Danna Paola

Beginning at the age of four, Mexico’s Danna Paola has lived in the pop-culture spotlight. The winner of many acting and singing awards, Paola began her career as a member of the Mexican television cast of Sesame Street, then at age six won her first leading role in the children’s telenovela María Belén and cut her debut album, Mi Globo Azul. The irrepressible youngster with the killer dance moves became a pop sensation at nine with the charting Océano, even as she claimed lead roles in the telenovela Amy, La Niña de la Mochila Azul and the stage production Anita la Huerfanita. As her singing voice deepened, she became even more successful. By the time she was 17, she had issued five full-length albums and a handful of singles amid her dizzying pace as an actress. Paola retreated from actively pursuing pop music for a time before releasing a trilogy of singles in 2018. She returned to Latin pop in earnest with 2019′s hit SIE7E EP.
Born in 1995, Mexican telenovela star and pop singer Danna Paola Rivera Munguia (aka Danna Paola) has been working since she was four years old when she and her sister were taken by her mother to audition for Mexico City’s television production of Sesame Street. They appeared in several episodes, but Paola proved talented enough for producers and agents to see her captivating charm exploding from the screen. In 2000, she won a high-profile role in the childhood telenovela Rayito de Luz. A year later, she was cast the lead role in María Belén, which she played for a whopping 95 episodes, going to school on set. Though she made guest and single-episode appearances in other television shows and films, Paola also continued to sing. In 2001, age six, the same year she won the lead in María Belén, Paola issued her debut album, Mi Globo Azul, singing children’s songs with slick pop arrangements. Though the record didn’t chart, it raised her profile nationally. There was no time to tour, but the singer promoted the album with appearances on television variety shows.
Over the next three years, Paola continued with María Belén, as well as select theater appearances. In 2004, at age nine, she issued her sophomore long-player, Océano, and won the lead role in the series Amy, La Niña de la Mochila Azul — she played it for 115 episodes. The success of the series and the album fed one another; the long-player registered well inside the radio airplay charts Top 40. For the next five years, Paola’s acting and musical careers intersected. In 2005, she took on another (additional) weekly role: that of Andrea Saavedra in the telenovela Pablo y Andrea, yet managed to issue her third studio outing, Chiquita Pero Picosa, and undertake a short tour. Given the intensity of her acting career –including making her film debut in 2008′s Tear This Heart Out — Paola continued to record but could not tour. In 2009, her twin careers fused when she signed on to a role in the teen telenovela Atrévete a Soñar, and cut her first true pop record (with the same title) that purposely emerged out of her character’s role. Though the album only charted marginally, the series was a smash, and Paola appeared in 261 episodes of Atrévete a Soñar. She would go on to many other television and film roles, and was featured in a Spanish version of Winnie the Pooh released in 2011.
The following year, Paola’s career, as if not active enough already, went into overdrive. While the filming schedule for Atrévete a Soñar was grueling, she also took on voice-over roles in several films. However, Paola was also seriously considering music. With her vocal range still expanding, she released a self-titled outing during the late summer of 2012. Its first single, ’’Ruleta,” went to number 20 on the radio charts, while the second, “Todo Fue un Show,” peaked at number six, pushing the album well into the Mexican Top 40. That same year, she auditioned to play the role of Elphaba in a Spanish-language stage production of the musical Wicked. Paola won the role. She issued a Top 20 single, “No Es Cierto,” with Noel Schajris before going on the road with the musical for the next two years. She released only one more single for the next several years, a 2014 cover of “Take a Chance on Me” for the Universal compilation Dancing Queens: Un Tributo Para ABBA.
In 2015, Paola took on a main role of Paloma Hernández in the telenovela ¿Quién Es Quién?, playing it for 115 episodes, and later that year, claimed the lead role in the musical Hoy No Me Puedo Levantar thru 2016, when she secured a key role in the first season of the Telemundo series La Doña. After the first season, she played a recurring guest-starring role over the next four years. Paola appeared in 115 episodes yet still managed to appear in films and in the first 11 episodes of the dramatic series José José, El Príncipe de la Canción in 2018; she also signed on to play Lucrecia “Lu” Montesinos Hendrich in the ongoing Spanish-speaking Netflix series Elite.
Paola chose 2018 as the year to return to recording as well. She issued the provocative modern salsa single “So Good,” followed by the Latin pop ballad “Lo Que No Sabes” and the steamy electro-Cumbia track “Final Feliz.” While the singles reached only the bottom rungs of the charts, between Paola’s television appearances and interviews, they created anticipation. In 2019, she issued the video single for “La Fama”; it registered some 250 million views and marked the first of five singles to appear that year. The others included “Know Me Too Well” with New Hope Club and the gold- and platinum-certified “Oye Pablo.” She also issued a “Siento Amor,” a disco-fied salsa cover of Donna Summer’s “I Feel Love.” At year’s end, Paolo released the seven-track EP SIE7E, which featured HRVY’s remix of “So Good” and “Mala Fama.”
In February 2020, Paola was as active musically as she was onscreen. She released SIE7E+, an expanded edition of the previous year’s EP that included its seven tracks appended by an additional five. It peaked at 16 on the Latin Pop Albums Chart. She subsequently released four singles including the chart-topping cuarentena hit “Sodio,” and “TQ Y YA” and “Contigo.” The latter two were chosen as unofficial anthems of Brazil’s annual LGBTQ+ Pride Parade. In late July, Paola issued “No Bailes Sola,” a duet with Sebastian Yatra, and it entered the Latin singles chart at 16. ~ Thom Jurek & Chris True