Emilia

Emilia performs under the stage name Emilia Mernes and works as an Argentine pop singer, songwriter, model, and dancer. Her slightly grainy, breathy alto merges South American cumbia with catchy dancefloor pop over refined, rhythm-driven production that reflects contemporary techniques. After serving as the sole female vocalist in Uruguay’s leading cumbia-pop ensemble Rombai, she launched a solo path that yielded multiple charting singles. International attention arrived with her second release, the 2019 track “No Soy Yo” featuring Darrel, which climbed the upper reaches of the U.S. Top Latin Songs chart. In 2020 she earned a Premio Juventad nomination for Best New Female Artist. Her first full-length album, Tú Crees en Mí?, arrived in May 2022, followed in 2023 by the sophomore set .mp3, which reached listeners digitally late that year before receiving its physical edition in April 2024 and logging 50 weeks on the Spanish charts.

Born María Emilia Mernes Rueda in Nogoyá, Entre Ríos, she grew up as the daughter of a baker and a chef. An energetic youngster, she found early outlets in reading, singing, and dancing until her grandfather gave her a guitar at age 12. She picked up chords by ear and accompanied radio pop songs. While enrolled in literature studies at National University of Rosario in 2016, a classmate overheard her performing on campus and questioned her academic focus; the remark prompted a shift in direction. She began recording covers in a bathroom chosen for its acoustics and posted the clips online. Three days afterward, Fer Vázquez of the Uruguayan group Rombai contacted her following a Skype exchange, after which she and her mother traveled to Buenos Aires for an immediate audition that secured her place in the band. Within two weeks she was performing before tens of thousands of fans across Latin America.

She stayed with Rombai through 2018, contributing to nearly ten singles such as “Que Rico Baila” and “Besarte.” Departing that year to start her own career, she relocated to Miami, Florida, where she sang backup, shared videos, and auditioned until signing with W.K. Entertainment, whose roster includes CNCO, Wisin, and Maluma. The agency helped her obtain a Sony recording contract. Her debut solo single “Recalienta,” issued in February 2019, reached number 68 on Argentina’s Hot 100 and number 11 on Uruguay’s Monitor Latino chart. May brought the collaboration “El Chisme” with Ana Mena and Nio Garcia. August introduced “No Soy Yo” featuring Darrel; its video, filmed in a bowling-alley nightclub setting, featured CNCO’s Joel Pimentel and Johann Vera as suitors ultimately set aside in favor of Oriana Sabatini, accumulating more than 25 million views while the track peaked at number 11 on the U.S. Top Latin Songs chart. November found her alongside Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike, Afro Bros, Sebastián Yatra, and Camilo on the dance single “Boomshakalaka.” December’s release “Billion” landed at number 14 in Uruguay.

“Policía,” streamed in January 2020, rose to number ten on Monitor Latino. February’s “No Más” appeared on Vevo DSCVR and became one of only nine titles in that series to surpass three million views across any language or style. March brought the single and video “Histeriqueo” with the duo MyA, which gathered roughly ten million YouTube views and entered the Top Ten on Monitor Latino. She also co-wrote Lele Pons’s “Bloqueo.” August saw “Já É Tarde (No Más)” with Brazilian vocalist Bianca and reggaetoñero Cabrera. Mid-October’s “Bendición,” a partnership with Alex Rose, charted in its opening week. Pandemic restrictions halted touring, so she devoted late 2021 to recording Tú Crees en Mí? with producer Big One (Daniel Ismael Real) and guests Duki, Nicki Nicole, and Tiago PZK. The eight-track project surfaced in May 2022. The next year she issued the charting singles “GTA” and “La_Original,” then delivered the streaming version of her second album .mp3, which climbed the Spanish charts before its physical release in April 2024 and ultimately accumulated about 50 weeks on those rankings.