Growing up in the unsuspecting Buenos Aires neighbourhood of Haedo, Yami is the embodiment embody the chica del barrio (girl next-door) phenomenon that has produced a generation of successful female Argentina artists such as Maria Becerra, Nicki Nicole, Tini and Emilia Mernes. Like most Argentina neighbourhoods, Haedo had its own theatre, cinema and a football stadium. This, in addition to Argentina’s high quality public university education (still free for all) provided the ingredients for this little girl to reach her dreams.
Yami dreamt of becoming a performer from the age of nine. Her parents signed her up at a local school where she learned to sing, act, dance and perform theatre. She then secured a Performing Arts degree at Buenos Aires’ prestigious Alberto Ginastera Conservatory. “I always knew I wanted to be an artist,” Yami notes, “even though I didn’t know where to start.”
But start she did. Whilst dressing up as Elsa and Anna from Frozen for little children at neighbourhood birthday parties, in 2017 Safdie began singing covers and uploading them to social media. “I was so lost and TikTok was the tool that helped me get there,” she confesses, not shy of revealing both her vulnerability or the means she had to resort to.
It was Yami’s cover of Netflix’s Money Heist theme song that went viral. Shortly after, she began releasing her own music independently — and, in 2021, she got a call from Warner Music Argentina and signed a record deal with the company that same year.
Yami released her debut album Dije Que No Me Iba a Enamorar in 2022 and, a year later, her second LP Sur. While both were already packed with collabs, it was her team up with Camilo on Querida Yo, that scored Safdie her first entry on the Billboard charts. The track peaked at No. 15 on the Latin Pop Airplay chart in May 2024. On the Billboard Argentina Hot 100, she had already entered three songs, including En Otra Vida with Lasso, her highest charting song on that tally, which peaked at No. 6.
Fast forward to 2025 and Yami’s lay-it-all-on-the-table ballad Odio Odiarme (Hate Hating Myself) - a two minute ballad exploring self-consciousness and body issues - steps inside her Gen Z audience’s minds. As as if to list its inner thoughts, she pours out:
Odio que nunca estoy satisfecha (I hate that I’m never satisfied)
Odio pensar que siempre hay algo roto (I hate feeling there’s always something broken)
“I initially thought I’d probably delete the song because it’s too intimate,” Yami confesses, but the sheer response from fans online removed any doubts. “A lot of people felt represented by the lyrics. It’s clear other people go through similar stuff and I decided it was a good idea to release the song”.
“Writing songs is my way of writing a journal or diary,” Safdie explains. Her stripped back style has made her stand out among the fierce competition of Argentina’s urban female music landscape. Having helped her convert her confessional lyricism into her defining style, it’s no surprise that she has remained loyal to her producer, known as Crocodilo, who she’s been with since her first releases. “I love working with him,” she smiles. “I think I’m going to stick with him for some time, because we’re friends too, he’s been there for me since I was a nobody. He gets my music and what I try to transmit.”
“I’m like Ariel”, she laughs, referring to the same loyalty of her favourite Disney princess (The Little Mermaid), “She always wants more, she’s ambitious but also devoted to the person she loves.”
Unlike marine monarch that she once enacted in a previous life, the 27-year-old’s voice has certainly not been taken away from her. Instead, having stepped out of her acting shoes, armed with heart-on-sleeve songwriting approach, Yami is becoming the real life pop princess that dreams are made of. “Writing music is my way to open up and let go of all those ugly feelings and thoughts,” she explains. “I sit by the piano and let it out.”
While Yami is is clearly on cloud nine as she lives her own Cinderella dream, she insists that there are things more important than fame. “It’s good to be ambitious, have dreams and have goals,” she says. “But its just as important to be thankful for what you already have around you”.
Second, she likes good manners. While you can have ambition, she insists, values and relationships is what makes the world go round. True to her confessional style, Yami wrote these things down and in 2024 released Modales - six track homage to good manners. Her songs Gracias, Por Favor, and De Nada, went viral, the latter going on to become one of her most well known.
Growing up, Yami listened to strong and determined female vocalists like Julieta Venegas, Natalia Lafourcade and Taylor Swift. She also loved fairytale protagonists. So inspired was Yami by the female star of her childhood opera Floricienta, which follows the Cinderella tale of a young orphan Girl who performs for five rich brothers at their mansion, falls in love and becomes a part of their family, Safdie recently re-worked one of the show’s classic songs Hay Un Cuento for its new spin-off adaptation Margarita.
“Hay Un Cuento was one of the first songs I learned and now getting to sing it for a new generation of little children is beautiful” she beams.
In Yami’s fairytale world everything is good. There are no wicked stepsisters. Rather than see her peers as competitors, she is full of admiration for Argentine counterparts such as Tini, María Becerra, Nicky Nicole and Emilia. “They’re amazing, truly, honestly. They’ve built an empire, I admire them all.”
True to her word of sisterhood, Yami recently collaborated with Emilia, who she describes as “a great performer and huge star” on the emotional ballad + Te Vale, which tells the story of a woman dealing with the pain of being replaced by another person.
“When I wrote this song, I said to my label, ‘I'd like to share this song with another woman’, and my prayers were answered in the best way possible,” she recounts. “After finding out someone from my team could get in touch with Emilia, I Iaughed. Then two days later I got a message from Emilia on socials an she was like ‘I listened to your song, it’s beautiful, I’d love to do it with you.’ I can’t believe that happened! + Te Vale is beautiful and I’m so happy”.
There is no denying that social media has been pivotal in Safdie’s career, which she describes as a great leveller for people who don’t have contacts in the industry. “I didn’t know anyone in the industry. TikTok helped me connect with people. If it wasn’t for TikTok specifically, I don’t know where I would be honestly.”
When six-time Latin Grammy winner Camilo stumbled across Yami’s melodic mantra Querida Yo, he reached out instantly wanted to get involved. She gave up a verse to her Colombian prince, and they performance the song together at the Premios Lo Nuestro ceremony. “It was one of the most magical nights in my life,” she reminisces as her eyes light up. “There were so many people watching in the audience and from their homes. It’s something I think I’ll remember forever. I didn’t expect it at all”, she continues, “[Billboard] really know what they’re talking about and to be recognised by them feels amazing.”
A fairy tale chaser through and through, Yami self-describes as “romantic, transparent and versatile.” But for fairy tales to become real there is another essential ingredient which Yami clearly has in ambundance - dedication and determination. This is a quality that Safdie has carried with her from her childhood, adamantly pursuing her ambitions from the age of nine, through years of posting covers on TikTok before finally catching her public’s attention to now steering her career in the direction she wants. Yami has always known what she wants, and she has made it the stuff of fairy tales.
Yami Safdie has just released her latest single ‘Luis’ with Martin Cirio, the fourth single to her highly anticipated album, with the rest of the LP to follow later in the year.
