Juliana Joya With a silky-smooth singing voice bordering on the hypnotic and maturity and poise beyond her years, 18-year-old singer/songwriter Juliana Joya is eons ahead of where age should have her, with an inherent sense of melody and the ability to turn poignant to sexy on a dime.
Raised in Venice, Italy, the green-eyed beauty has written all her own melodies since the age of eight, when she would sing along with the music of Italian cartoons and perform native favorites at family gatherings until exposure to MTV, Michael Jackson and Alicia Keys placed her on a different path. Nicknamed Gioia (Italian for “joy”) by her mother Anna, who felt that Juliana’s singing was a joyful gift from god, Juliana moved to America at age 14 without knowing a word of English. A mere four years later, she speaks the language fluently with barely an accent, and sings like a master of both music and language.
Now, with her first recordings hitting the Internet, the Brooklyn-based Juliana hopes to eventually have the same impact as her musical idols.
“I want everybody to get something out of my songs,” says Juliana, speaking in a Brooklyn coffee shop with the authority of years, yet sneaking sips of raw sugar with childlike enthusiasm when no one’s watching. “I want to write songs people can relate to - the kind of songs you can put on when you feel down, and they make you feel better.”
Juliana, whose exotic, enchanting looks come from the blend of her Italian mother and Puerto Rican father, has two songs available for listening on her MySpace page (www.myspace.com/julianajoya) - the simmering R&B of “Can’t Control It,” and the cat-like sensual declarations of “Tonight’s The Night.” A natural performer who can fill a room with music with the same formidable power she uses to seduce a camera, Juliana Joya is an exciting, captivating, enchanting new artist with a style and voice to entice the dance-filled, party-loving romantic in all of us.
