Alemeda didn’t listen to music like your average pre-teen girl. Growing up in a religious family in Ethiopia, she wasn’t allowed to play it at home. “Mom was very anti-music, but as I got older, you couldn't avoid it,” the 25-year-old says, after her set at the All Things Go festival in New York.

When she moved to Arizona for school, she figured out her own methods to listen in secret. “I was watching Disney Channel and getting influenced by Camp Rock , ” she says. “I was sneaking Camp Rock discs in my library books.” (She’s partial to the song “This Is Me.”)

Eventually, she started posting covers to YouTube, looking to Alessia Cara for inspiration. At age 14, Alemeda got her first big break. “I posted a cover of ‘Here’ by Alessia Cara, and she commented on it, saying I had a soulf

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