{"id":268547,"date":"2026-05-12T21:27:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-12T21:27:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/268547\/"},"modified":"2026-05-12T21:27:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-12T21:27:08","slug":"miami-singer-songwriter-fabiii-finds-inspiration-in-musical-improvisation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/268547\/","title":{"rendered":"Miami singer-songwriter Fabiii finds inspiration in musical improvisation"},"content":{"rendered":"

\ud83c\udfa7 We\u2019re showcasing submissions from South Florida for this year\u2019s\u00a0NPR Tiny Desk Contest<\/a>, which aims to amplify the work of independent musicians. Find past interviews with local musicians\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Sofa.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the word that helped dislodge Fabiola Canelon\u2019s creative block.<\/p>\n

When the singer-songwriter struggled with developing the melody for a song, she and her friend challenged themselves to improvise, by devising a song based on a random word.<\/p>\n

In this case, it was something as ordinary as furniture.<\/p>\n

\u201dI really needed to create something, and I had no ideas \u2014 I had nothing, and that was a very good starting point,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

What started as a creative exercise in musical improvisation became a hallmark of her performances \u2014 a quality that sets apart her Tiny Desk Contest submission. In fact, her song \u2014\u00a0\u00bfPa Que Nos Hacemos Da\u00f1o?\u00a0or\u00a0Why Do We Hurt Each Other, a fusion of pop, R&B and funk influences, was one actually born from improvisation.<\/p>\n

And unlike other contestants, she chose to sing in front of a live audience, asking them for words to incorporate in her song.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou cannot do a double take when there\u2019s people in front of you. And I wanted to show that. I\u2019m not trying to make this perfect, I\u2019m trying to make this real,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Her musical style hearkens back to a traditional Venezuelan musical tradition called \u200acontrapunteo,\u00a0in which two singers engage in musical sparring, marked by extemporaneous lyrics.<\/p>\n

The adrenaline of live improvisation keeps her nimble and motivated in her artistic practice, but it also affirms her purpose as an artist \u2014 to form connections with people.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt created this instant connection where it broke this barrier of the audience and the artist, like there\u2019s this big wall where the artist is unattainable because they\u2019re on stage and I\u2019m here,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Originally from Valencia, a city in Venezuela known for its vibrant music scene, Canelon moved to the U.S. when she was 14 years old. Later on, she attended an arts high school in South Florida, where she built her arts foundation.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u200aI don\u2019t think there was a point in my life where I wanted to be anything else other than this, a singer,\u201d Canelon said.<\/p>\n

Canelon\u2019s charisma on stage also translates to her presence on social media.<\/p>\n

With more than half a million followers on TikTok, Canelon wields her social media savvy to help build her own platform as an independent singer-songwriter. During the pandemic and long before she started performing, one of her videos in which she\u00a0mimicked different accents<\/a>\u00a0gained 1.5 million views.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u200aI was an 18-year-old girl trying to create some content, and I am good at doing accents in Spanish, so I started doing that just for fun, and turns out it became like this huge thing,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

In a nod to those videos, her latest song,\u00a0Idiomas,\u00a0appropriately includes lyrics in different languages from Portuguese to French to German.<\/p>\n

Fabiii chose to study music business, so she could learn the mechanics of the industry and gain a more holistic view of what it would mean to build a music career for herself. As an independent artist, that industry knowledge has become invaluable.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy job as a singer is important,\u201d she explained, \u201cbut my job is nothing without the people that are surrounding that, right?\u201d<\/p>\n

At the same time, she makes an effort to extricate the business acumen from the creative process. Her number one rule: don\u2019t chase trends. Instead, she aims to use her social media as a promotional vehicle.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u200aI think that creativity needs to be respected as the art that it is. I don\u2019t think that we are able to plan a song out to be trendy \u2019cause then it loses its soul,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

With production help from Helen Acevedo, Sherrilyn Cabrera and Valentina Sandoval.<\/p>\n

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