Paulina Villareal. Finest drummer on the planet
One of many perks of residing in Mexico is publicity to the unimaginable younger expertise on this nation. In my different job, editor of a bilingual newspaper, I see quite a lot of tales about alerted Mexican youth and go to occasions that includes very, very expert Mexican younger folks, particularly girls and women.
Whether or not it’s Amanda Enciso Jacbo, the 14-year outdated lead singer of native mariachi with the voice of a skilled opera singer and the stage presence of Araina Grande, or the 20-something Carmen Perez who based a movie pageant and movie college and video firm whereas working full-time, or the 11-year outdated women who experience massive quick horses within the Escaramuza Mexican rodeo occasion understanding that if one member of the 8-women crew is just a few inches off or just a few seconds late they might all go down in a pile of writhing horses and damaged bones, younger Mexican girls blow you away.
One girls who’s blowing away the rock world is 22-year outdated Paulina Villarreal Vélez, the multi-instrumentalist drummer for the crimson sizzling Mexican rock band The Warning, made up of Villareal and her two equally gifted sisters.
I have written about Villareal and the band The Warning earlier than, however they’re now touring internationally and racking up audiences, streams and awards like by no means earlier than, so I believed I’d placed on my headphones, stream their album Hold Me Fed (156 million streams)and take one other have a look at the band and its drummer/important songwriter Paulina Villarreal Vélez.
As a youngster Villareal was taught classical piano (which she nonetheless performs), however started her life-changing drums classes on the age of six, So she had been enjoying drums for five years when she and her sisters fashioned The Warning in 2013 as a household enjoyable exercise across the Rock Band online game. The three sister – Daniela “Dany” Villarreal Vélez, Paulina “Pau” Villarreal Vélez, and Alejandra “Ale” Villarreal Vélez – put their videogame exercise on YouTube after which took off after posting a viral video cowl of Metallica’s “Enter Sandman” in 2014.
Since then, they’ve launched a number of albums mixing onerous rock, various rock, and heavy steel, drawing inspiration from bands like Metallica, Muse, and Queen. They started touring with bands like Muse, Foo Fighters, and Weapons N’ Roses. They usually turned cultural ambassadors for Mexico, with options in Self-importance Honest and Individuals.
Villarreal stepped into the cultural ambassador function in 2014 – a 12 months after the band was fashioned when she was profiled within the girls’s drumming publication Tom Tom Journal and obtained reward from Kirk Hammett of Metallica for her drumming.
In 2022, Villareal was invited to show a Drum and Composition masterclass on the Sound:Verify Xpo occasion in Mexico. In 2024, Villarreal debuted as an inventive director by creating and directing the official video for the tune “Qué Más Quieres.” She sang the lead within the band’s “Narcisista” at Teatro Metropolitan in 2022 and sang “Eat” at Auditorio Nacional on this 12 months’s tour, and sang with Useless Poet Society on the Aftershock Pageant.
In September 2023, Villarreal was voted primary by readers of Fashionable Drummer within the “Up and Coming” class. Drumeo introduced her the Rock Drummer of the Yr award in February 2024. A month later she obtained the Decididas World Award on the 2024 Decididas Summit. She was honored for her contribution to the Mexican music business and society, and for standing out as an exemplary chief who seeks to encourage extra younger girls to pursue their desires. And she was chosen to be included in The 100 strongest girls in Mexico by the Mexican version of Forbes journal.
That could be a hell of a narrative for a 22-year-old drummer who, together with her sisters, is an amazing instance of the unimaginable younger girls rising up in Mexico.
Patrick O’Heffernan
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