Tag: ROMANS

Meet Alaina Castillo — Bilingual Singer-Songwriter and Featured U.S. RADAR Artist

March 30, 2020

Recently, Spotify launched RADAR, a global development program for emerging artists around the world. RADAR allows us to deepen our commitment to young talent at all stages and strengthen their connections to their audiences. One such young talent we’re excited to support is U.S.-based singer-songwriter Alaina Castillo.

Prior to her junior year of high school, Alaina’s musical career revolved around singing in the church choir. Then, she began posting original songs, covers, and ASMR content on her video channel. In a matter of months, the Houston native had accumulated nearly 800,000 subscribers and made a fan of RØMANS — a producer known for churning out hits from pop stars like Demi Levato, John Legend, and Clean Bandit. From there, her career took off. 

RØMANS went on to produce Alaina’s debut EP in 2019, Antisocial Butterfly, which showcased her ability to weave beautifully between her two languages, English and Spanish. The album’s hit single, “i don’t think i love you anymore,” raked in more than 3 million streams on Spotify and paved the way for her sophomore single, “Valentine’s Day.” Most recently, she released two new singles, “ocean waves” and “just a boy,” and two Spotify Singles recordings.

We caught up with the RADAR U.S. representative for an inside look at her EP Antisocial Butterfly, what it was like to collaborate with RØMANS, and life on Spotify’s RADAR.

36 New Artists Around the World That Are on Spotify’s RADAR

March 9, 2020

Lauv. The Blaze. King Princess. Lil Baby. Official HIGE DANdism. Jorja Smith. These are undeniably prominent artists in today’s global musical landscape. They’ve been making their way onto Wrapped cards and festival headliner slots—but not so long ago they were just starting out, working their way up for a chance in the spotlight. Each was assisted in this journey by Spotify’s commitment to bringing up-and-coming artists to your attention—something we’re excited to continue with the launch of RADAR.

Through RADAR, our global emerging-artist program, we’re deepening our commitment to emerging artists at all stages of their development and strengthening their connection to audiences. With this global launch, we’ll continue to build on Spotify’s history of working with emerging artists through 19 sister programs featuring up-and-coming creators from more than 50 markets worldwide, all focused on helping artists from around the world reach the next stage in their careers.

“Spotify is a major reason why I’m able to be an independent artist,” says American singer-songwriter/producer Lauv, who was featured through Spotify’s developing artist program a few years ago. “Having their support from day one in making my music accessible to millions of users around the world has allowed me to grow as an artist and share music on my terms over the past five years. To have fans, whether in the Philippines, Peru, or Philadelphia know the words to songs all before I ever toured there speaks to Spotify’s global reach and ability to speak directly to fans with music that resonates around the globe.”

The launch of the program brings a mixture of Spotify’s best-in-class editorial and marketing abilities. Our playlists feature new and emerging talent around the world, and our marketing campaigns provide fans with the opportunity to get to know their new favorite artists.

“Spotify is thrilled to announce the launch of RADAR this year with an incredible group of emerging artists from across the globe,” said Ned Monahan, Spotify’s Head of Global Hits. “RADAR will become an influential program for up-and-coming artists across all genres worldwide and a great way for our global marketing and editorial teams to support the next generation of international superstars.”