Louisville teen speaks out about sexual abuse on new song, 'Mommy'

Louisville teen Iliana Eve, a sophomore at Eastern High School, continues to work her way into a music career with help from her father, music publicist Jonathan Hay.

Her biggest step so far comes May 30 with the release of a single, "Mommy," on FM Records, an industry leader in pop-reggae music.

Kemar McGregor is FM Records' founder and has worked with Sinead O'Connor, Musiq Soulchild, Gregory Isaacs and Maxi Priest. He produced "Mommy," which deals with the subject of sexual abuse and was partly inspired by Korn's 1994 song, "Daddy," which addressed similar issues. 

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"She wasn't sure if she wanted to record it at first," Hay said in an email. "She then found Korn's song 'Daddy' on Spotify, which also talks about sexual abuse, and it helped give her the strength to be able to do it.

"What's really crazy is it's like she spoke Korn intro existence. Because shortly after she recorded 'Mommy', Jonathan Davis' wife Deven Davis reached out to me and wanted me to help ... with her and her husband's clothing line launch called Somber One.

"I'm taking Iliana out to the west coast this summer to meet the Davis family as I've gotten close with them. It's pretty surreal how it all came together."

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Iliana Eve is working on a debut album, "Daddy Issues," which is expected to be released this summer on her own Drink the Lemonade label. 

Another song slated for the album, "Kylie's Daddy," got some attention last month when TMZ posted it as a way of explaining a so-called beef between rappers 22 Savage and 21 Savage, both of whom apparently want to be Kylie Jenner's daddy. 

Iliana Eve, recording as Ana, also did a guest vocal on "Letters," a single by rapper Heebz Street that was released last year on Snoop Dogg's Doggy Style Records. 

"The attention doesn't affect my school life because school is my number one priority," Iliana Eve said in an email. "I don't let the attention interfere with school at all." 

Reporter Jeffrey Lee Puckett can be reached at 502-582-4160 and jpuckett@courier-journal.com.