Photo courtesy of: Sueños
Interview by: Alejandro Hernandez

Can one say they’ve lived a full life if they've never cried in the club? For Puerto Rican songstress paopao, the answer would be no. As an artist, she wears her emotions on her sleeve as a badge of honor, both figuratively and literally. Donning almost all-black baggy clothes with just a splash of color, her long blue pigtails and heavy metal chains stand out even more; she embodies the essence of the emo/goth style with a touch of street sensibility. 

Performing in Chicago for the first time this past May at Sueños Festival, paopao wowed spectators with her blend of reggaeton and alt-pop music that sounds like something you’d expect to hear at a banger party, but a closer examination of her lyrics reveals dark and brooding storytelling. Along with colorful cartoonish visualizers playing in the background of her set, she mesmerized me with a heavenly singing voice, crooning melodies of love and loss like an angel with a broken heart. 

Despite being a relatively new name as a singer, paopao has been a music industry veteran for years now, working behind the scenes. She earned a master’s degree in the music business, and entered the field as an intern at different studios (including one owned by Gloria and Emilio Estefan), before becoming an A&R rep for Miami-based Alacran Records. She then became a label manager at RichMusic, where she is now signed as an artist. 

Throughout her tenure grinding it out in the industry, she kept writing songs, penning hits for various artists throughout the years, and even winning a Latin GRAMMY in 2020 for her contributions to Chiquis Rivera’s album Playlist, which won for the “Best Banda Album” category. However, her heart yearned for something greater. She wanted to be the one singing the anthems she was pouring her soul into. So she took a leap of faith, and has been harvesting the fruits of her labor ever  since, earning cosigns from the likes of Bad Bunny and Eladio Carrión. She performed at the latter’s own music festival, and was named one of TIDAL’s “Rising Artists To Watch” in 2023. I had the chance to catch up with paopao after her Sueños set to hear what she had to say about the new stage of life she finds herself in.

You've been in the music industry for a long time now, but in terms of being front-and-center performing, you’re still considered new. How has that transition been for you to manage?

It's been crazy! Like crazy good, but also crazy in general. I think it's a different hat. I've been working behind the scenes in the industry, always wanting to be an artist, but like never actually committing to it. And then, I think with the way everything's going, considering I've only released music for like a year and a half, I think it's a sign that I was meant to be doing this. I’m excited and grateful that I was able to make the switch.

That resonates with me. It was also about a year and a half ago I decided to quit my day job on some “f*ck it” sh*t and pursue writing full-time, and like you said, I would get these little signs that come up and it’s like, “oh, I’m meant to do this.”

It’s terrifying! It’s a terrifying leap because your success entirely depends on you. You’re not really working for someone else. Like you are, but it’s different because it’s your voice. So yeah, I don’t know, I’m riding the wave.

And that’s exactly what you’re supposed to do, just ride the wave. What was that light bulb moment for you where you decided “I’m going to take a leap of faith?”

I'm gonna get dark, but I have always wanted to be an artist. I studied music in college and I had a lot of teachers who were, like, frustrated musicians, and then that's what they kind of engraved on you. Like, “You're gonna teach, you're not actually going to be famous, that's not real life.” But my mom was always like, “Bro, there's thousands of artists making millions of dollars, what makes you any different?” Unfortunately, my mom passed away two years ago. She was really sick and she was suffering, you know, and I have made peace with that. She's definitely everywhere, and she made this happen one-hundred percent. I remember immediately, shit started happening for the better, and things started getting emotional. Like damn, life is short, but I can hear her saying, “B*tch, you weren't gonna do it so I'm gonna do it for you.” Things just started working out and I don't take anything for granted because life is really short, so that was a really big wake-up call for me.

I’m Puerto Rican myself, and I felt proud as f*ck seeing you on stage especially knowing you have a GRAMMY. Obviously, it’s cool to see someone like Bad Bunny doing his thing for the island, but the market is always more saturated by male artists. So what does it mean to you to be doing this as a Puertorriqueña? You know we’re very prideful people.

We are. I have so many thoughts on this. It’s an honor, and a responsibility as well, because I feel like for a long time, aside from Ivy Queen – who is performing as we speak – it’s been a minute since Puerto Rican women were the forefront of the up-and-coming scene. She was a pioneer for all of us women in reggaeton, and now there’s a lot of us. [Young] Miko is freaking killing it, and I’m grateful to be a part of that wave too. It comes with a lot more pressure too because Puerto Ricans are a hard audience – we’re really proud

For the people who aren’t familiar with your music, how would you describe your art?

I say my music is – we call it musica urbana – so it’s, like, urban music. I call it alternative urban music. It’s like reggaeton, but I get dark and weird and sad while still maintaining obviously that reggaeton and trap essence. So yeah, sadgirl reggaeton vibes!

How do you feel about being a sad girl representative? And what do you do to take care of yourself?

I love it. I cry everyday, so might as well sing about it! (laughs)

I am actively working on my mental health. I have months where I’m killing it and months where I’m not, but, honestly, as long as I’m eating well and journaling, that seems to be, like, my main way of staying present and working on mental health. Exercise, obviously, but we've been slacking on that department for a minute. Those kinds of things obviously, kind of helped me stay centered and present because I suffer from anxiety.

Progress is non-linear

Exactly! Some days are great, some days are not, but, I don’t know, just keep pushing forward.

I also noticed the animations you had playing during your performance. I’m a big cartoon nerd myself, so I would like to know what cartoons or animations inspire you?

Damn! I mean I love anime. I’m watching Demon Slayer right now, and the visuals are absolutely insane. I’ve watched cartoons my whole life. I love cartoons, so I like implementing that into my visuals too because a lot of visuals in the urban scene are more realistic. I'm working on this new project and these visuals are actually attached to the new project, so it's kind of like a tease before I even start releasing the music. But I want to make stickers and make it something that any age range can identify with because they're cute and animated but they're also dark.