Aleyna Tilki

Aleyna Tilki — Biography

Aleyna Tilki is a singer who rose from a talent contest to become one of Turkey's most-listened-to young pop artists. The work that made her name was Emrah Karaduman's Cevapsız Çınlama, whose video is cited among the most-watched Turkish music videos. In 2025 she released her first studio album, Kırlar, and for 2026 she announced a concert marking ten years on stage.

Born in Konya, she has a mother from Of and a father from a family that came from Russia. At fourteen she reached the semi-final of season six of Yetenek Sizsiniz Türkiye with "Gesi Bağları," sung in an Anatolian-rock style. Cevapsız Çınlama broke her through in 2016, and her first solo single, Sen Olsan Bari (2017), reached number one on the charts. She settled in Los Angeles in November 2017 to study English. 2019 was a turning point: Yalnız Çiçek, the Cornetto jingle Nasılsın Aşkta and a Warner Music Group contract, which made her the first Turkish singer to work with the company.

She then moved toward acting, sharing the lead with Cemal Can Canseven in the Exxen series İşte Bu Benim Masalım (2021), and released her first English song, Retrograde, in the same period. She submitted Kırlar to the Grammys in the Best Global Music Album category but was not nominated. In August 2026 she criticised the music industry, saying she can perform few concerts, and the remarks drew wide press coverage.