Salem Ilese

Pop artist Salem Ilese, born and raised in Mill Valley, CA, right outside San Francisco, has been “doing music for longer than [she] can remember.” Salem attributes her music career to legendary writer Bonnie Hayes, her first songwriting teacher. When Hayes eventually moved to Boston to head Berklee College of Music’s songwriting department, Salem also relocated across the country to enroll in her department. “Getting the Berklee degree was never my main concern, I just wanted to get the most out of the school that I could,” Salem says. After a couple years of intense learning, Salem made the decision to move back to the West Coast, this time settling down in Los Angeles.

Salem’s breakout hit “Mad At Disney” gained viral momentum on TikTok, sparking the creation of over 3.2M videos and holding placement on Spotify’s coveted playlist Today’s Top Hits for over 15 weeks.