Career
She rose to fame after releasing her debut single "Mani për money" in 2013, which gained positive feedback and attention from the public. Her following songs "A po don" and "East dehun", gained the same success. In 2015 Era gained success with her song "Njo si ti" with over a million views on YouTube in a week.
Her first duo featuring well-known Kosovo rapper Ledri Vula, "Shumë pis", became a summer hit.
Following the single"s success, she was signed to American record labels Sony Music Entertainment and Ultra Music in February 2016. Era Istrefi was born on 4 July 1994 in Pristina to Suzana Tahirsylaj, a well known Albanian singer in the 80s and 90s and Nezir Istrefi, a cameraman.
Istrefi made her television debut in 2013, with her single "Mani për money", a reggae-popular song, new to the national music industry. The song received mainly positive criticism from the audience, becoming an instant hit.
A few months after her first single, she released "A Po Don?", another song with a different style, accompanied by a provocative music video.
The song received mixed criticism to negative. Her third single, "East Dehun", inspired by Nexhmije Pagarusha"s song of the same name, which also samples the lyrics and some parts of the instrumental, also became a success, which assured her three Videofest Awards (Albanian Music Awards), including "Best New Artist" for her work in 2013. In December 2014, she released her newest single "13", a popular-ballad produced in the United States.
The music video received almost 200,000 viewers within 24 hours.
The song was featured on V Magazine as well. In December 2015, she released the single "BonBon" with its music video shot in Kosovo.
One month later the song went viral on social media such as Instagram and Facebook, and Istrefi began gaining international fame with support from Chloë Grace Moretz. In February 2016, she signed to American labels Sony Music Entertainment and Ultra Music.
