Emilia Mernes, a New Popstar Who’s Way Beyond Being Duki’s Girlfriend
She’s the new phenomenon coming out of Argentina
Adriano Moreno, Madrid – I met Emilia just a year ago. She came to Los40 to promote an EP of eight songs that she released as a letter of presentation of an album with pop songs, quite urban and a nice ballad. At that time I didn’t place her within that revolutionary movement coming out of Argentina and which is gladly captained by Bizarrap, María Becerra, Tiago PZK, Nicki Nicole and a long etcetera. That visit to LOS40’s central studios, however, was revealing. We prepared a track by track of ‘Tú crees en mí?’, the artist’s debut album, and she went on to become one of my most listened to singers on Spotify. Yes, I hit it really hard to ‘Como si no importara’ and ‘Cuatro Veinte’.
Once on my radar, I gradually discovered things about the artist. I learned, for example, that Emilia’s figure generated a lot of interest within the gossip world. There is no pop princess without gossip and it is even more understandable if a pop princess is dating Duki, one of the princes of the urban genre.
What I didn’t like – and it really pissed me off – was when I started to read certain comments on Twitter where she was referred to as «the girlfriend of» or criticized directly for taking advantage of the rapper’s position to gain projection beyond the borders of Argentina. Even Mauro himself – sorry for taking these confidences – had to come out to defend her. «I feel that sometimes we are very cruel with our female artists and we have to value them and take care of them more. People who get on, who dance, who sing, who put together a choreography for you. I ask everyone that before criticizing, think again,» she said, and she was right as rain.
You only have to see Emilia on stage to realize that the title that represents this 26-year-old is that of pop princess, not «Duki’s girlfriend». She has all the qualities of one: she sings well, dances well and has a repertoire of songs that are tastefully crafted and, more importantly, meaningful. Her career as a soloist has just begun and she is already achieving the most difficult thing, which is not to arrive but to remain in the collective imagination.
A merit that belongs to her alone. And this will go further because, like any pop princess, ambition – the good kind of ambition – is part of her DNA and, logically, she seeks to climb positions within the music industry with a hit and without being dragged down by malicious comments. Emilia is ready to be everything and, judging by her latest moves, it seems that in 2023 she will reach the goal of becoming the definitive Argentine pop star.
She’s about to grab a crown to go with her ‘brilli-brilli’ to shout to the whole world that «you believe in me?»
After that EP in which she flirted with different sounds within pop, Emilia has elaborated a master plan and, why not say it, quite coherent for her next giant step. A pop princess must pay homage to other pop princesses and she has taken that predominant sound in the international scene of the 2000s, the golden age of so many greats, and has elaborated several tracks that, besides respecting the aesthetics of the iconic music videos of that decade, play with the 00s melodies and she has no qualms about stopping a track like ‘Jagger’, apparently urban, and suddenly turning it into a hip-hop bop in the pure style of Missy Elliot. It’s absolutely hypnotic. Or ‘No_Se_Ve.mp3’ with Brazilian singer Ludmilla, a more electronic single and with a differential base -is it a xylophone that sounds in the chorus? – which makes what will be her next album much more attractive and interesting.
This without losing focus on collaborations, with which she gains visibility and reaches new audiences. She has an eye like a good ‘business woman’. She is not an artist who collaborates for the sake of collaborating and knows how to choose. All the ones she has released so far – ‘En la intimidad’ (with Callejero Fino and Big One), ‘Tu recuerdo’ (with Wisin and Lyanno) and the recent ‘Los Del Espacio’ (with LIT killah, Duki, Tiago PZK, FMK, Rusherking, Maria Becerra and Big One) – accumulate a good handful of listeners. In fact, his monthly Spotify listeners have multiplied. A year ago it hovered around six million and now, as of June 6, 2023, it is well over eleven million.
There are still those who credit Duki for simply participating in the composition of some of his latest songs. Not that that’s a bad thing! I understand that these are people who find it hard to see that a girl like Emilia is on her way to becoming a must-have in international pop.
She is about to take a crown to shout to the whole world that «Crees en mí?», a claim that has even more strength because of the circumstances. The haters will respond with their venom, but, luckily, the rest of the people will gradually fall under the hypnotic spell of the next global popstar. I have no proof – sorry, I don’t see the future yet – but I have no doubts either.