Aniya Teno: Naturally Talented and in The Right Direction
With almost ten years of singing and songwriting under her belt, a strong pen, vocals and guitar strings has gotten Louisiana-native and Loyola University NOLA student Aniya Teno into a career with an endless trajectory as the next great neo-soul/R&B artist. With almost 500,000 total streams on Spotify, Teno’s versatility and creativity shines through her music. Take a read about Aniya’s journey as an emerging artist!
Image courtesy of Aniya Teno
Alicia F: Do you remember the moment that you realized that you wanted to start pursuing a career as an artist?
Aniya: I've been singing since I was five and I started writing when I was 12 years old. So I've always been a musician — always wanted to write music, sing music — I've been performing [throughout] my childhood [by] being in choir and doing theater. I always knew it was something I wanted to do.
Image courtesy of Aniya Teno
Although she knew her passions from a young age, like many artists, she’s faced obstacles and discouragement because of the non-linear path many creatives have to take.
Aniya: When I got into high school, I kind of got nervous because people around [me] were always saying, ‘Oh, you want to be a musician, it's not really going to work, jobs [in the music industry] are not feasible.’
However, to combat that, she chased her dreams by choosing to study the music business at Loyola University, New Orleans to immerse herself in a space that encouraged her musical passions. With this, she has released multiple singles under the independent student-run record label, Wolf Moon Records, at her university.
Aniya: [It’s been a] really dope experience getting videos and photo shoots done this month, and recording singles, a really dope song. So I'm just, you know, excited about where I'm at right now.
Alicia F: What is your writing and production process?
Aniya: It really depends on if I'm working with other people. When I'm writing alone, it's mainly you know, me and just a guitar. But I love finding dope producers and engineers to work with.
With the current state of the world, adaptability has proven to be key for emerging artists. While Teno started working with producers locally, she has collaborated with producers, ranging from California to Denmark.
Aniya: My engineer (slash) producer in Katy, TX is this amazing dude [named] Gio. He's an incredibly talented jazz musician, and he plays a bunch of instruments. When I got to Loyola, I found another talented guy named Devin from California. So now, I've been doing a lot of getting a track, writing in the studio, or like, I just get the track right outside the studio. [Lastly], I have a friend named Alexander Grandjean [from Denmark]. I did a song with him called ‘Ocean in the Making’.
Her network has encouraged her to create songs like Direction, a song that blends the Spanish and English language, with Ivan Orozco, and write others that blend the distinct sounds of New Orleans, but still allow her style to shine through.
Aniya: We basically just were able to just work together constantly, constantly, over the pandemic. And of course, I was still taking my industry classes. So there was a project in my intro to music industry class, where we had to essentially put out a song (copyright, budgeting, logistics)… I was able to just be in one spot just work with the same people will be very consistent with what I was doing.”
Alicia F: Are you going to have an EP or project come soon?
Aniya: I'm working on videos and photography this month for it. Once that is delivered, we'll have more information, but that's my biggest project right now. And my friend, Devin, we've actually had talks about putting together a little EP with just us too.
Alicia F: What do you want to accomplish in your career?
Aniya: I want to be, you know, someone artists can go to and say, ‘Oh, that person, their writer, you know, like, they're gonna get you whatever you need,’ because that's my main passion is songwriting. I think that's my biggest dream, honestly, just be able to just do music. And be completely comfortable with what I'm doing and how I'm living, you know, off of my music.
Inspired by the Jazmine Sullivan’s and Keyshia Cole’s, her career continues with more experimentation of different sounds as an emerging R&B/neo-soul artist.
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