“In kindergarten, they taught us ‘God Bless America.’ I couldn’t stop singing it,” recalls 20-year-old singer Estevie. “From that moment I was like, ‘Oh yeah, this is it.’” America’s patriotic anthem is a peculiar first love for a contemporary force in Mexican cumbia, a traditional Latin music style known for its percussive rhythm—but this dissonance is one of many Estevie has transformed into harmony.

Hailing from Beaumont, California, Estevie (born Sarah Silva) first tasted stardom when she moved to Mexico City at age 11 to participate in the reality music competition series La Academia Kids. There she secured second place among 20 young singers from Latin America and the United States. A “no sabo kid,” meaning she wasn’t fluent in Spanish, Estevie was able to strengthen her language skills and connect with her family’s Mexican roots. In the years that followed, the singer experimented with Latin covers and American pop, but struggled to find a distinct voice: “I was stuck. Everything seemed stagnant,” she says.

“Like, am I even supposed to be doing this anymore?” But then she stumbled across an old YouTube video of her former La Academia judge Alicia Villarreal singing a cumbia norteña, the subgenre of cumbia native to Mexico. Estevie was enchanted by the instruments—the keyboards, the güiro, the timbales. She gushes, “It made me want to start dancing.” The next day, she told her producer, “You know what? I’m only going to do cumbia.” Her new obsession birthed the sultry and cutting “Canela,” her first track and accompanying self-produced music video. “Canela” bridged generations, paying homage to a time-honored music genre while injecting a fresh Gen Z spirit. “I want to be traditional, but with a new flavor to it,” says Estevie. “I like using everything that’s new, cool, and trendy and, at the same time, using what was cool 20 years ago.”

Determined to “get to the next level,” Estevie posted the video to Instagram and left Ricky Reed, founder of Nice Life Music Company, a simple Instagram direct message: “Hi.” After watching her performance, Reed arranged a breakfast meeting and signed her the following morning. Under Reed’s management, Estevie has brought her sound to scale, touring with Ivan Cornejo, another young Mexican-American artist, and releasing her first EP, Cumbialicious. She completed her first solo tour in September.

Backed by strong intuition, talent, and the serendipity of her early years, Estevie has brought an undeniably new sound to cumbia. Like any visionary, she thrives on instinct: “You can’t expect other people to trust you if you don’t have your vision clear.” The public will once again receive a window into Estevie’s rich sonic world when she drops her next dose of artistic brilliance: “I have Cumbialicious Deluxe coming up, so ya’ll can prepare for that.”

This story appears in the pages of V146: now available for purchase!

Photography Dennis Leupold

Fashion Marta Del Rio

Makeup Esther Foster

Hair Patricia Morales at The Visionaries Agency for Rizos Curls

Set design Michael Sturgeon

Production Jordan Metz (Art+Department)

Digital technician Kevin Leupold

Photo assistants Tommy Blanco, Winston Kingstro, Allison Lopez, Sabrina Patino

Stylist assistant Kiera Maroney

Hair assistant Travis Takara

Set design assistant Ryan Schaefer

Location Dust Studios