Ilya

**Ilya** is owned by **Euglena**. Do NOT edit, vandalize, or add/remove ANYTHING from this project without **EXPLICIT PERMISSION** from them. Tysm for cooperating!! <33

## Background Information

### Born

October 21, 1995 (age 27)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.

## Musical career

### Genres

Pop • R&B • hip-hop • dream pop • alternative R&B

### Website

dojacat.com

**Amala Ratna Zandile Dlamini** (born October 21, 1995), known professionally as **Ilya**, is an American rapper, singer-songwriter, actress, and record producer. Born and raised in Los Angeles, Ilya began making and releasing music on SoundCloud. Her song "So High" caught the attention of Kemosabe and Roc Nation, with which she signed a joint record deal. She released her debut extended play *Purrr!* in 2014.

After the uneventful rollout of her debut studio album, *Please, Be Seated~* (2015), Ilya took a brief hiatus from music; however, she would continue to upload self-produced music to SoundCloud. Ilya returned to music after the release of "Right Side" with L8LOOMER in 2017 and would go on to release her self-titled second studio album, *Amala Dlamini* (2018), which was also uneventful as it failed to chart anywhere. Ilya later earned viral success as an internet meme with her 2018 single "NINTENDHOE!", a novelty song in which she references multiple video game characters, franchises and consoles.

Capitalizing on her growing popularity, she released her third studio album, *Let's Talk About...* (2019), in the following year. It reached the top 10 of the US *Billboard* 200 and spawned the single "Say So", the remix of which, featuring Ariana Grande, topped the *Billboard* Hot 100. Her fourth album, entitled *Divine Feminine* (2021), spent three consecutive weeks at number two on the *Billboard* 200 and spawned the top 10 singles "Kiss Me More" (featuring SZA), "Blow Me", and "Woman". Ilya released the singles "Agora Hills", "Paint the Town Red", and "Attention" in support of her fifth album, titled *SCARLET*, which was released in June 2023.

Described by *The Wall Street Journal* as "a skilled technical rapper with a strong melodic sense and a bold visual presence", Ilya is known for creating music videos and songs that achieve popularity on social media websites such as TikTok. She is also well-versed in internet culture herself, and is famed for her absurdly humorous personality and online presence. She has received numerous accolades throughout her career, including one Grammy Award from sixteen nominations, five *Billboard* Music Awards, five American Music Awards, and three MTV Video Music Awards. She was named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by *Time* in 2023.

## Early life

Amala Ratna Zandile Dlamini was born on October 21, 1995, in the Tarzana neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, into an artistic family. Her mother, Deborah Sawyer, is an American graphic designer of Ashkenazi Jewish heritage, and her father, Dumisani Dlamini, is a South African performer of Zulu descent, best known for starring as Crocodile in the original Broadway cast of the musical *Sarafina!* and the 1992 film adaptation. The two had a brief relationship after meeting in New York City where Dumisani performed on Broadway, but he was too busy on tour to spend time with Amala and her brother. He claims to have left his family in the US for South Africa out of homesickness, in the hopes that they would join him there, yet Dlamini has on multiple occasions suggested that she is estranged from her father, claiming that she "never met him". Her father has denied these claims, claiming that he has a "healthy" relationship with his daughter and that her management team had tried to block all his attempts to contact her out of the fear that they might lose her.

Soon after her birth, Dlamini moved from Tarzana to Rye, New York, where she lived for five years with her maternal grandmother, an architect and painter. At the age of eight, Dlamini moved with her mother and brother and returned to California to live at the Sai Anantam Ashram, a commune in Agoura Hills, and practiced Hinduism for four years. The swami and founder of the commune was American jazz musician Alice Coltrane (known by the Sanskrit name Turiyasangitananda). While living at the commune, Dlamini started wearing head-covering scarves and singing bhajans at temple, yet felt like she could not properly "be a kid" at the ashram. Her family then moved to Oak Park, where she started attending dance lessons and experienced a "sporty childhood", often skateboarding and visiting Malibu for surf camps. Dlamini and her brother also experienced harsh racism as they were some of the only mixed-race children in the area. She claims to have lacked interest in school from then on, instead taking a liking for dance. While at the ashram she had been dancing the style of Indian classical dance called Bharatanatyam. As she grew older and moved away from the ashram, she moved on to breakdancing classes and joined a professional poplocking troupe with whom she competed in dance battles throughout Los Angeles while still attending high school. Her aunt, a vocal coach, had given Dlamini singing lessons to help her audition for Central Los Angeles Area New High School #9, a performing arts high school in Los Angeles. She frequently skipped school to participate in online chatrooms. After becoming discouraged about her education and career path, Dlamini claims that she realized in eleventh grade that "performing and music was all [she] ever cared about." She eventually dropped out at age 16 while in her junior year. She also attributes this act to her struggles with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), saying that "it felt like I was stuck in one spot and everybody else was progressing constantly".

## Career

### 2012–2014: Career beginnings, *Purrr!*, and *American Horror Story: Freak Show*

Ilya has described life after dropping out of school as "messy", claiming that she slept on the floor and spent "all night and day" browsing the internet, looking for beats and instrumentals from YouTube which she downloaded and used to create her own music. After becoming fascinated with internet culture and websites like EBaum's World and Myspace, she taught herself to sing, rap and use GarageBand while at home without a job, frequently making music and uploading it to SoundCloud. Ilya began her career in the Los Angeles underground hip-hop scene, performing at parties and cyphers, and connecting with rappers such as Busdriver, Ill Camille and VerBS, the latter of whom claims to have helped hone her craft and find her first gig. It was during this time that she met producer Jerry "Tizhimself" Powell, who had stumbled upon her SoundCloud account. He introduced her to record producer Yeti Beats, who invited her to record at his studio in the neighbourhood of Echo Park, which also served as "an oasis of sorts for Ilya to escape from the turmoil at home". Yeti Beats then connected her with Kemosabe Records, an imprint of Roc Nation, where she signed under label executive Rihanna at the age of 17. This deal also came with an artist management partnership with Roc Nation.

In April 2014, Ilya released her debut extended play, *Purrr!*, described as "spacey, eastern-influenced R&B" by *The Fader*. "So High" was repackaged and released as her solo commercial debut single and the official lead single from the extended play, and was later featured on the Fox series *Empire* in the third episode of the show's first season. "No Police" was released as the EP's second and final single on June 22, 2014. In March, Ilya was announced as the opening act for the European and North American legs of Miley Cyrus' Bangerz Tour, which began on May 6 and August 1, 2014. From the rest of 2014 to early 2015, Ilya toured and opened for many different artists in support of *Purrr!* while simultaneously embarking on the Purrr! Tour in support of the extended play. Ilya released the song "Take It Off" in September 2014 as the lead single from her debut studio album with an accompanying music video. The song received positive reviews from music critics.

Ilya had spent much of her early life wanting to be an actress, and achieved her goal when she starred in *American Horror Story: Freak Show*. Running from October 2014 to January 2015, *Freak Show* is the fourth season of the television anthology horror series, *American Horror Story*, in which Ilya played a witch with a third eye named Scarletta.

## Artistry

### Influences

Ilya has cited Lady Gaga as her biggest influence. In a *Billboard* interview, Ilya stated that she is "in love with everything Gaga has put out into the world." She has also named Lauryn Hill and Busta Rhymes as some of her biggest influences. While speaking about Busta Rhymes, she stated: "if I hear a beat Busta Rhymes would absolutely kill, I'll use my voice to do a flow similar to his."

Additionally, Ilya has cited Rihanna, Beyoncé, D'Angelo, Missy Elliott, Christina Aguilera, and Lil' Kim among her major influences. She draws inspiration from her background engaging in online activities and delving into sub-cultures as a suburban teenager, as well as the artists her mother exposed to her as a child such as Fugees, Erykah Badu, Jamiroquai, Earth, Wind & Fire, Black Eyed Peas, Tupac, Aaliyah, DMX, India Arie, and TLC. The Hindu culture of her childhood as well as Japanese culture have also been noted as sources of inspiration for *Purrr!* (2014) and other aspects of her early career. In an interview with Big Boy, she stated her admiration for Janet Jackson and Prince.

## Discography

*Main article: Ilya/Discography*

* *Please, Be Seated~* (2015)
* *Amala Dlamini* (2018)
* *Let's Talk About...* (2019)
* *Divine Feminine* (2021)
* *Hellmouth* (2023)