Her second album Entervention (released in 2011) is a concept album based on the turmoil and struggles she encountered while trying to overcome her past. The songs on the album parallel the experiences she had growing up and her present reality. The songs prioritize her vocals over the beats, paralleling the way she lives her life... "upbeat, lively and raw", with her stating that "The Entervention project involves me dealing with my past by venting my frustrations through music. I am taking the opportunity to share more of my feelings; feelings that I haven't touched on until now”.

Discography

Albums

• Life: Living in Fearless Emotion (2005)
• Entervention (2011)

Singles

• Shine/Tangled (2005)
• Feel My Love (CD, 2006)