13-Years-Old Pop-Rock Artist VEDA Releases Her Debut Single “Wannabe Me”!

US-based pop-rock singer VEDA amassed a quarter-billion views on TikTok in less than six months by performing duets of popular songs with her dad, Saliva frontman Bobby Amaru, and is now parlaying that viral success into a solo career.

Her debut song, entitled “Wannabe Me”, is now available on the main digital streaming platforms via Judge & Jury Records, the label founded by producer Howard Benson and Three Days Grace’s Neil Sanderson. Stream/download the song here: https://ffm.to/wnb

While VEDA and her father covered everyone from Carrie Underwood to Slipknot to Sia and Thirty Seconds To Mars, she is more drawn to pop-rock. “I feel like that's really me,” she says of a stylistic vocal range in the vein of Amy Lee, Olivia Rodrigo and Avril Lavigne.

“Wannabe Me” is the first of a series of singles that you will listen to during the following months. The track – co-written by VEDA - is about acceptance and not chasing popularity. “Do I really have to try so hard?” She sings. “Do I have to beg for your attention? Do I have to figure out who I am and what I’m about?”

“I'd say, being 12, I've been going through new things; it's not the same as when I was little,” VEDA says. “Howard asked me if I liked the lyrics and what we could change up, and we brainstormed. I like to be there and to help out.”

As dad explains, “We had conversations. I wanted her to own the lyrics and really connect with them, since it is her music and people’s first introduction to her original songs. I think we picked some great ones.”

One of Bobby’s friends was popular on TikTok and kept encouraging him to create videos for Saliva, but he didn’t have time. Then the band’s guitar player passed away in March 2023 of a brain hemorrhage. “I just wanted to focus more on family and want to work with Veda,” he says. “One night, we had already worked on a couple of covers that were recorded. I said, “Let's just do this Thirty Seconds To Mars song and film it and throw it up on TikTok and see what happens,’” he recalls.

“I threw that up and never thought about it. The next day her brother, who is 16 now, said, ‘Dad, the video has 300,000 views on it.’ I'm like, ‘Holy crap.’ We had hundreds of messages and comments and likes. I just told her, “Let's embrace it.’ So, we just kept making more and that's how it was built.”

Their duets got props from John Cooper (Skillet), Mike Shinoda (Linkin Park), Lacey Sturm (Flyleaf), and Jared Leto (Thirty Seconds to Mars), who reached out to express support for the father-daughter team, even asking them to cover more of their songs.

As users must be age 13 and up to have a TikTok account, all their videos were posted on Bobby’s account, which now has over 2 million followers. Their cover of Evanescence’s “Bring Me Back to Life” has 75 million views alone.

“It's crazy. I feel so grateful,” VEDA says.

Recording her own music, with Howard producing, she says, “I've learned so much. I've gotten much better at singing and working in the studio. “I've always looked up to my dad with music and always went to concerts. I knew that music was what I was really good at and that’s what I want to do.”

CREDITS

Artists / Performed By: Veda, Saliva, Judge & Jury

Written By: Veda Amaru, Bobby Amaru,

Produced By: Howard Benson, Neil Sanderson, Joe Rickard

Mixing Engineer: Joe Rickard

Surround Sound Mixing Engineer: Joe Rickard

Engineered By: Mike Plotnikoff, Hatch Inagaki

Assistant Engineer: Brandt Sier

Edited By: Paul DeCarli

Mastering Engineer: Niels Nielsen

Drums: Joe Rickard

Guitar: Phil X