Select a region
A local 18-year-old singer’s cover of ‘No Right to Love You’ has been featured on Love Island.
Oscar Armenta said he “couldn’t believe it” when he was featured on the ITV hit show recently. The song was produced by Grammy-nominated producer, Will Hicks, who is recognised for his work with Ed Sheeran.
“I was watching the episode with my mum. I knew it would be played, knew I had recorded it, knew it was me singing, but I still couldn’t quite believe it was me,” said Mr Armenta.
“I had told a few friends that it was going to be played on the show, but I didn’t want to tell loads of people in case it ended up not being used.”
Pictured: Oscar Armenta performing at the Guernsey Street Festival yesterday.
Sharing his story with Express yesterday, Mr Armenta said he has been singing “for as long as I can remember”.
“I’ve loved singing and performing since I was really small. I perform every chance I get. It’s difficult to pinpoint what I love about it, but one thing that’s great is when you can see someone in the audience subtly singing along. It’s a really nice feeling,” he said.
“A year or two ago, I uploaded a video on the School of Popular Music YouTube channel and one of my mum’s old work colleagues knew someone at a management label in the UK.
“She sent them my song and they liked it, so they wanted to see what we could work together on. Then, a year or so after having lessons with recommended singing teachers, I was invited to the UK to record something. I still can’t believe that it’s all happening.”
Pictured: Oscar Armenta is a blue tick verified artist on Spotify with over 8,000 monthly listeners.
Mr Armenta said that he’s always wanted to get into the notoriously competitive music industry. He is a blue tick verified artist on Spotify with over 8,000 monthly listeners. His Spotify artist profile features his comments on the No Right to Love You cover.
“I wanted to cover this beautiful song by Rhys Lewis as the emotion behind it resonated with me and is something everyone can relate to,” he said.
“The pop ballad is a genre I’ve always loved singing and the lyrics to the song are words that I sympathise with deeply. With the help of producer Will Hicks, we have developed it into the piano ballad I always wanted it to be.”
Mr Armenta's cover has been streamed over 20,000 times on Spotify. “With a Spotify artist account, I can see where people are listening from and keep up to date on all the stats. It has become a bit addictive. It’s surreal to see it growing so much,” he said.
The song also reached number 56 in the UK Shazam charts after airing on Love Island.
Mr Armenta's success is not limited to the UK, with one Instagram fan commenting: “I just watched the ep in Australia and Shazammed your song and added it to Apple Music, listening right now, it’s lovely!”
Another commented “bro please come to Brazil”. One fan saw him perform locally recently and said: “Heard you sing live at Grammar Tuesday - wow, what a voice you have. You have an amazing future ahead”.
While humble at his rising fame, Mr Armenta has high hopes for the future of his career.
“I have set myself a goal that, in the next five to 10 years, I want to be performing at the O2. That’s the dream; I want to go all the way,” he said.
“I’m hopefully going to university to study music and English. That’s where my talents and strengths lie and hopefully it will help with my goals.
“At the moment, I’ve been doing covers, but by the end of the year I hope to have released an original song. One of the good things about music is that I’m able to empathise with people, so I think I would like to write songs for other artists in the future. I’m excited to see what happens next.”
Pictured: When the Guernsey Street Festival ends, Mr Armenta will be travelling to the UK to work with his management company.
Mr Armenta will be performing locally as part of the Guernsey Street Festival events. He performed outside the Express office at Picquet House yesterday.
After the festival ends, Oscar will be returning to the UK to work with Big Hug Management and hopes to be signed to a label.
You can follow Oscar’s journey on his social media platforms HERE
Comments
Comments on this story express the views of the commentator only, not Bailiwick Publishing. We are unable to guarantee the accuracy of any of those comments.