How Boza and the Singer Scored a Radio Hit

In March 2020, Elena Rose was a songwriter in her mid-twenties who had helped craft hits for Latin superstars like Becky G and Myke Towers. She was content with her day job, but as lockdown began to take hold, the Venezuelan American had an early-pandemic revelation.

“I really thought that the world was coming to an end,” she says. “When I saw that my voice had not been heard, it made me sad.”

While Rose continued to work behind the scenes — her songwriting credits to-date include Billboard chart entries and collaborations with Selena Gomez, Bad Bunny, Marc Anthony, and the Becky G-Karol G team-up “MAMIII,” which reached No. 1 on the Hot Latin Songs chart — she made her singing debut as an independent artist that May with the Latin urban song “Sandunga.” She paired the release with a colorful music video that showcased her striking presence and alluded to her superstar capabilities.

Today, the 29-year-old has fully realized her potential, breaking through in recent months on the Billboard charts as a performer with “Orion,” her collaboration with Panamanian star Boza.

Born Andrea Elena Mangiamarchi in Miami to Venezuelan parents, Rose grew up between Puerto Rico and Venezuela before returning to her hometown due to sociopolitical and economic crises in the South American country. No matter her location, she loved to sing anywhere and everywhere: initially, she began as a performer, singing in bars, restaurants and at parties.

She met mentor and producer Patrick Romantik in Miami in her early twenties, who brought Rose to the studio and taught her the ins and outs of the technology, while also letting her observe sessions to learn about the songwriting process. “And my years of silence began,” she reflects. “I remember they told me, ‘OK, you can be here, but we cannot feel you.’ ”

During that time, she watched writers and producers such as Servando Primera, Yasmil Murrufo and Mario Cáceres create hits including Becky G’s “Mayores” featuring Bad Bunny in 2019, which reached No. 74 on the Billboard Hot 100. Along the way, she gained an informal music education as a hitmaker.

“When I worked in bars in Miami, the musicians were Ricky Martin’s percussionist, Alejandro Sanz’s pianist, the bassist who had played with Stevie Wonder,” Rose says. “It was my best school because they were people who had experienced music, understood it and wanted to preserve it.”

She continued to self-release new singles through the next few years, such as “La Ducha” and “Picachu” and made appearances at key industry events such as Billboard Latin Music Week, where she has participated every year since 2021 either as a panelist or a performer. In summer 2022, she signed a record label deal with Warner Music Latina.

“Her lyrics, her voice, her presence and the ability she has to convey emotions is unparalleled,” said the label’s president Alejandro Duque at the time. In September of the following year, she agreed to a management deal with OCESA Seitrack, whose artists include superstars such as Sanz and Alejandro Fernández.

“The day I sat down a year and a half ago to have dinner with her, I was blown away,” says OCESA Seitrack founder/CEO Alex Mizrahi. He adds today that he recognized her as “a diamond in the rough” with the potential of becoming “the next Karol G” in terms of success.

In the year-plus since then, she has released soulful solo songs, including the empowering “Me Lo Merezco” in March. But her collaborations with artists spanning genres on her November EP, En Las Nubes (Con Mis Panas), and elsewhere have taken her to new markets — chiefly with “Orion.” Sophisticated in both its lyrics and production, the song is a captivating fusion of reggaetón, salsa and Afrobeats. It has an irresistibly playful bridge from Boza, and with Rose’s evocative writing, the single shows new layers to both artists.

“I made the song ‘Orion’ at a [writers] camp in Miami a year ago,” remembers Boza. “I heard it with the producer, Daramola, and the songwriters, Essa Gante and Omar, and at that moment we already knew that we needed a female voice. Together with my team, we thought of Elena.”

Adds Rose: “When this song came to me, I remember saying, ‘OK, it has a soul, it has something nice. If you allow me, I want to take it to my world and see how I can give it a little more of myself.’ I remember that was when I gave love to the chorus, changed the lyrics, and wrote my verse. I feel that, for me, the concept of ‘Orion’ became a source of information on emotional intelligence.”

The song was released May 29 on Sony Music Latin (Boza’s record label), with an official music video arriving the following day. Though Rose recorded her part separately, they got together to shoot the video in Panama, which has since tallied more than 105 million views on YouTube. “Orion” steadily began to take hold at radio as well, and by mid-September, it debuted at No. 20 on the Latin Pop Airplay chart. Three weeks later, it arrived on the overall Latin Airplay ranking. It has held ever since on both, with “Orion” spending the last six weeks at No. 2 on the Latin Pop Airplay chart. It has also reached a No. 15 high on Latin Airplay. “Working with her is like traveling to another planet,” Boza says of Rose.

As her public profile reached new heights fueled by the song’s success, so did her status within the industry: in September, she earned three Latin Grammy nominations, for song of the year for “Caracas En El 2000” with Danny Ocean and Jerry Di; best pop/rock song for “Blanco y Negro,” a LAGOS song featuring Rose; and best regional song for her hand in Becky G’s “Por El Contrario,” which she co-wrote with Latin hitmakers Edgar Barrera and Keityn. (The year prior, she was the only woman to be nominated when the songwriter of the year category was inaugurated.)

Rose has continued to prioritize her collaborative efforts, releasing both the country-tinged ballad “A Las 12 Te Olvidé” with Ha*Ash and a Latin pop song infused with cumbia and urban rhythms, “Pa’ Qué Volviste?” with Maria Becerra, as non-EP singles in November. And while her success with Boza has made her a recognizable face in Panama — Rose coyly says that a recent flight she was taking was delayed after the co-pilot requested a photo with her — Mizrahi teases that more duets are on the immediate horizon, which aim to bolster her following in other countries.

In the coming months, there are plans for releases with Camilo and Morat (both from Colombia), Sanz (Spain) and Los Ángeles Azules (Mexico). She is also scheduled to perform at both Lollapalooza Argentina and Lollapalooza Chile in March 2025. “The goal is to bring Elena’s music to the world,” Mizrahi says, “to make her a global artist.”

A version of this story appears in the Dec. 14, 2024, issue of Billboard.