by chris richmond
photo by whoisfear
It's been a minute since we've had a major girlband on the music scene, and it looks like we might finally have one in the form of Bella Dose. Billed as the world's first bilingual girlband, they're formed of Melany, Brianna, Thais, and Jenni, and their emergence into the industry couldn't be more exciting. Their music fuses Latin pop and R&B, whilst their performance skills and music videos are as fierce and triumphant as all the best girlband moments that paved the way for them. Their newest single “Mírame” is an addictive slice of dance-fused Latin pop, and it's taken TikTok by storm — it even caught the attention of jam-investigator and Latin Music Icon Shakira. We were lucky enough to speak to them about their influences, the enduring popularity of Latin music, and their goals and aspirations for the future.
First of all, thank you so much for the opportunity to interview you all. I’m a massive girlband stan, and you guys are incredibly exciting! I think what you’re doing is just brilliant, and “Mírame” is one of my favourite tracks of the year so far. How was Bella Dose formed? What’s the story behind your origin?
Thais: “Bella Dose was formed in 2017. Vicky Curiel wanted to create a Latin powerhouse girl group because she knew Latin music was going to be a global phenomenon as it has proven to be in the past few years. She auditioned many girls across the states and chose us all from Miami. We flew out to LA and there we began to really gel as a group and write our music, learn how to engineer our sessions, rehearse in the garage for hours, and more.”
Where did the name Bella Dose come from? Who came up with it and what does it mean?
Brianna: “The name BELLA DOSE means a dose of beauty. It’s a long story, but long story short, we couldn’t think of a name and our manager thought of ‘Bella Dose’ and we loved it!”
The new single, “Mírame,” is completely electrifying. Can you tell us about how the song came about? What’s the meaning of the song and what was the recording process like? Did you know immediately that it would be a massive hit for you?
Thais: “This song is about a broken relationship where you rediscover yourself after realizing who you are and the power you hold. This ex thought you would be nothing without him but you’re showing him that you’re better than ever and don’t need him. The overall message is to prove those people that doubted you wrong. We recorded and wrote this song in our backyard in the Dominican Republic. We recorded it on a looped track so we didn’t even know how crazy this record was going to sound until we received the final product. When he came back with the finished production, I said, wow, this is fire. I really think people are going to like this one.”
The video for “Mírame” is loads of fun. Did you enjoy shooting it? What was your experience like filming such a massive video?
Jenni: “‘Mírame’ was probably one of my favorite videos we shot because it was filmed on a ranch so we got to ride horses, see chickens and cows. Just being around farm life reminded me a lot of when I would go to the Dominican Republic when I was younger.”
You have a massive presence online with almost 3 million followers on TikTok. In what way do you think the likes of TikTok is important in the modern music scene to make an impact?
Melany: “The platform of TikTok is extremely powerful. You can reach audiences that don’t follow you and discover new music every day. Promoting our music on TikTok is so important because we’re able to share our music with new people every day and if we’re lucky enough, our song will start trending and allow us to grow our platform even more! It’s also super cool to interact with so many people and connect with fans on a different level and relate to people differently every day.”
You had a shoutout from Shakira on TikTok in a video in which she dances to your music. How did you feel when you saw the video?
Melany: “We were in DR on our first day of our radio tour, and after our first interview I noticed someone tagged us in Shakira’s last video. I saw that she was in our rotation position and when I looked at the caption, I realized she tagged us in it… Our rotation that we did to a dance to her song inspired her to do it as well. We started going crazy, we were crying of happiness, we were so happy, and in shock honestly. We couldn’t believe it, we had to read the caption over and over again to believe it.”
photo by whoisfear
Who are your girlband and general musical inspirations? Who do you look up to and whose music do you try and emulate?
Jenni: “Some groups that we look up to are Destiny’s Child, Spice Girls and Boys II Men. We love the individuality in Spice Girls, the fierceness of Destiny’s Child when on stage, and how Boys II Men harmonize and really focus on blending their voices.”
As well as being incredibly talented with dancing and performing, you’re also legitimately talented vocalists with some gorgeous harmonies. What’s your process when it comes to organising the vocal structures of your songs? Which element is more difficult — learning harmonies or dance routines?
Brianna: “I would say the most difficult thing is the harmonies because we’ve never actually had technical training on how to harmonize so we’ve had to learn everything ourselves! When we’re structuring our songs we choose the parts that are best for each girl and we feel most comfortable with.”
It feels like we haven’t had a major girlband on the scene for a minute — and now we have you, as well as British girlband FLO who are making massive waves online. Are you familiar with their work? Would you be up for a collab?
Jenni: “Yes! I'm actually a huge fan of FLO . My favorite song is ‘Feature Me.’ We would love to meet them and collaborate one day on a record. That would be a crazy girl group moment.”
Latin and Spanish music has had an incredible last few years across the world with the likes of Bad Bunny, Rosalía, Karol G, and Maluma finding huge success in countless countries. It’s always been beloved, but why do you think it’s been so popular recently?
Melany: “Latin music has been really popular recently because it keeps rising. The numbers keep going up and Latin music has become more accepted in countries that aren’t even Latin! It’s so beautiful to see because being of Latin descent, seeing how our music creates such a positive impact on people of different cultures is such an incredible thing to experience.”
What are your goals? What would you like to achieve in the future?
Brianna: “Some of our goals would be to have a couple songs on the Billboard charts and to sell out Madison Square Garden!!!”