It’s avoice that cuts sharp and deep, straight to the chambers of the heart. Like thebeautiful variations of the flower genus her name represents, the Miami-bred,Cuban-American singer-songwriter’s hotly anticipated debut album, aptly titled My Garden, is complex, intoxicating andunforgettable. “Myalbum is a plethora of sounds, not unlike a garden of flowers,” Kat says. “Youhave daisies, sunflowers, willows, thorns—all evoking different emotions,expressions and meanings. I’m inviting everyone into my garden, my mind, mymusic.”

Without a doubt one of the hottest new artiststo watch in 2013, there’s no one quite like Kat Dahlia. Her electrifying soundis a sultry mix of pop, Latin, hip-hop and reggae influences, and she deftlyalternates between unleashing pure, infectious lyrical fire in party jams like“Money Party” and poetically pondering heartbreak and relationships in balladssuch as “Walk on Water.” She is an artist of her own making. “There’s no otherway to stand out than just being myself,” says the rising Latin pop star. “Iwrite my own music. People say my voice is very unique and I do this rappything that’s kind of different, but if you really want to break it down, I’mjust being myself.”

Born Katriana Huguet (and formerly known as Kat Hue), she’s therare artist who will go into the studio and record nine songs in one day. Tellher she can’t do it and she’ll prove the naysayers wrong. For years, she waitedtables six days a week to save up enough money to independently fund studiosessions, a music video and an EP all on her own. That combination of hustleand infectious vocals is why music industry veteran Sylvia Rhone swiftly signedKat to her Vested in Culture label with Epic Records the very first time sheheard her demos.

It’s easy to understand why Rhone didn’t want to let Kat Dahlia slip away. She’s a natural born storyteller whose inspired material comes directly from the hard knocks that life has served her. “My songwriting is all stories. It’s influenced by a lot of blues, Elvis, and the Buena Vista SocialClub, which are all made up of stories.” In her song “Tumbao,” for instance,Kat pays homage to Celia Cruz’s “La Negra Tiene Tumbao” while she playfullyquestions the stereotype associated with being a Latina recording artist: “Sí, yo hablo Español / But, baby, Iain’t trying to fit that mold / I’ma keep my creative control / I’m just aSouth Beach girl with a lot of soul.”

The spirited 22-year-old was raised byCuban-born parents in Miami Beach. Though fluent in English and Spanish, herFrench surname, Huguet, isowed to her paternal great-grandparents who came to Cuba from Lebanon. Kat’sparents emigrated to the U.S. as children and their island culture carried overinto the language and salsa music that was fundamental to her upbringing, asCelia Cruz, Tito Puente and Willies wafted through the air in her abuela’s kitchen. “I always knew Iwanted to do music. I just didn’t know how I was going to get there.” Katperformed her first solo, “Tomorrow” from the musical Annie, at a benefit when she was 8-years-old and started writingher own songs at age 15. “I would rip instrumentals from YouTube to make songsbecause I didn’t have a producer or a band.”

Self-reliance is a trait Kat learned early tosurvive her riches-to-rags childhood. Her parents were once successfulentrepreneurs who owned a moving company, but their business unraveled afterthey divorced, and Kat and three of her six siblings went to live with theirmother. “My parents came from no money, made money, but little by little wentback to the struggle. We lived in a hotel room for a while and there was a timewhen I slept on a sofa-bed with two of my sisters while my other sister sleptin an armchair. That’s when I realized I had to do shit on my own.” Kat recallsthose harsh experiences in her autobiographical first single, “Gangsta,” as shevividly sketches the painful details of her life: “No, I ain’t stuntin’ like my daddy / He’s living with my grammy / Usedto be a big baller / He’s surviving off of gambling / But I love him, he’s mydaddy / Yeah, I love him, he’s my daddy / Put him in a big house before I eversee a Grammy.”

By age 18, Kat had saved up enough money fromwaitressing at Miami hotspots like STK to strike out on her own, however, thenagging feeling that she wanted more from life prompted her to move to NewYork. She soon settled in North Bergen, New Jersey, but on arrival in 2010,became derailed by a toxic relationship. A year later, she emerged confident,strong, running her own game and endowed with the insight to channel heremotions into songs that she wrote. That’s when Kat Hue became Kat Dahlia. “Myfriend J. Dens—who produced ‘Gangsta’ and ‘My Garden’—came up with the name KatDahlia,” she explains. “At first, I was hesitant about it because I thought maybe it was too dark andharsh. But when I looked up the definition of a dahlia, I discovered that it’sa beautiful flower, one of a kind that’s very hard to grow and very hard to duplicate.I also like the duality of the hardness and softness of the name, which is why Ifeel it’s an accurate reflection of me as an artist.”

The juxtaposition of darkness and light is a recurringtheme in Kat’s lyrics, one that she explores with aplomb in My Garden’s tantalizing title track, inwhich she chants, “My garden’s white ofdaisies / And it’s untouched, come play / Check in my rhythm, baby / My sky’sbeen looking grey / My garden’s white of daisies / And it’s untouched of sin /My root’s been craving lately / To soak in your diamonds.” It is also the core of her appealas the rare pop artist who embodies both style and substance. “Ifeel like a messenger,” she explains. “I want to send a positive message oflove and put out good music that constantly challenges me as an artist.”Beware: Kat Dahlia has arrived, she’s armed and she’s dangerous.