Puerto Rican Singer ‘paopao’ on Authenticity and Mental Health | Q & A

Singer songwriter paopao, originally from Puerto Rico, released her first solo “Diamantes y espinas,” that has everyone talking about it. In case you missed it, Bad Bunny gave this single la patadita de la suerte during the Summer reaching thousands of fans and possibly putting her even more in the map to collab with other artists.

Paopao was born in Puerto Rico and raised between PR and Dominican Republic, having both cultures present in her life. Now, residing in Miami, paopao is now really focusing on expanding and giving her new single the time it deserves. Check out our Q&A with the Boricua singer!

What is it like growing up Latina?

Growing up Latina is special. I feel like it’s such an embracing culture and I feel like there’s no other culture like it, and there’s no other, like, warmth.  I feel like Latinas are very expressive and they’re very emotional in the best way. And I feel like being a part of that and just being able to experience the world from that perspective is really cool. It’s really pretty, not pretty, but it’s like, it’s beautiful. <laugh>.

Tell us about your career in music. How did you get into it?
My career in music is it’s been an interesting ride.  I didn’t like see it as a career opportunity until it was time for me to determine what I wanted to do or what I wanted to study in college. And I was between music and dance and I was accepted into a couple schools that were different. And I ended up going with a songwriting program at the university of Miami,
UM, in the school of music. And I did my undergrad in Media writing and production, which is popular music, writing and production. I graduated from my master’s degree and they were like, ‘Hey, do you wanna be a teaching assistant? We’ll offer you the Master’s Degree for free and exchange for you to grade and teach classes.’

And I was like, absolutely! I thought it was a good opportunity. So I did my master’s in music business. And between those studies, I did a lot of internships and just kind of like exploring what I was gonna do, like in the, in the industry, I guess I’ve always wanted to be an artist, but I knew that there were a lot of different roles. I had my plan B my plan C my plan D I was like, “oh, I could probably be a songwriter. And I could be an, an A&R like, this could still fulfill me. So I did a bunch of internships.  And from there that was like my third or fourth internship in my like college studies.

I graduated my from my master’s degree and I got a job at an independent record label working as an A&R. And then I got another job working as a label manager and through the internships and stuff, I started developing relationships as a songwriter in the business. I did a lot of songwriting for major artists. And one of those songwriting sessions getting me in line for my first Grammy. which is crazy to think about.  I got a couple offers, a couple, it was like a year or two after I got a couple offers as a songwriter. And I guess the rest is history, but since then I’ve released two collaborative VPs.

How have your different projects helped find inclusion for the Latine community?

I feel like the more art is being shared by the Latine community, the better, there’s a lot of really talented creators in the Latine community. It’s really cool that we now have so many platforms that we get to share it and like expand the reach. There are so many Latin X, both creators and people ,and audience out there, but it’s funny because now I feel like even the general market and even cultures from Europe and Asia and are beginning to notice just like Latinx music, art and culture. And that’s really cool! Any project that you get to put onto the world that gets that reach is an honor. Honestly, it’s really cool.

Tell us about the biggest struggles or obstacles in your career as a Latina and how you have overcome them.

The biggest struggles I’ve had in my career are it’s been mental health just because it’s not talked about a lot. I was fortunate enough to have been raised in a home where it was given a very strong importance.  So she really got me deep into my feelings and analyzing the root of my problems and why I was feeling the way I was feeling. But I feel like it’s still new in the Latin community. Like not a lot of artists, more now, but not a lot of artists speak up for mental health and what it’s like, and the struggles of being an artist and, and dealing with a really personal industry. Your entire life is exposed and that can take a really big toll on your mental health.

And what makes you the most proud of the work that you do?

I feel like I’m most proud of the work that I do when I can be a 100 percent authentic. It makes me proud when people connect my music and they’re like, “well, I’ve never heard anything like this. II connect with you and your sound and your image.” And when people, especially when women and girls, write to me being like ‘this is the first time I’ve seen myself in the genre, because I didn’t think I had a place in it before.’ That is, it just feels like a really big accomplishment. And it was always a goal of mine, so I’m glad that slowly it’s happening.

Do you have a mantra, a piece of art person or any ritual that has helped you in a way and that you would like to share with others?

I journal as much as I can, but it’s not like a diary. I journal about things that I want as if I’ve already had them or as I’ve already had them. I manifest. It’s like a way of putting my thoughts into one stream of consciousness. So I feel like journaling has been a huge thing and just getting my goals together and figuring out what I really want on paper. I recommend it to anyone who has any dreams just put ’em all down on paper. It makes them, it makes them real in a way.

Tell us about bad bunny using your music in his stories. Is there a collaboration nearby or what can you say?

Bad Bunny sharing my music in his stories is probably the craziest thing that’s happened to me in my career so far, but it’s incredible. It’s, it’s an affirmation that the music that you’re doing is good or, not necessarily, but it’s it’s reaching the people it has to each and it’s, it’s making a difference. So I’m really grateful and that has brought on a couple really cool collaborations coming from that. I cannot share too much, but you’ll see it. It’s, it’s cool. I’ve gotten a lot of very positive response from the EP and a lot of people that wanna work with me now because of the exposure that that story had.

And tell us about your future projects. Is there anything else you want, you would like to share?

I think right now I’m really focusing on expanding my new EP. I spent a lot of time working on it and I like, I care about it a lot. So we’re expanding on that. We’re doing a few remixes working on some visualizers that we have queued up as well. We’re still developing the visual concepts of the EP as well. Some of the tracks, we’re evolving them and adding some cool people to it. I just can’t wait to like keep performing these songs live.