Lele Pons Signs to Universal Music Group's 10:22pm

15 August 2018 - Press release

Already One of the World's Leading Digital Stars with a Global Fanbase of Tens of Millions, the Multi-Talented Artist Will Extend Her Musical Creativity with Shots Studios, 10:22 pm and UMG.

"[Signing] Lele Pons, the content creator who boasts 26.6 million Instagram followers, over 10 million subscribers to her YouTube channel and literally billions of views of her hundreds of comedic videos... is a major coup. The bilingual and bicultural creator is one of the most prolific and successful YouTubers in the world, and her content has long had a musical bent....Pons' first single under 10:22pm is the Spanish-language 'Celoso.' The vampy, catchy pop track with an underlying subtle reggaeton beat was produced and co-written by DVLP and Fuego, and captures Pons' broad-appealing vibe as completely relatable star with just the right dose of edge." -Billboard

Universal Music Group's 10:22 pm today announces the signing of Lele Pons, one of the world's leading multicultural creators, to an exclusive global recording agreement. In addition to Lele's multifaceted talents as a pioneering trilingual content creator, who maintains a daily dialogue with a global fanbase of tens of millions, she also possesses a background with formal music training, extensive experience in dance and production, and existing creative relationships with numerous multiplatinum music artists. UMG and 10:22 pm will work with Shots Studios, which also represents Lele as a production and management company, to accelerate her major-label recording career.

This Friday, August 17th will see Lele's first release under the new partnership, as she unveils her solo single "Celoso" ("Jealousy") with extensive planned support from all major streaming platforms. The release of "Celoso" follows on the tremendous success of Lele's first-ever music release "Dicen," a duet released earlier this summer with Transcend.ent / Universal Music Latino artist Matt Hunter. In just three months, "Dicen" surpassed 100 million views on YouTube, achieved Platinum certification through the Recording Industry Association of America's Latin Program, notched slots on Spotify's Top-3 Latin music playlists, and was spotlighted by Rolling Stone as a prime example of a digital star's entry into music.

Lele Pons commented, "Music has always meant so much to me and this opportunity can help me push myself to take the next step as an artist. I feel great about joining the Universal Music family because they understand what I want to do musically and creatively. I'm so excited to be going on this musical journey with Universal's support on my side."

"Lele is the modern definition of a triple threat," said Celine Joshua, who founded and oversees 10:22 pm. "She is a global entertainer who attracts tens of millions of viewers through digital screens. For anyone who has followed Lele's career, music and dance are at the core of her storytelling and I'm honored to work alongside John and Sam Shahidi to expand her already passionate fanbase through music, premium content and consumer products. I'd like to thank Lele, John, Sam, and the entire Shot Studios family for the opportunity to bring exciting new experiences to Lele's fans around the world."

"We are very excited to be able to work with Lele and her team, in addition to making this alliance with 10:22 pm," said Alejandro Duque, General Manager of Universal Music Latino, Machete Music and Capitol Latin. "We are sure this will be yet another step forward in her already incredibly successful career."

"Lele is a Swiss army knife of entertainment," said Sam Shahidi, co-founder of Shots Studios, the production and management company. "She is an amazing actor, director, writer, dancer, singer. All of us at Shots Studios are excited about the partnership with Celine Joshua, 10:22 pm, and the entire UMG family on making music the next chapter of Lele's career."

"The teams at UMG and 10:22pm have been great to work with," said Shots Studios co-founder John Shahidi. "They understand Lele's vision of music and content, so it's become a great fit and another great way to take her career to another level."

A Latin-Italian native of Venezuela who moved to Miami as a young child, Lele Pons is one of new media's most engaging and multi-talented young global stars as a comedian, actress, director, & music artist. The world's leading Latina digital entertainer, Lele has established herself as a premier content creator, using YouTube to connect with 10 million+ subscribers with videos that earn over 110 million monthly views. Additionally, she has dominated Instagram with over 26 Million followers and becoming the most-viewed Instagram Stories producer in 2017. Lele was spotlighted by Vanity Fair's "New Establishment" list (alongside Mark Zuckerberg & Tim Cook), named one of the "30 Most Influential People on the Internet" by TIME, and secured an impressive Top-10 ranking on FORBES' list of the top entertainment influencers of 2017. Lele's connections with the music industry also already run deep, with her signature dance videos helping propel the social visibility of hits from numerous Latin music stars. Lele's lyric video for J Balvin & Anitta's "Downtown" attracted over 200 million views and she also made a notable appearance in Camila Cabello's smash hit video for "Havana." Most recently, Lele was named the host of La Voz México, the country's top-rated primetime version of the Voice, and also acted as co-host of this past Sunday's 2018 Teen Choice Awards on Fox. Her wide digital influence also continues to be recognized with the recent awarding of YouTube's Diamond Creator Award, the MTV Millennial Award for "Global Instragrammer of the Year" and Instagram's invitation for her to appear as a signature personality event at the formal launch of IGTV.