Born in Maui, Hawaii and raised in Franklin, New Jersey, Joanne Bautista AKA ‘Leilani’ got the best of both worlds. Leilani’s interest in music grew when she was a kid thanks to her parents who played music at home all the time from 80’s pop artists such as Whitney Houston to the Jamaican Reggae duo Chaka Demus & Pliers. 

 

Whenever she visited her family back in Maui, reggae music would be blasting everywhere from a local’s pick up truck to a street performer out on Front Street in Lahaina. Back on the east coast, she grew up listening to z100, 105.1, and 97.1. she fell in love with all genres: such as rock, jazz, hip hop, pop, and house music. 

 

at the age of 22, Leilani started focusing on posting covers on youtube and Facebook to gain more exposure covering artists such as Bruno Mars, Drake, and SZA. at 23, she was performing at local venues such as The Alfa Art Gallery in New Brunswick and breaking out of her shell and discovering her own style of music. 

 

now at 24, leilani has been working on original music and has recently released her first single and music video this August called, “Maui Wowie” off of her first Concept EP titled, “Aloha, Suburbia” which is to be released in Spring of 2018. The first part of the EP has a more reggae, summery chill vibe to it to represent Leilani's lifestyle in Hawaii and the last part of the EP has a more east coast sound to it with a hip hop sound and trap influences to represent Leilani's influences from New Jersey. 

 

Although music has been a passion of Leilani’s her entire life, she is just starting to brand herself as the island girl with reggae roots that bridges the gap between hard hitting seductive trap and club bangers. because of her eclectic taste in music, we never know what she’s going to give her audience next except that its gonna be a hit that keeps us wanting more.