Meet Warner Brothers’ Latest Signee: Marteen

Warner Bros. Records, through its association with platinum-selling music producer J.R. Rotem’s new label Lyon Estates, has signed 16-year-old Bay Area artist Marteen. The singer and songwriter made headlines when he independently released his 2016 mixtape Focused. Marteen just released his debut single with the label “Sriracha” along with the music video.

“I love Sriracha,” says Marteen. “I was eating it one day on my fried rice in the studio, and partially joking around, told my producer J.R. that we should make a song about it. We went over to a piano and he started playing the chords that are in the song, and the lyrics kinda just flowed out. We knew right away that we had something. It’s about a girl who has a lot of flavor, and a good attitude. She’s not basic. She’s a little bit different. She’s got that spice. She’s confident.”

Marteen was learning classical piano and signing at the age of ten and was born in Berkeley, CA.  During middle school, he started performing covers on Instagram and building a local fan base as he taught himself guitar by watching YouTube videos. Songwriter Marty James introduced Marteen to Rotem, who produced Focused.

“My music is a modern take on nineties R&B with a little Bay Area edge,” Marteen explains. “Coming from Northern California, you have a certain mentality. It’s an indescribable attitude.”