NIIVA is the stage name of Toronto-based pop and R&B singer Gabriela Geneva, born on April 25, 1993, in Bulgaria. She was raised in the United Kingdom and later moved with her family to Canada's West Coast, where she joined the pop-punk band GreenTree. The group only released one EP in 2012 and disbanded in 2014, after which she officially started performing under her real name. In 2017, she relocated to Toronto and began working with top-tier producers such as The Fourth Floor, Rob Wells and Shobha, Sammy G & Bobby Brass, Jimmy Harry, Alex 'Pilz' Vujic, and Matt Beckley. After landing a publishing deal with Warner Chappell/VLVTTree, she adopted the name NIIVA and began working on her debut EP while also penning songs for other artists. Preceded by the hit single "Love Games," her self-titled debut EP appeared in 2020 and peaked at Number 20 on the Canadian streaming charts. Later that year, NIIVA scored co-writing credits on aespa's Top 5 single "Black Mamba." She resumed her music career in 2022 with the single "Friends," which reached Number 98 on the Canadian Hot 100.
