There are many pop divas we know by a singular name: Beyoncé, Mariah, Madonna … even Miley no longer needs the Cyrus to be recognized. Now, we’ve got a pop and hip-hop star in the making, right in our own backyard. She’s breaking down barriers and singing about self empowerment for a whole new generation of young women, and she wants everyone ~ including the world beyond Worcester ~ to know her name. Ladies and gentlemen, meet Geli.

Angelica “Geli” Santos’ stage name is not just a shortened form of Angelica, as many assume. “Geli” can be credited to her grandmother, who nick named her Jelly Bean when she was born a 2-pound, 2 ounce premature baby.

“I was so tiny that she called me her jelly bean, and from then on, everyone called me Jelly or Jelly Bean. So when it came down to figuring out what my stage name was going to be, I never thought of using Geli until my manager suggested it. It was in my name, and it only made sense, since everyone knows me by Geli!”

The 21-year-old grew up in Worcester listening to and loving music. “I remember as a little girl I would wake up every morning to my mom blasting her radio while she cleaned. It was like my personal alarm clock. My mom and grandparents would tell me how I picked up fast on the songs, and I was always singing.”

Geli’s career began to blossom the age of 11, when her mother realized that her daughter’s gift was more than just singing and mimicking the songs she heard playing on the radio. It was around the same time Beyoncé came out with her first solo album, Dangerously In Love. Geli also had JLo’s This is Me…Then to inspire her. “I was always singing those two albums. I’d find myself replaying the songs over and over, just to write the lyrics down so I didn’t forget the words. I wanted to sing every word!”

Geli considers these divas major influences in her life, as well as Aaliyah, whom she called “legendary.”

“Aaliyah had that dope swag of hers. I loved the way she carried herself. Her music was crazy cool, too! Ever since I was a little girl, I wanted to be like her. Aaliyah made me feel so comfortable and confident in my skin,” she said.

Geli is also a big Beyoncé fan because of the artist’s female empowerment stance and her strong, unflinching work ethic. “I was always a fan and looked up to her, but after watching her documentaries and behind the scenes [footage], I see how much work she puts into perfecting her craft, and I have a new respect for her and I definitely salute her. It is very inspiring and admirable.”

Female empowerment is an important theme in Geli’s music because she sees, sadly, that “women are always hating on each other ~ our looks, the way we act and so on. We should help each other out and embrace one another and uplift each other.”

Her first album, OddBeauty, is an empowering album; the title was inspired by watching Wendy Williams one night on television. “She was talking about the most beautiful women in the world on a magazine, and she was explaining how she wanted a new face ~ someone on the cover of the magazine with a flaw, but who is still beautiful in her own way. She wanted an ‘odd beauty’ on the cover.”

That phrasing stuck with Geli because she believes that every girl should be valued for her unique beauty. “We all have our flaws, and it takes a while for us to embrace [those flaws], but once we do embrace our ‘odd beauty,’ we can empower ourselves and learn how to love ourselves without worrying about being that next pretty face that society wants us to be. We are our own beautiful.”

Geli’s excited to show off her “growth” on her next album, Fight Like A Girl. “It’s going to be dope,” she said.

Her manager (Klep from Bangaville Management) came up with the album title, but the artist said she loves what it implies. “At first I didn’t know, because whenever I heard that saying, it was always in a negative aspect. But when he explained to me how I can flip it and make it into something positive for girls to get behind, I definitely agreed to stay with that title. The next time someone says, ‘You fight like a girl,’ you say, ‘You’re damn right, because by nature women are fighters!’”

No release date is set for Fight Like A Girl yet, but you can keep up with Geli at Geli-Music.com.

By Mike Wood