Thinking of more than 20 years of artistic career seems like a lot. For Danna Paola it is literally a lifetime dedicated to the world of entertainment since from the age of four, the actress and singer began this dream, which to this day, continues to excite her as much as the first day. Talent runs through her veins and being the daughter of Juan Jose Rivera, former member of Grupo Ciclon and Los Caminantes, it was only a matter of time before she showed her potential. Although there was a time when she thought of putting everything aside, fate called her to the stage with one of the most important roles of her career.
Happy, calm and blonder than ever, the “Elite” actress spoke with HOLA! USA in a very special interview in which she recalled the ups and downs she has lived through her work and she confessed how her heart is today.
As a woman, Danna is aware of how difficult it is to work in a nuanced environment. Despite the situation, her family is an important pillar that helps her stay grounded and protect her from the dangers that may affect her. In addition, as she is 25 years old, she knows how to choose her own path so as not to fall into temptations or addictions that could harm her, but without ceasing to enjoy parties and meetings with her dearest friends.
With such a solid foundation and focused on work, Danna has five studio albums, has participated in more than 20 television shows and her name also shines on the movie and theater billboards.
Beyond her successes at work, the “No Bailes Sola” singer is as romantic as many of her fans. Falling in love and willing to find true love, Danna confessed that her heart has been broken and how she managed to repair it to return to the game. Always trusting that fate puts people in the right place…everyone, even Pablo, the mysterious Spanish boy who inspired her to write her song “Hey, Pablo”, and who for a while she wanted to find in reality; what could have happened to him? She tells it all in this special chat with HOLA! USA.
“Growing up within the environment has made me learn more and more about myself. I have no life other than this one. I cannot regret anything, because everything I have done has transformed me into the woman I am today.”
Danna Paola exclusive interview
How did you cope during quarantine?
This quarantine has been crazy and it has been different from what I had initially expected. All of this has been very unexpected. Obviously, we have taken care of ourselves and everything, but we have restructured the way we work. I have been nonstop working and the truth is that this is something that has motivated me a lot. I have set up a studio at home, and I have been promoting my album from here. We have rarely gone out to record the video clip (music video) with the minimum number of people and we went to Miami to “Premious Juventud”. It has suddenly been very crazy having to go out of town, but still working from home. Truthfully, it has been a great learning experience that I have enjoyed a lot.
You started in this industry from a very young age, what do you remember from that time?
Too many things, I could make a huge list. I think that this excitement of continuing to maintain is something that continues to accompany me all the time. The excitement, the desire, and the nerves, the fact that I continue to be passionate about what I do and that every time I want to continue learning more. These unexpected projects that life gives me, today being able to put together 100% of my own musical project was something wonderful, composing songs which I never imagined. I never imagined when I was a five-year-old girl that I would be here. It has been a long and big route, which has filled me completely and it has been something beautiful. It has been a bright path and I am very grateful for each stage of my life.
Do you regret anything?
No, nothing. I think that growing up within the industry and its environment mas made me learn more and more about myself. I have no life other than this one. I can’t regret anything, because everything I have done has transformed me into the woman I am today and I think that’s just what life is about, learning from the good and the bad, from lovesickness and everything.
At some point in your career, did you decide to abandon everything and go in another direction?
Yes of course. At 16 I had a kind of rebellion, some sort of adolescence, and I wanted to put it all aside. I had been on the forums for a long time and it was a moment in my life that I has with my last album at the time, which was self-titles and I was not doing anything that I truly liked. I had to follow a line which I had to fulfill, singing, etc. I have been a very creative person since I can remember, I am fascinated by cooking and I love to paint. I am thinking things all the time and I’ve never experienced it before. At that time, I got tired of the spotlight, of always having tasks to accomplish, instead of being able to create those things on my own. Before Wicked, the musical, came into my life, I wanted to go study gastronomy in France at “Le cordon bleu”, so I started looking for schools. My father, who was my manager at the time, my mother and some of the people who worked with me at the time asked me if I was sure about this decision and I said yes. I felt that I no longer wanted to sing, act, or anything, I was tired of everything, and then Wicked came into my life. It happened in those two weeks of my life and I said, “well, if I stay in the musical, life is telling me that basically I have to continue in this all my life and if not, I will go and dedicate myself to studying gastronomy.” I got the role in the musical and I understood that life is very wise because it put me there. I stayed and earned my place there with a lot of work. If I had not had that rebellion, my life would have taken a different path. I am grateful that the industry believed in me and stopped seeing me as a puppet and little by little I gained credibility, which to this day I continue to learn.
I am grateful that the industry believed in me and stopped seeing me as a puppet and little by little I gained credibility, which to this day I continue to learn.
“I’ve had very bad luck in my love life and my heart has been broken all my life, which is why I write songs (laughs). I am a hopeless romantic, and I fall in love to the fullest. I am a very dedicated and loving person, which is why I fall in love so quickly.”
Was it very difficult for you to disengage from your father as a manager?
Yes of course. It’s hard. Family that is always by your side is synonymous to respect, but at work it has always been very complicated, so we both decided as father and daughter to continue fostering this family relationship rather than work. My family is the most important things to me and what I take care of the most in this world. For wanting to take care of that and get to this day with all the good things that are happening to me, I decided to have the support of my family by decision and not by obligation. I am happy to know that I have a precious relationship with my father, my mother, my sister, and my nephew Iker, who is three years old.
What do you think of fame and how do you handle it?
The word fame makes me think of a movie, it’s a consequence of everything you do. I think that seeking to be famous is something that comes from the dream of achieving something and it has taken me 21 years in the media to be where I am. I have never looked to be famous, but rather to create and continue being passionate about what I do, looking for project that fulfill me and that challenge me as an actress.
Your singing career is on the rise, how do you feel about being so popular today?
Today as a singer I consider myself a very demanding songwriter with my lyrics and my melodies. I am very happy because I am learning to produce my own music as well, from meeting with very talented people in the music industry. Nowadays, having earned a certain amount of respect from the music industry for me has been incredible, something very unexpected and that fascinates me. Being popular or having fame is fun, but it also has its very dark side in which you lose a lot of your privacy and your freedom. That is something that I commented with my “Elite” colleagues before it came out, that they did not want to be in this spotlight, nor to be singled out or to lose this private part of their freedom, so to speak. Sometimes, social networks overwhelm me and I do my “detox”, surrounding myself with people who add value to my life. I try to keep my private life like that, private, which is the only thing left for me.
In that sense, has someone wanted to go overboard with you and made unseemly proposals?
Thank God no. Mt father was always by my side to take care of me. There are things that you love best as a young person or child, you don’t realize until you grow up. I have had toxic friendships, toxic relationships that I really realize to this day are useless. We live in a highly macho world where it is still difficult for people to see an independent woman where she is in charge of her project. It has been difficult for me today to carry this strength as a woman, but I am very proud of achieving it. I learned not to keep quiet, how when I am quiet, I do not look prettier, that having a smile on my face and not commenting is not the right thing to do. I have become a super direct person, quite sure of what I want, determined and very clear about the values that I have and that my family has instilled in me. There have been situations that I have had without wanting; for example, while filming, with people on the street or for receiving comments about my body, my personality, my talent, whatever it is that passes over you and you think it is normal. Feminisms is a movement that I support one hundred percent, I consider myself part of this movement. I have suffered a lot of machismo around my life with situations big and small. Knowing that I can be part of this movement, that I can talk about it in my songs and that I can be a voice in my social networks is important and I always try to be an authentic woman by not entering a movement because it is fashionable or trendy but because the movement is inside of me and I have started it.
Love is free, it is universal, it should not have prejudices, ties or labels. I can say that today I am very happy.
How have you done it to stay away from addictions?
It is a life decision. I have a lot of respect for every person in the industry or in the world who does what they want with their body. I consider myself a fairly young person because I am 25 years old and I like to party, drink alcohol and stay up until seven in the morning. The point of being very responsible with your life in the same way as you want people around you to be. I have always had the good education from my family so that I know how to choose my friends in this industry, which is such a complicated one. I have been very well informed and I am grateful to life for everything that it teaches me. It also has to do with knowing how to handle your moments of anxiety, your breakdowns, your mental health, and this is something that I deal with every day. I always seek to have therapy, meditate, exercise, eat healthy, so that I can also be good with my body and brain. It is very difficult because the world of music and acting is very crazy… it is not easy. But today I am calm to be surrounded by good people, people who see my project the same as I do, who have respect for each other. I enjoy what I do and nobody forces me to do anything.
Do you consider yourself a lucky girl in your love life?
I have had very bad luck in love and my heart has been broken all my life, which is why I write the songs I do (laughs). I am a hopeless romantic, I fall in love to the fullest. I am a very dedicated and very loving person, so I fall in love very quickly. Lately, I have been in this mood of “being single is fashionable and trendy”, this individuality that one has as a person and as a woman I have learned throughout the years. Of course, I have had my heart broke, of course I have fallen in love, but I think we all need to give ourselves the opportunity to be surprised by life. I was very tired with this idea of “I’m better alone”, “I better dance alone”, my songs spoke just of that, being alone and suddenly, boom, like changes and surprises you. I am not a close-minded person, on the contrary, love moves the word and from there I begin to write my songs. As a human being, things happen to me that happen to everyone and that is what I want to convey with my songs. For me, being heartbroken in the last year was what made me write my album. Today, I am happy with my life, very calm and in total and fair peace, not closed off to love at all, but rather quite the opposite.
Is there someone who has a place in your heart right now?
All my fans have a place in my heart, always. But I have very special people in my life who have made me change just this perspective. Love is free, it is universal, it should not have prejudices, ties or labels. I can say that today I am very happy.
“I have been very unlucky in love and my heart has been broken all my life, that’s why I write songs. I am a hopeless romantic, I fall in love to the fullest. I am a very dedicated and very loving person, so I fall in love very quickly.”
Danna Paola HOLA! USA interview
¿Lograste encontrar a Pablo?
No, I can’t find him! You know, I was just thinking of tweeting, “It’s good that you didn’t appear Pablo, because I don’t know what would have happened” (laughs). It happened to me recently that we were filming a musical and one of the models that was there looked like Pablo, so I said, “this can’t be”. It was all very crazy, like one of those movies that could be a romantic comedy.
What do you consider to be the fault of this generation?
I think that we are in a very complicated moment for this world, and emotions are going crazy for everyone. Everybody takes everything very personally, and everybody thinks they can have an opinion on everything, everybody knows everything. Most things on the internet are pretty much free, which I something I appreciate very much, but everyone takes the liberty of giving their opinion and opening a thread about anything and even making things up. Things have become a bit toxic, like for example on Twitter, that’s why I don’t go on social networks much anymore, I’ve tried only for little moments. The fault comes from there, from believing that you know everything. But hey, that’s how this generation is, I’m the half-millennial centennial generation. The good news is that the internet is a wonderful tool, without it we would not even be working. I could not live without Internet, but for a few days yes, which I why every now and then I decide it and I go for it.
How much do peoples comments affect you?
I think we all care about other people’s comments. Nobody goes through life saying “Oh, I don’t care what they say about me”, of course it matters. One also has to understand that we are not like a gold coin, and that not everyone is going to like us, or the things we do. I have learned in recent years to put a line between those things, between a constructive comment or opinion and the destructive. I am against bullying 100%. I have been bullied for quite some time. It is not worth worrying our minds with things that are on the internet. It reassures me to know that I have a peace of mind that keeps me sane and healthy to this day. I am an artist who is very clear about wht she wants, I am super passionate. I care about the opinions of my fans, the people who support me, in order for me to give them my best.
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