Palmer teen releases debut album, preps for college

PALMER — For Palmer High School senior Emily Yannatone, the path to musical success is about making connections.

“It’s all about who you know and connect with in the music industry,” Yannatone said in a quiet Palmer High conference room on Wednesday.

Born in California and raised in Oklahoma, the now 18-year-old got a fortuitous call from a producer acquaintance while she and her family were en route to Alaska the summer before her freshman year of high school.

The producer — Sherman Johnson, father of Yannatone’s friend Kevieion Johnson (a Christian rapper who goes by the name K-Praize) — told Yannatone that he had seen a few of her YouTube videos and lamented that when they had met briefly before she hadn’t told him she could sing.

“He started talking about wanting to meet me and maybe get in the studio and I’m like, ‘I’m in Canada right now,’” Yannatone said.

Disappointed though they both were at the ill-timed invite, Yannatone and Johnson kept in touch over the next couple years, with Yannatone sending her self-written songs to Johnson as she created them. At the end of her sophomore year, she flew back to Oklahoma for the summer to work with Johnson, who eventually became her manager and signed her to I Am Nex Records.

“He doesn’t like to just sign anybody, he wants to get to know the person, who they are,” Yannatone said.

The music

Like Yannatone herself, Johnson saw several different versions of the girl — the nerd, the diva, the sister — all of which come out in Yannatone’s first music video, for the song, “Merry Go Round.”

“I have such a busy life and I have to be so many people to so many people,” Yannatone said.

Being a part of her school’s theater and music programs, the National Honor Society and student government has required her to wear several different hats, as has her participation in talent shows and pageants around the state. Yannatone said her younger brother even refers to her by two different names: “Sizzle” when they’re working on music together, and simply Emily when they’re just hanging out.

In the music video, she sings about being “salty” though perceived as sweet, and celebrates having “multiple personalities.”

“I can be anything that I wanna be,” she sings in the video.

“Merry Go Round” is one of 10 tracks on Yannatone’s debut album, “Supernova,” released April 5 on iTunes, Amazon and Google Play. Songs like “Last Laugh,” “Happy with Me” and “So Independent” (feat. Kevieion Johnson) are in keeping with the kind of empowerment and self-appreciation Yannatone said she hopes to convey with her music.

“One of the main reasons I love doing music is because, when you’re up there singing on that stage, people’s faces are smiling, and they're so happy,” she said. “Music can move people.”

Even when she listens to a sad song, Yannatone said, it doesn’t necessarily compound the sadness she feels.

“It’s good knowing someone can relate to you,” she said.

That’s one reason Yannatone wants to make music for the teen audience. While she identifies with the styles of pop stars Zara Larsson (of Sweden), Demi Lovato and Christina Aguilera, she said she wants her lyrics to be a little cleaner for her listeners.

“My music isn’t geared towards the nightclubs, it’s geared toward kids,” Yannatone said. “I want (parents) to feel comfortable buying from me.”

The future

Though Yannatone said she will gladly take any big musical opportunity that comes her way in the next couple years, she knows she should be prepared to put the dream of being a professional singer on hold.

“My mom always told me music is risky; you wanna have a back-up option as a career,” she said.

For Yannatone, that back up is nursing. She said she “loves helping people,” and wants to put that to use in the medical field if life takes her in that direction.

Depending on the types of scholarships she receives, Yannatone said she would like to attend the University of Alaska-Anchorage or the University of Central Oklahoma.

Until then, she plans to focus on getting ready for her high school graduation, as well as the opening of the musical, “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying” —in which she plays the secretary “Smitty”— at Palmer High on April 22.

For more information, visit www.emilyyannatone.com or find her on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

Contact reporter Caitlin Skvorc at 352-2266 or caitlin.skvorc@frontiersman.com.