Gedina

GEDINA

Tell’em

On her full-length debut Tell’em, Gedina channels her raw passion into a daringly fresh take on R&B-infused pop. “There are so many songs out there that come from a place of loss or despair, but I wanted to create the exact opposite of that,” says the L.A.-based singer/songwriter. “The intention was to inspire, so that anyone who’s having a rough day can put the album on and feel elevated to the highest version of themselves.” Along with showcasing Gedina’s gorgeously soulful vocals — as heard on her 2015 single “First Time, First Love,” an international hit that’s amassed over 1.9 million streams on Spotify — Tell’em brings both gritty vitality and indelible melody to a powerful celebration of growth and resilience.

Recorded at Angelhouse Studios in Torrance and executive-produced by Drew Kapner (who’s engineered records by Jason Derulo and Twenty One Pilots), Tell’em builds off Gedina’s magnetic energy with a newfound sense of wholeness. “This album is autobiographical from top to bottom — there’s not one area of my life that I neglected to hit,” she says. To accompany that intimate storytelling, Gedina offers up a bold and brightly textured sound that’s spiked with ear-catching flourishes — heavy grooves, hip-hop rhythms, tinker-toy piano tones — but ultimately centers on her soul-stirring melodies.

Bookended by the smoldering blues of the title track and its reprise, Tell’em features the fearlessly honest lead single “With Love.” With its soaring vocals, swaggering riffs, and shimmering synth lines, the undeniably anthemic track sets the tone for Tell’em with its spirited message of self-empowerment. Revealing the depth and scope of Gedina’s songwriting, Tell’em also includes tracks like “Hush” (a gracefully inventive and dreamlike ballad that captures Gedina’s own heartbeat), “Forgive Them” (an R&B-infused, guitar-driven ode to claiming your own sense of freedom), and “Federale (Creatura)” (a fiercely danceable number sung partly in Spanish, in a nod to Gedina’s Puerto Rican heritage). On “Lean Back Lover,” Gedina lays down a romantic, groove-powered track inspired by a teenage couple she glimpsed at a moonlit outdoor screening of Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo & Juliet. “The boy put his arm around the girl and they just leaned back on the concrete and lay there for two hours, and it was as if nobody else existed — just these two in their moment of pure love and bliss,” she recalls. And with “Glory,” Gedina delivers a slow-burning powerhouse that serves as the album’s centerpiece. “To me ‘Glory’ is the track that has the most hope and faith and detachment from blame,” says Gedina. “It’s about looking in the mirror and recognizing that I have my own light inside of me, and that nothing can give me more than that.”

Throughout Tell’em, Gedina shows a potent blend of strength and vulnerability — a dynamic she’s embodied since childhood. Raised by a single dad in Santa Cruz, she discovered her love of singing as a little girl (thanks largely to Mariah Carey and the Little Mermaid soundtrack), and in her early teens began busking and then singing in local clubs. After graduating from high school at 15, Gedina later enrolled at UC Irvine and gigged in nearby blues bars, unveiling her deep affinity for such legends as Etta James. Heading to L.A. once she’d finished school, she spent the coming years navigating the music industry and — in 2012 — landed a blind audition on season three of The Voice. That same year, Gedina released her debut single “Shame,” introducing the world to her warm authenticity and gutsy songwriting.

Also a Krav Maga instructor and fierce advocate for women’s health empowerment, Gedina hopes that the palpable joy and uncompromising honesty of Tell’em help to embolden each listener. “More than anything, I wanted this album to promote growth rather than limitation,” she says. “I used each song as a way to release old stories and, at the same time, become the woman I’ve always wanted to be. If these songs can touch other people in a similar way and we can fly together, then I’m definitely serving my purpose.”