Paula DeAnda On Early Days, Corpus Christi & Role Model Status
Yahoo! Music’s ‘Who’s Next?’ features an interview and performance with Paula DeAnda. Paula talked about how she was always drawn to music, her reaction to getting some success on the pop charts, having to venture to Corpus Christi to get her break, and how other girls her age are turning to her for advice.
“I’ve always been in music somehow,” Paula explained about her early days. “But actually discovering that I could sing and starting to sing at churches and festivals, weddings, sing at restaurants on the ordering mic. Every chance I got I sang. Just practicing and thinking maybe I’ll be on the big stage and it will be a real microphone.”
As for Paula’s reaction when she enjoyed some success as an artist, she said, “For me always be dreaming about being a singer and coming up and having my own album and having a video out was just so crazy. You’d have as many people tell you your song so and so is on the charts. When I actually saw the paper it was Paula DeAnda, number 30-something, I’m like oh my gosh.”
Finding her place in music came after she moved to a different location in Texas. “Corpus Christi is a great place. A lot of people have gotten started there,” she said of her destination. “Frankie J, they started playing his music. Bash has come there and been through a couple of shows there. Selena, originated from Corpus, so it’s a really big industry for music. I was from West Texas, which is 8 hours away from there, and there’s not much in order for me to pursue my career. I didn’t have anyone to help me out, through moving their at the age of 12 and being 16 now, I learned a lot.”
On embracing her position as a role model for other teens, she said, “Girls write me everyday saying you’ve helped me so much in a relationship or you’ve helped me so much in my confidence for doing ‘Too Much’. They even write me about personal stuff like moms, dads, breakups, everything. I’m like wow, it’s really flattering but what if I don’t say the right thing. That’s the thing with it. If you’re a role model to these girls, you have to know what to say and help them out. Basically I just tell them keep your head up. Being that I’m 16, I probably haven’t had love love, but I’ve had a boyfriend and gone through a relationship. You know all that good stuff but I really write from anything and everything that people want to express but can’t, I do in my songs.”
The interview and performance of ‘Doin’ Too Much’ at Yahoo.com has since been removed.
