Meet new celeb contributor Becky G!

EDITOR’S NOTE: A preternaturally confident 15-year-old from Inglewood, Calif., Becky Gomez is a one-of-a-kind artist. She can rap, she can sing, she’s endorsed by Dr. Luke and Justin Bieber, and her influences range from Etta James to Left Eye to Selena Quintanilla.

As she raps on her remix to Ke$ha’s “Die Young”: She’s a “lil bit of diva/lil bit of nice/lil bit of nerd/lil bit of spice.” And like most kids of her generation, she gets what it takes to build her own brand as a nascent pop star. She doesn’t even have an album out and she already has a loyal fan base, with whom she’s constantly interacting on every social media platform on Earth (you can start by following her on Twitter if you haven’t already).

Becky even has a nickname for her fans, “Beasters” (down the line, she’ll tell you all about that). The idea behind this weekly series is to join her on this incredibly exciting journey to the top, revealing in her own words who she is as an artist and a person along the way.

Whether it’s opening for Justin Bieber on tour, or studio sessions toward her debut album, due in 2013, to hanging out with her Mexican-American family, this is an inside look at the making of a Latina pop star with unlimited mainstream appeal.

Hey, guys!

Becky G here. I’m so excited about having this space to connect with you every week. This being my first post ever, I wanted to take it back to where I was around this time last year.

I was already in with my production team, The Jam, and I was just in the studio, writing, working on my craft and coming up with a plan for what I wanted to do. I love doing covers, like this one I did for “Lighters,” where I shout out all the artists that have influenced me, and I guess Dr. Luke saw the one I did of Kanye West and Jay-Z’s song “Otis.”

Nowadays, people look at how many views you have and take that into consideration. I don’t think I even had 1,000 views on the video yet, but probably like a week after I posted that video, someone from RCA showed Dr. Luke the video and we met the day after. He told me he wanted to sign me to his label, Kemosabe Records. It was really cool but crazy. I call it the best Christmas ever, when I signed my contract. It was December 22, 2011.

Also around this time last year, my dad, Francisco, took me to my first-ever concert at the Staples Center here in LA. We went to see Justin Bieber, and it was a little father-daughter date. I remember telling my dad that I wanted to perform on that stage, too. Jokingly he said, “Oh yeah, well, you won’t be needing these next year ’cause we’ll be backstage,” and what not. I guess he must’ve had a feeling because I just performed at the Staples Center on the same night as the Biebs, opening up for him with Cody Simpson, singing the single that I’m featured on (“Wish You Were Here”). Cody and I also performed that song on The Ellen Show recently, which was really special for me.

A lot has happened in the past year, and it’s all really cool and exciting. I see it as a combination of things – a lot of hard work and patience and working for such a long time for something that I have such a strong passion for. I just had to stay positive – even when my family went through hard times a few years ago and we lost our home, which meant we had to move into a converted garage for a while. Music was my one thing to turn to, and through it all, I’ve tried to stay focused.

I think maybe the Head Honcho upstairs was like, “Ok, I see what you’re doing.”

You want to know what’s the craziest thing? A few days ago, Justin tweeted at me, and included a link to my new remix of Ke$ha’s “Die Young.”

Here’s a photo of Cody and I backstage at the Staples Center. I still can’t believe this is all happening!!! I hope you’ll come with me on this ride.