It’s been clear for years now that Tyler Reese has something special — she just needed the right place to showcase her gifts. A church-trained, powerhouse vocalist who once dreamt of performing on Broadway, Reese works behind the scenes as an audio engineer and vocal producer at Studio X , an independent recording studio in East Oakland.

On a recent, rainy Sunday evening, a fashionable crowd about 200-deep packed into the Black-owned vintage boutique ReLove to watch Reese step into the spotlight. To her surprise, fans not only belted the lyrics to her first-ever single, the sultry neo-soul track “Secondhand Smoke,” but also immediately caught the vibe of her new EP, WHTVR , a five-track collection of flirty, dance floor-ready house songs that showcase Reese’s dynamic vocal range a

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