Introducing: Angelyse Mariah, who introduces Spanglish Pop!

This feature is from our October 2025 third print issue.

Finding your identity as an artist is rarely a straight path, and for rising pop artist Angelyse, it meant leaving everything she knew behind. After moving from the East Coast to Los Angeles to pursue music full-time, she's spent the past year balancing a day job, building her sound, and discovering the artist she always knew she could become. Ahead of her new single Agua Santa, HGZ sat down with Angelyse to talk about creative reinvention, taking risks, and why embracing every side of yourself is her greatest strength.

Shot by Amy Maldonado, Styled by Nik Sanchez-Wong, Wearing RSYY Los Angeles

HGZ: Can you start by sharing something no one knows about Angelyse and what led you to music.

AM: I think something that a lot of people don’t know about me is the fact that I’m probably my own harshest critic. It takes a lot to be proud of myself; I’m always striving to be better in every aspect of my life. This trait is something that propelled me in my own career in entertainment. You book a job or have a fire single, and everyone asks you what’s next? 

What led me to music is something I genuinely have no answer for. I’ve sat with that for so long, thinking “why couldn’t I have been born with a different dream?”. I was just born with the desire to achieve damn near one of the hardest things in the world. There’s nothing else I feel like would fulfill me but to be an entertainer, and that was one of the first things I’ve known about myself. 

HGZ: Moving across the country for your dreams is major. Why did you think it was necessary and what do you hope to gain out of as opposed to staying on the East Coast?

AM: Moving across the country was something that was definitely a risk for me. I didn’t know a single person in LA nor have any family here, so making that jump at 21 felt surreal. I got accepted into a music mentorship program called LAAMP, where I would be learning from the best in the industry. All I wanted to do was grow, so I felt like it was a step I needed to take despite the barriers. I felt like I had outgrown back home so why not start over somewhere new and grow a fanbase over here?

HGZ: You grew up in New Jersey, moved to New York, and now you’re in LA. How have these different places shaped you as an artist, and what has each city taught you about yourself and your music?

AM: Growing up in a small town in New Jersey, it felt like my soul and my creativity were trying to escape and run off to New York, somewhere where there are more people like me pursuing a career in the arts. Growing up in NJ reinforced the fact that I was different as a kid, especially since I started working professionally as an actor and model at the age of ten. Word spreads in town quickly, especially since I was open about it on my socials, and then the next thing you know, you are the kid that “wants to be famous”. When in reality, I just loved expressing myself through mediums of performance.

I went to NYC for college as a management major in arts and entertainment at Pace University, and in that year, it was abundantly clear that I didn’t want to do the business side. No matter how many times family members tried to persuade me to do that instead, because it was the “safer route”, I couldn’t and dropped out. I moved back home and pursued artistry full-time. 

Two years later, I found myself with an opportunity to move to LA, and I took it. Now that this is my first time living as a self-sufficient adult, I’ve been on a journey of self-discovery in LA. I’ve been asking myself, now that I’m living on my own and have full control of my time, bigger questions like “who is Angelyse in life and in music? What are the daily steps I can take for myself to progress this part of my story forward?”. Lots of things like that, and you all can watch it unfold.

HGZ: You’re balancing a day job while pursuing music full-time. Can you walk us through what a typical day looks like for you and how you manage to stay motivated and creative despite the hustle?

AM: This is something I am trying to find the silver lining in through my day-to-day life. Life as a creative who also needs to pay bills when my passions aren’t just yet. I finished my music program in June, and then came July, I was thrown into the adult world working a big girl job and trying to figure out my way in the world through my art, and in general. I’m not going to lie, it was a big adjustment, and it wasn’t easy. I am a TikTok livestreamer for a fitness brand in the morning and a Latin popstar by night. Basically, all day I’m performing for people. 

HGZ: That sounds like it can be draining since you’re basically saying you work 24/7. How you manage to stay motivated and creative despite the hustle?

AM: The first two months were difficult because I realized I had to expand my social battery. I would come home completely spent because I was talking to a camera for 4 hours by myself to 200 people on TikTok. I would come home and have zero creative ideas or energy, and then feel so guilty about not having any “juice” left for the day. I wish I could sit here and give you a detailed breakdown of a very regimented schedule, but the truth is, I’m still trying to figure out what a good, creative, and productive schedule looks like. I left all I know behind across the country to follow my dream here, so I want to make sure I do the best that I can for all the things I sacrificed to be here. 

HGZ: As an independent artist, a lot more goes on behind-the-scenes than just creating music such as distribution, management, creative, public relations, and marketing. What other roles do you encompass or hand off to anyone else?

AM: A lot of people don’t know this but apart from creating the music, I am a hairstylist, makeup artist, fashion stylist, CEO, choreographer, director, artistic director, lighting coordinator, and visual artist. For every event, I learned to do my own hair and makeup because I never had the budget to go get it done professionally. I always felt like the money I would spend on that could be better allocated for something more useful, like marketing and promotion. My mom and I style any looks I need for performances, music videos, important events, interviews, and podcasts. 

HGZ: I like how one job has allowed you to accumulate a ton of various skills. What’s been the biggest challenge on your music journey so far?

AM: One of my biggest challenges that I have faced throughout this creative transformation I just went through this past year, is figuring out who I am and what I want my music to stand for. Super existential, I know, but it’s an important question. If I’m going to get up on a stage and perform for a crowd of hundreds of people, I should know what my messaging should be. What do I want them to take from this performance? What do I want them to feel? Who am I?

HGZ: How did you overcome it?

AM: This is going to be an ever-flowing question throughout my life as I grow and evolve, but taking time to sit down and discover my goals and how I want to portray myself today really helped me solidify my goals in music, imagery, and messaging of my art. 

​​HGZ: Speaking of your art, your sound is so ethereal and genre-bending which cannot be confined to one label when sometimes there is reggaeton, dance pop, or electronic influences. How would you describe your sound to someone who’s never heard it before?

AM: I would describe my music as fully encompassing my personality into audio waves. Pink, bitchy, glam, soft, heavenly, youthful, and full of dichotomy. I grew up feeling like I had more than one side of me. I was girly but a tomboy, soft but hard, Latina but American. People would try to pressure me to pick a side, but I always felt like it was inauthentic to who I was to just be one thing. How can I be one and I am all?

HGZ: What do you want them to feel?

AM: I want people to feel emboldened by music to be themselves freely and confidently. Just because some things in the way you grew up or in your personality contradict themselves, doesn’t mean you can’t celebrate both. The world is not just black and white; there is a gray area in everything. You just need to find the silver lining. 

HGZ: You’re dropping a new single Augua Santa on October 24th. Can you tell us about it and what inspired it?

AM: With my single “Agua Santa,” dropping, I feel like this is one of the first songs that I’ve made that fully encapsulates my aura within a song. When I first started making music, I felt like I was just regurgitating pop music I’ve heard before. With every new song I released, I was getting closer and closer to what I sounded like through the music. Agua Santa was inspired by my love for old school Y2K reggaeton, but I wanted to put a new pop spin on it. What if Gasolina by Daddy Yankee was a pop song? That was my thinking on it.

HGZ: What does it represent for this chapter of your artistry?

AM: This new chapter of my artistry feels like the very beginning of who I truly am as an artist. I feel like this is the birth of Angelyse in my purest essence. 

HGZ: Where do you hope your music takes you next—sonically or physically?

AM: Right now, I’m focused on my relationship with my audience and the people who support me. I want to learn how to strengthen that: community building and focus on my first true 1000 fans. Sonically, I found my place and I want to continue upon that path of making music that walks the line of light and dark, has something meaningful to say, but still makes it fun. I have a lot of big lofty goals, everyone dreams of doing: SNL, Coachella, Super Bowl halftime show.

I know that one day I will get there, but as for physically what’s next for me in the present moment? Doing shows at venues throughout the country, spreading my music, and painting the world pink little by little. Who knows what’s next in store for me? 

QUICK FIRE :

What’s your favorite track?

At the moment Bounce by Lolitah.

Dream feature to have on your song?

Kaytranada.

If you could go on tour anywhere, where is your first stop?

Paris.

East coast or west coast?

East coast, for sure.

Talent: Angelyse Mariah

Photography: Amy Maldanado

Stylist: Nik Sanchez-Wong

Wearing: RSTY LA

Interview: Hot Girl