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This month, Isabela Moner announced she was changing her name to Isabela Merced as she embarks on a new musical journey. The Dora and the Lost City of Gold actress debuted her first single ‘Papi’ with the new name, which the brunette beauty tells HOLA! USA, was inspired by her late grandmother. Talking about the future of her music career, the young star is filled with an undeniable spirit that’s about to take the world by storm.
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“[Papi] is pretty much just the FU to guys who think that Latinas all are spicy, that they’re all going to call you ‘Papi,’ and they’re all going to be very sexy,” she explains to HOLA! USA. “It’s an FU to all those guys that fall for those stereotypes because not all of us are going to do that, not all of us are going to be like that. And it’s fine if you are, but just don’t put me in a box.”
The 18-year-old, who still plans on taking over Hollywood and is starring in a new Netflix movie Let It Snow, wants to do it all in the same way one of her idols Jennifer Lopez conquered the industries. “I want to be like JLo because she does it all. She dances, she sings and she acts. That’s my dream.” Her first step is releasing new music, and letting her culture shine.
“When I signed with Republic Records, I was sixteen so I was thinking, ‘Am I going to sing in English or in Español?’ So one day I was in the studio, and someone was like, ‘Why don’t you do both in one song?,' the singer recalled. "I was like, ‘Oh, I could because I always talk in Spanglish with my mom in the house, so I thought it would be very natural for me, so why not.'”