20-plus years into her profession, Danna is making her debut.

Previously Danna Paola, the Mexican actress and pop star dropped her final identify to usher in a brand new artistic period. By her newest album, Childstar, she displays on how a lifelong spent within the public eye and beneath the management of others impacted her psychological well being—and, extra importantly, how she discovered therapeutic and reclaimed her voice via making music that’s extra genuine to herself.

At simply 28, Danna is already a veteran of the leisure trade, having advanced from a 4-year-old Sesame Avenue visitor star to a kids’s telenovela lead (Amy, La Niña De La Mochila Azul, Atrévete A Soñar) to Broadway star (Depraved) to Netflix darling (Elite)—all of the whereas releasing album after album and amassing thousands and thousands of streams on Spotify with hits like “Oye Pablo” and “Mala Fama,” which hit again at media scrutiny about her.

However even somebody of Danna’s pedigree couldn’t keep away from the strings which are usually connected to fame. Even though Danna earned her first Latin Grammy nomination in 2021, the administration group she’d been working with that yr—as Danna would later reveal within the Calle y Poché podcast — was hyper-controlling of her profession and particularly her picture. They allegedly pressured her to dye her naturally darkish hair blonde (which she didn’t need to do) in 2021. So she took a hiatus the next yr to discover a group that supported her imaginative and prescient as an artist. Much more so, she needed to search out herself.

Now, whereas re-emerging as a first-name-only entity, Danna is placing out her most private and hands-on album but. She co-produced the euphoric “XT4S1S” and the introspective “Tenemos Que Hablar” from the album—the primary time she’s had a hand within the manufacturing of her personal music. She additionally just lately grew to become a world model ambassador for MAC Cosmetics. These adjustments are clearly resonating together with her followers; final yr, she kicked off a world tour with 30 dates booked all through the U.S. and Mexico.

In March, we caught up with Danna earlier than her efficiency at Mexico’s Tecate Pa’l Norte music pageant, the place she was top-billed on a lineup that included Kendrick Lamar, Blink-182, Thirty Seconds to Mars, and Think about Dragons. Her pop spectacle channeled 2000s-era Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera with fierce choreography and powerhouse vocals. It drew an viewers of greater than 50,000 folks.

Backstage, simply earlier than stated spectacle, Danna appeared comfy in her futuristic vaquera outfit that nodded to her Mexican roots. Right here, she opened as much as Attract about her inventive rebirth, recovering from long-term hair harm, and the skincare merchandise she will’t put down.