Blaya, stage name of Karla Rodrigues (born May 27, 1987), is a Brazilian-born Portuguese singer and dancer.

Career

Blaya started singing in 2001, but her professional career only began in 2008, after joining

Buraka Som Sistema Buraka Som Sistema was an electronic dance music project from Portugal, specializing in a fusion of techno beats with the African zouk and kuduro genre. It is generally credited with creating the "zouk bass" and "progressive kuduro" variant and ha ...

as a dancer, eventually becoming one of the group's vocalists. The partnership with the band lasted until 2016, after the group announced its hiatus for undetermined time. Before that, in 2013, Blaya released a free solo EP, the self-named ''Blaya''. To promote the EP, she released the music video for "Superfresh", one of the EP's tracks, in December 2013. After a period of dance teaching, Blaya returned to singing. In March 2018, she released her single "Faz Gostoso", which was a huge success in

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

. "Faz Gostoso" was a top hit on the Portuguese charts and earned more than 24 million views on YouTube. The song was covered by American singer

Madonna Madonna Louise Ciccone (; ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer-songwriter and actress. Widely dubbed the " Queen of Pop", Madonna has been noted for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, songwriting, a ...

on her 2019 album ''

Madame X ''Madame X'' (original title ''La Femme X'') is a 1908 play by French playwright Alexandre Bisson (1848–1912). It was novelized in English and adapted for the American stage; it was also adapted for the screen twelve times over sixty-five ...

''. In September 2018, Blaya released two singles simultaneously, along with their respective music videos: "Má Vida" and "Vem na Vibe". In the same month, Portuguese TV station TVI premiered the

telenovela A telenovela is a type of a television serial drama or soap opera produced primarily in Latin America. The word combines ''tele'' (for "television") and ''novela'' (meaning "novel"). Similar drama genres around the world include '' teleserye'' ...

, ''Valor da Vida'' and its opening song, "Tudo Passou", is sung by Blaya. "Tudo Passou" incorporates musical and lyric elements of

Kaoma Kaoma was a French-Brazilian band formed in 1988 by Loalwa Braz (lead vocals), Chyco Dru (bass), Jacky Arconte (guitar), Jean-Claude Bonaventure (keyboard), Michel Abihssira (drums and percussion) and Fania (backing vocals). Dru is from Martini ...

's hit single, "

Lambada Lambada () is a dance from State of Pará, Brazil. The dance became internationally popular in the 1980s, especially in the Philippines, Latin America and Caribbean countries. It has adopted aspects of dances such as forró, salsa, merengue, m ...

". The video was shot in

Guimarães Guimarães () is a city and municipality located in northern Portugal, in the district of Braga. Its historic town centre has been listed as a UNESCWorld Heritage Sitesince 2001, in recognition for being an "exceptionally well-preserved and a ...

Personal life

Even though Blaya was born in

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

, she went to

when she was only two months old. His father was a Brazilian football player who played for Amora FC. Blaya was raised in

Ferreira do Alentejo Ferreira do Alentejo (), or simply Ferreira, is a town and a municipality in Beja District in Portugal. The population in 2011 was 8,255, in an area of 648.25 km2. The present Mayor is Aníbal Coelho Costa, elected by the Socialist Party. T ...

before definitely settling in the

Greater Lisbon Grande Lisboa () or Greater Lisbon is a former Portuguese NUTS III subregion integrated in the Lisboa Region. It was abolished at the January 2015 NUTS 3 revision. It is part of the historical Estremadura Province. It includes the capital and ...

area. In 2012, she publicly announced her bisexuality. In July 2017 she gave birth to her first child, a girl named Aura Electra Rodrigues Russo.

Discography

Singles

Awards and nominations

References

{{Authority control Living people 1987 births 21st-century Portuguese women singers Portuguese female dancers People from Fortaleza People from Beja District Bisexual singers Portuguese LGBT singers Bisexual dancers Brazilian emigrants to Portugal 20th-century LGBT people 21st-century LGBT people