PT Entertainment
Danna Paola has been in the entertainment business since she was five years old, yet when she sits down with Rolling Stone one afternoon this fall, she’s experiencing one of the most epic peaks in her 20-year-career. Her song “XT4S1S,” which she released in August after a nearly year-long break from music, has been climbing up the charts an racking up million of views. The vibrant track is a rush of Latin pop-rock with an electronic edge, and it marks a new chapter for her — one where she’s doing exactly what she wants.
“It opened up a new panorama for me where there are no rules,” Paola tells Rolling Stone. “I believe today my drive as an artist, and my drive to continue to create music, is to experiment, and to make music that connects with my five senses.”
As a young kid, Paola acting in children’s telenovelas in Mexico, notably appearing on María Belén, Amy, La Niña de la Mochila Azul, among others. At the same time, she was recording soundtracks that eventually turned into her own albums. 2018 marked a turning point for her, when she was cast in the Spanish Netflix series Elite. Her music went global as well, with 2021’s K.O. album receiving a Latin Grammy nomination for Best Pop Vocal Album.
But after such success, Paola kept asking herself a few central questions: “How do I keep growing? What do I talk about next?” To figure things out, she took a break from music for several months until she was absolutely sure what she wanted to say. “I was looking for this feeling of love and excitement for music,” she says. “I’ve been doing this for so long that it’s hard to keep reinventing yourself and pushing, and it’s a personal effort you have to make to lift yourself up and keep fighting for your dreams.” Then, in January, when she was hanging out at home, the inspiration for “XTASIS” struck, reigniting her with new passion. Now, she can’t wait for the future.
You’ve been in the entertainment industry for many years and now you’re entering a new chapter in your career. How would you describe that journey?
It’s been a journey that’s been very interesting to get to know myself, this self-discovery. I believe my music career really began four years ago, in 2017 as a songwriter. I think one of the things that I’ve enjoyed the most in my life, in my career, is to get to know myself better each time, and being more honest with myself every day. It’s become something daily for me, to write about things that have happened to me, so that people can connect with me. I realized people began to connect with my songs and my lyrics because I started writing about having my heart broken so many times, that I had bad luck with love. Since I was a kid, music has always been present in my life, but I hadn’t found the words that I wanted to express until a few years ago.
How did your new single “XT4S1S” come about? What was the creative process like to make that song?
Everything was created at home, in the living room with my boyfriend Alex Hoyer, who is a great musician. He’s a genius. The first encounter we had in our relationship was through music. We love music and production, and I also write, so it was very beautiful. I had always said love and work should be separate, but I believe we discovered that new part of ourselves being passionate about what we do. He’s a perfectionist. I am too. “XT4S1S” started with vibing a bit with the guitar and with funk, so we made the song in 30 minutes. I wrote the lyrics. We had a rock mix that was a minute and half. I said, “This is total ecstasy.” Alex told me, “Because this is ecstasy.” For me that’s how to create music. It generated a sense of ecstasy within me to create music that is very addictive for me, to create music for myself and the world without thinking about making hits. I really believe hits are a consequence of being honest with yourself and making music that you like.
“XT4S1S” also marks your first time producing a song. What was the experience like to co-produce the song with Alex?
It’s a world that’s completely different. I have a lot of respect for it. I’m not a musician. I don’t play instruments. I’m dyslexic so it’s a bit complicated for me to be sitting at a piano and singing on top of that. One of the craziest things that happened to me was learning about music programming, and to create melodies on the piano with my voice. Alex helped me with that. “XT4S1S” was the first song where Alex showed me a lot about the patience in producing. We went through six months of production where we were in the studio every day. It was a lot of hard work. It was a lot of work to restructure the song, to look for sounds, and to experiment and play with it. The process was truthfully very crazy. Today, I’m still working on the production of my new album, and it excites me so much.
Fashion has always been a strong part of your brand as an artist, which you can see in the visuals for “XT4S1S.” You’re a brand ambassador for Fendi, and recently joined them for New York Fashion Week. How did that part of your career evolve, and how does it play a role in the aesthetic of your music?
Since I was a little girl, for real, I’ve always been obsessed with fashion. Sarah Jessica Parker is one of my favorite people in the industry because I love that way of expressing your personality with clothes. There’s The Devil Wears Prada, of course. And Sex and the City and Gossip Girl, all these inspirations of fashion. Uptown Girls is also one of my favorite movies. I grew up having that inspiration from everywhere. I believe that fashion is part of the art in my career. I like to be different. It’s helped me better express my personality, to be extroverted. I think fashion has helped me bring out that extroverted side of my personality, which is what I’m like in my music.
You also starred on the first three seasons of the Netflix series Elite. What was the experience like to appear in front of a wider audience?
Elite was one of the most reinvigorating experiences of my career. In 2017, just when I started to write songs, I had to immediately go to Spain to film Elite. It was a big cultural shock for me, to be Mexican and the only Latina on the cast. Even though we spoke the same language, at first it was a big shock for me. I was the extroverted girl who arrived to set singing. I had to become a villain and confront those ghosts of the ego. I worked so hard with my own ego for this role that I learned a lot from and that empowered me. I also learned the power of saying no. That’s something I love even today, the empowerment in saying no. For me, no says everything it needs to say, and it’s been my solution for my things. Acting is a major representation of art, but music is my cradle. It’s where I feel the most comfortable.
What can you say about your upcoming album that will feature “XT4S1S”? What can your fans expect?
Just for them to expect the unexpected. I’m still working on the album. It’s super electronic pop. I’m playing with house music, techno, R&B, funk, and bringing those mixes of experimental pop into Spanish. It’s an album that we’re working on with a lot of love. I’m in this rebel moment where I’m not going to follow the rules. It’s refreshing to reinvent myself, to be reborn, and I’m more sure about what I want to do than ever before. It’s going to make you dance, cry, and perrear, of course. But above all, I needed to make this return to Latin pop and share this new wave of sounds that we need in the industry.
