Adrienne Bailon wows us in this stunning, exclusive shot from the September 2014 issue of Latina magazine.
The 30-year-old singer opened up to the glossy for her cover story about her Spanish heritage and just how acting and singing found her. Check it:
On speaking Spanish and keeping that part of her culture alive: “My niece, we’re only speaking to her in Spanish. She’s only two years old, but she only speaks Spanish. We’ll be like, ‘Había un sapo que nadaba en el..’ [singin]. So my friends get around her and they’re like, ‘Hey, little girl! How are you?’ and she’s looking at them like, ‘I don’t know what you’re saying to me.’ She only speaks Spanish. It’s part of our culture, being able to speak Spanish, and I always felt so grateful that, even though I’m first generation here, that I’m able to speak Spanish. Like, me defiendo. My grammar sucks. I sound like a Nuyorican for sure…”
On growing up and singing: “I grew up singing Spanish music, so I grew up singing La India, Marc Anthony, La Lupe, Celia Cruz, Selena. When Selena came out, I was obsessed. Me and my sister used to joke that we had a religion; we’d be like, ‘Selenate!’ We thought Selena was like god. We used to sit there and listen to every song. But I grew up signing coritos at church, that was like the big thing. And then, from there, I always said, like, ‘Oh my God, I wanna be a singer,’ and ‘I wanna be an actress’ ‘cause I also used to participate in church plays. And there was something called the Shakespeare festival for children around here, and I actually auditioned for it and got in and traveled to all different places at like 7 or 8 years old. And, from there, a guy from a company called Ta-Da!, which was this agency… It’s so funny the things you remember. And they approached my mom, like, ‘We wanna sign her.’ And my mom was like, “Hell no!’ You know, la ignorancia. She didn’t know. She thought everybody was gonna try to kill her kid, kidnap them…”
