Courtesy Neveah Valdizan

Neveah Valdizan, a 16-year-old Timpview High School student, wants to share her music with the world, but that’s not all. She also hopes to inspire others her age to follow their dreams, and create music of their own.

Valdizan released her first album “Sticky Notes” after using apps, like Garageband, on her iPhone.

“I’ve always been musically involved, always wanted to be a singer or musician,” Valdizan said. “At 13 I started creating music on my smartphone… all of this led me to be able to create an entire music album that same year.”

Valdizan is entirely self-taught, and has been singing and performing from a very early age. With limited resources, she had be creative to make her dream of producing music a reality.

“She took the only resource she had. She was self-taught, we didn’t have the money to spend on expensive vocal lessons and to take her to a studio and get her studio time, because it’s super expensive to do all that,” said Cesar Valentino, Valdizan’s father. “She took the technology that’s out there now and was able to do everything herself.”

Screenshot via Spotify

Valentino believes his daughter is the youngest person to ever release an album created entirely on a cell phone, and that it’s her affinity for tech that sets her apart from other musicians.

“As a freshman in high school, she said ‘okay dad I want to do a full music album this year,’ and I thought it was a pretty crazy goal because very few musicians have done albums at the age of 14,” Valentino said. “It puts her in a different category than previous musicians like Taylor Swift or Shakira — because of technology.”

Just before her 16th birthday in June, Valdizan accomplished a goal she had set for herself — to release her second album at 15. Her sophomore album, entitled “HYTECHPOP,” stands for Hybrid Technology Popular Music. Like “Sticky Notes” before, her second album was also created entirely using her smartphone.

“Using my smartphone I would take samples of songs and I would turn them into my own version of modernized pop,” Valdizan said.

According to Valdizan, the fact that her iPhone allows her to create music on her own terms is what inspires her to keep going, to keep creating.

Screenshot via Spotify

“I think what inspires me to create music is learning that I can create music or do what I love using my resources at hand,” she said. “It doesn’t have to be super hard, and I can be a kid, have big dreams, and still do what I love because I have better opportunities like technology.”

Valdizan wants to help others learn how to tell their stories through music, and has begun teaching classes at her local library to teach people how to music using their phones. She wants everyone to know that they don’t need a recording contract or a Hollywood agent to make music — they already have the tools at their fingertips.

“I see that I can inspire everybody else to start making music on their smartphones… I believe that our music tells our stories, and our stories help unite the planet,” Valdizan said. “I want people to use their resources at hand, and I want people to follow their dreams,” she said.

Both “Sticky Notes” and “HYTECHPOP” are available to stream on Spotify.

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