‘Sriracha’ singer’s career is heating up
Like many 16-year-olds, Marteen Estevez started a new school year this week. But for the Berkeley-born R&B singersongwriter, day one of his junior year of high school didn’t begin with walking the halls searching for his locker.
With recording sessions sometimes lasting until 2 a.m. on school nights and unpredictable live performance dates (including opening for the likes of Fifth Harmony and Bryson Tiller), Marteen — who goes by his first name professionally, a la Beyoncé — has been attending online school since graduating from John Muir Middle School in Burbank, where he and his family moved after living in Alameda and El Cerrito.
A distinctly 21st century kid, Marteen learned to play piano and then his father’s guitar at age 12 by watching instructional videos on YouTube. (“I know all the main chords and can learn new ones pretty quickly if somebody shows me,” he says. “But I never took actual lessons.”) He then started recording covers of radio hits on Instagram.
Four years later, his first official music video for his single “Sriracha” was uploaded to YouTube on Aug. 17 Listen to Marteen’s “Sriracha” and other food- and drink-related songs, from “Pork and Beans” by Weezer to Booker T. & the M.G.’s’ “Green Onions” and “Tequila” by the Champs, that may help inspire your Labor Day weekend party: www.sf chronicle.com/entertainment
and has been viewed more than 74,000 times. The single completes a hat trick of catchy songs that began last year with “Try” and the Golden-State-Warriors-power-forward-themed “Draymond.”
In July, on the strength of “Sriracha” and his performance on Kehlani’s recent SweetSexySavage tour, he was signed by Warner Bros. Records.
“It just goes by so fast sometimes,” said Marteen in a phone interview Tuesday from Los Angeles, between studio time and school work.
Marteen will be back on campus this month, however, to spread a little “Sriracha.” He’s slated for performances at high schools starting Sept. 26, with yet-tobe-announced appearances at Bay Area campuses.
“I’m excited about that. I haven’t done them before, so it’s a chance to make new fans and see a lot of people I already know,” he says.
“Sriracha” was produced and co-written by Marteen’s new collaborator, J.R. Rotem, whose credits range from Jason Derulo, Nicki Minaj and Rihanna to Fall Out Boy and Linkin Park. The condiment that has spawned T-shirts of the Huy Fong Foods logo and even Halloween costumes of its famed green-topped bottles inspired the track, but here the titular Sriracha refers to the overwhelming good looks — or hotness — of the singer’s paramour, whom he dubs his “li’l’ ’racha.” (For the record, he enjoys the hot sauce, too.) The music video for “Sriracha” was filmed in West Oakland, beneath its famous overpasses. “I just wanted to show the Bay Area off,” says Marteen, who now splits his time between the Bay Area and Los Angeles. It’s generally not wise to read the comments that accompany YouTube videos, but the ones for “Sriracha” are largely positive and come from a diverse viewership. “It’s really cool,” says Marteen, who adds that he’s recently seen comments posted from fans in South Korea and Japan. “I never would have thought a couple of years ago that I would have had people showing me love all the way from across the world, so it’s really dope!”