Lorena Andrea

Fifteen-year-old singer-songwriter Lorena Andrea released her first EP titled "Hey, Wait a Minute" on November 17th in her hometown of Davis, CA. The excitement of the teenage audience was undeniable as they crowded to be front stage to listen to Lorena Andrea perform in the beautiful Vanderhoef auditorium at the Mondavi Center of the Performing Arts in the UC Davis Campus. Lorena Andrea took the stage and showed her undeniable connection with her audience delivering five of the six songs of her EP, playing both the piano and guitar and showing her powerful and melodic vocal talent. She then closed the performance with the debut of her music video for "Chilling on the Outside."

Lorena Andrea is the creative genius behind her lyrics and melodies and shares her musical narratives with an effortless ease and confidence that ring true to her vibrant, upbeat spirit, present throughout the entirety of the EP. Musically, "Hey, Wait a Minute" has a teen pop sound with soulful vibes. The song, which bears the name of the EP, describes the longing emotions and plea of wanting someone not to give up on a relationship, while her song "Sooner" reflects upon the desperation of regret, with lyrics like "If I would have been quicker, our future could've been bigger."

On her EP, she collaborated alongside an array of accomplished musicians including the talented Rob Persaud, who's produced songs for Sabrina Carpenter, Nick Jonas, and Lady Gaga, as well as Richard Harris, who has produced for Shawn Hook, and lastly, with the production duo of Andrew Furze and Todd Bergman, who have worked and produced for Alessia Cara and Christina Aguilera.

Lorena Andrea is a very active musician, having performed the National Anthem at NBA games and touring with her band throughout junior high and elementary schools in Northern California and performing live on TV on Good Day Sacramento Channel CW/CBS 31. She has performed at many fairs and festivals in California including The San Diego County Fair, Dixon May Fair, and Together is Better-Club 21 in Pasadena, among many others. She will be returning to Good Day Sacramento Channel CW/CBS 31 this Saturday, December 2nd to promote the release of her EP.

In looking towards the future, Lorena Andrea has already planned to expand into bilingual music, including lyrics in Spanish and English, as well as combining new hints of sounds and styles like urban and R&B with her electro-pop rhythm. As she continues to create music that melds musical genres and language fusions, Lorena Andrea is excitedly embarking on a promotional campaign to appeal to multiple fan bases across the nation and worldwide. - PR Newswire

Fifteen year old singer-songwriter Lorena Andrea released her first EP, “Hey, Wait a Minute,” on Friday, Nov. 17, in her hometown of Davis.

The teenage audience crowded to the front of the stage to listen to her perform in the Vanderhoef Studio Theatre at the Mondavi Center on the UC Davis campus.

The singer delivered five of the six songs on her EP, playing both the piano and guitar and showing her irrefutable vocal talent, while the crowd sang along to her lyrics. She then closed the performance with the debut of her music video for “Chilling on the Outside.”

Lorena Andrea is the genius behind all of her lyrics and melodies, which she has been creating since the age of 9. She shares these musical narratives with an effortless ease and confidence that ring true to her vibrant, upbeat spirit, present throughout the EP.

The title track, “Hey, Wait a Minute,” describes the longing emotions and plea of wanting someone not to give up on a relationship, while “Sooner” reflects on regret, with lyrics “If I would have been quicker our future could’ve been bigger.”

For her EP, she collaborated alongside an array of industry leaders, including Rob Persaud, who has produced songs for Sabrina Carpenter, Nick Jonas and Lady Gaga; Richard Harris, who has produced for Shawn Hook; and the production duo of Andrew Furze and Todd Bergman, who have worked and produced for Alessia Cara and Christina Aguilera.

Her music video was directed by Alex Dimarco, who directed videos for artists such as Khalid, Lauv and Wiz Khalifa.


She has been able to share her talents extensively throughout her young career. She’s performed the national anthem at several NBA games and sung on “Good Day Sacramento.” She’s toured throughout junior high and high schools in Northern California, and performed at many fairs and festivals, including the San Diego County Fair, Dixon May Fair, UC Davis Soaring to New Heights and Together is Better for Club 21 in Pasadena.

In looking to the future, she plans to expand into bilingual music, including lyrics in Spanish and English, as well as combine new hints of sounds and styles like urban and R&B with her electro-pop rhythm.

As she continues to create music that melds musical genre and language fusions, Lorena Andrea is embarking on a campaign to appeal to multiple fan bases across the nation and world. - Davis Enterprise

Lorena Andrea is a singer-songwriter with her own record label. She’s sung the national anthem at four Sacramento Kings games, performed at last weekend’s Picnic Day at University of California Davis (on the Mondavi outdoor stage) and is booked for May gigs at the Dixon May Fair, the Sacramento County Fair and the Pence Gallery in Davis, among other venues.

Oh, and she’s 15 years old.

Lorena lives with her parents and younger brother Brandon in an airy, modern home in the country club community of El Macero, just across Interstate 80 from the city of Davis. Her bedroom subs as a practice studio. When I first met her a few years ago, her parents had built her a small stage in another room, now dismantled.

“I don’t like to be called a stage mother,” says Sandra Reynoso Rogers, a native of Peru who’s an immunologist. Lorena’s dad, Brian Rogers, is a toxicologist and Placerville native who met his wife when they both worked at Genentech, in Vacaville. The couple owns a consulting firm, Pacific Bio, which has local and Bay Area offices.

“Brian and I just thought Lorena had such talent that we wanted to give her the chance to explore it,” Sandra continues. "I try never to be pushy, just encouraging." She accompanies Lorena to writing and recording sessions in Los Angeles every month or so, and has even hired music industry veterans to work with her. “But,” she continues — in heavily accented but fluent English — “the deal we have made is that she must be an excellent student and have a backup plan.” She is and she does.

I visit with Mom, Dad and Daughter one recent Saturday afternoon, during which Brandon and assorted 12-year-old boys make raucous guest appearances (they’ve been fooling around with a soccer ball on the expansive back lawn which faces two fairways). Considering the niceties of her life and surroundings, Lorena seems remarkably unspoiled, articulate and career-oriented but still displays the enthusiasm of a teenager. “The first concert I can remember attending,” she says, “was Taylor Swift’s, when I was in the sixth grade. I was just so fascinated by the show. I started to decide that this is what I wanted to do — write and perform my own songs and” — here comes some girlish dreaminess as she almost yells — “sell out an arena!” - Sacramento Business Journal

“I wasn’t sure if I wanted to do pop or country or electronic pop,” says Lorena Andrea, the 15-year-old singer-songwriter we met in yesterday’s column. “But this past September, for whatever reason, I decided to do pop with element s of electronics.”

The distinctions may be lost on you but it actually demonstrates a strategic move by the young woman (who, it should be pointed out, envisions herself majoring in business when she gets to college — as long as she can also take music theory courses).

Lorena started taking piano lessons “when I was six or seven,” she says, at the same time she started playing the guitar. I ask her if there’s another instrument she’d like to conquer and she doesn’t hesitate: “Drums!” I think that elicits a slight wince from her mother and business manager, Sandra Reynoso Rogers, but I may be imagining it.

She’s also mature enough to know the value of setting her sights slightly below the rainbow: she’d “love to be the opening act” for an established performer, local or otherwise.

Lorena’s parents helped her create her own recording label, Shadow Records. Shadow is the family pooch, a rambunctious and sweet-natured “Labrawoodle,” a Labrador/Welsh terrier mix. Humor rates pretty high at this household.

As a songwriter, Lorena seems to tap into that teenage angst too many adults belittle but from which Taylor Swift has made a fortune. Here’s a sample from one of Lorena’s songs, “One and Only” — which, like all of the songs she’s written that I’ve heard, has a catchy tune, so much so that I started humming this before typing it in:

Your silence is leaving me unsteady

I don't really think I'm ready

To hear what you're gonna say

Make sure not to leave me broken

It's difficult to be this open

But there is no better way

Loneliness and confusion also seem to be at the root of her song “Can’t Be With You”:

You got me when you pull me in

Throw me when you shut me out

Now every light is red, do you even want me now?

Gonna be a consequence

For sitting hard on the fence

My heart, my heart is not a toy, boy

Do yourself a favor: Go to Lorena’s website ( http://lorenaandreamusic.com) and give a listen. You’ll feel young again — and probably remember that it wasn’t always a happy time. - Sacramento Business Journal