Ones2Watch Home

Colombia is known for its soulful lyricism and deep sense of pride, and VALÉ carries that energy into every aspect of her music and who she is. She's setting her own lane for what an artist can be and refusing to limit herself to one box. Whether it's pop, electronic, or Latin alt-pop, she moves fluidly between genres while staying rooted in her Colombian culture through her music, lyrics, and eclectic artistry. She's set to release her sophomore EP, La Danza del Despertar, later this year, and fans have already been hearing some of the project at her live shows.

Currently in the middle of her U.S. tour, bringing her flair to cities across the country and connecting with the crowd as she performs. Her path in music started straight out of high school, when she knew music was the only path she wanted to immerse herself in and follow fully. It hasn't always been easy either. There have been moments in her career where people tried to tell her who to be and what to make, but she's broken away from that and built a lane that's entirely her own. A lane that she stays true to herself, no matter industry expectations or who is watching.

Talking to VALÉ, she comes across as more than just an artist. She has a way of shifting her own experiences into something people can actually see themselves in. She's raw, honest, and doesn't sugarcoat anything. Being a singer, she says, hasn't been a linear journey. It's been confusing, it's demanded growth, and it's forced a lot of reflection and learning along the way. But those are aspects that many people go through in life, which is why listeners can relate and find themselves seen in her music.

Those learning experiences are woven all through her upcoming EP. VALÉ shares that over the past few years she's lived out experiences she never imagined she'd have, and it's taught her just how resilient she really is. She's been knocked down before, but she found a way to rise back up and turned it into something positive. Touring and her art have played a huge part in that as well. Hearing people sing her songs back to her while touring has kept her going and kept her locked into this career.

One of her latest singles, "La Danza del Despertar," which translates to "the waltz of awakening," represents where she is in life right now. It's the culmination of everything she's experienced and has grown from, which is a kind of awakening in real time. As VALE puts it: "That's why I'm calling it the waltz, because it's a push and pull. You're like, am I happy? Am I sad? Am I locked in? Am I not locked in? What's going on?" That range of feelings became an important theme of the entire project.

OnesToWatch met with VALÉ to learn more about her journey, her Colombian roots, and what's coming next:

Tell me about your background in music?

I was born and raised in Barranquilla, Colombia. I moved to LA about three and a half years ago. I've been singing, honestly, my whole life. I was in my school choir from first grade to fifth grade, and I was always in singing, piano, or guitar lessons.

The funny thing is, my mom was a swimmer. She wanted me to be in swimming lessons too, and I hated swimming so much. I was like, "I don't want to do this." She's like, "Well, you have to do something," and I was like, "Perhaps I'll join singing lessons." This was when I was eight years old. I was such a little rebel. I did not want to go swimming, so I took singing a little more seriously.

From there, I traveled to LA for the first time in 2018 to visit a relative who lives there. He's also into music, and he knew that I was into singing. Sometimes parents are like, "Oh, my child is so amazing at drawing," and they're sh**, but he was like, "Oh, you actually have some potential. Is this something you've ever considered?" At that time, I was 15, and I hadn't thought about anything regarding my future or my life. So I said I'd give it a try.

I'd never been in a studio in my life prior to that, or written any songs. I tried my first few sessions, which I was so nervous for, in October of 2018, and I stuck with it. I graduated high school in 2021. Before that, it was kind of still in my mind like a safety-net hobby, and after that, I was like, "Okay, this is your life. You've got to stick to it now." Because I didn't do my SATs. I didn't do anything, girl. I just went straight to music.

I gravitated toward it a lot, and I really do love it now. It's been like a slow burn throughout my whole life.

How does it feel to be touring right now and performing in different cities? 

It's pretty wild. I started playing shows officially in November of 2022, but that was little showcases. My show has gone through many different versions, and its evolution has been crazy. I went on my first official tour with the Driver Era in 2024 for their spring tour. In 2025, I went on tour with them again, and that was like a month and a half of touring, which was insane. Also, my first bus experience, which was really cool.

The first tour was to markets in the East Coast, and from that, I jumped to the whole country, like amphitheaters. That was a giant jump and was crazy, but a really cool way to experience playing shows, because it's all about you when you're playing a giant stage. You have to perform even more to make it interesting, and that's something that I do love about the small shows that I've been doing. The one at ZeyZey, and the one I'm gonna do in New York, and even my own tour, which is happening in the fall and winter this year.

It's like when you play different types of shows, different sizes of shows, you just get to see how different a show you have to put on. For example, at Zey Zey, I had a technical difficulty where the mic died, but I feel like in a small show that makes it almost better sometimes, right? Because I was in the middle of saying thank you to the crowd and my mic died. It's technology. Everyone got close to the stage, and I just did it acapella with no music behind, just no mic, and I feel like that makes it special. 

I cherish these moments a lot. My favorite thing is playing live. Just having people clap, laugh, sing, it's just like why we do what we do as singers, at least for me. It's been such a blessing to tour and now be able to slowly but surely play my own headline shows, because I've only really opened for people. I'm really excited for this chapter of touring.

What was the inspiration behind ‘La Danza del Despertar,’ and what was the creative process like for you?

That song is the title track off the EP that is coming out in the fall, also called La Danza del Despertar. The inspiration behind the whole project is writing songs about wake-up calls and realizations I've had as I've lived in the real world.

Honestly, being in Barranquilla, it's obviously a fraction of the size of what LA is. So going out there and meeting new people, seeing how friendships work, romantic relationships, work relationships, like people who are deceitful, who are bad, who are good, who are all these different types of things. At the beginning of my career, my life was home, school, and friends. It was just that, and I would write about stuff that I would read about in books, see in movies. I didn't have a lot of my own experiences to write about, and now I do.

It was very exciting to me to be like, I actually write about love. It's about something that I've experienced personally, and the title "La Danza del Despertar," in English, translates to "the waltz of awakening." I've explained this at some of my shows, where it's like awakening to where I'm at right now. It is growing up, waking up to some real life experiences, and how jarring that is sometimes. That's why I'm calling it the waltz, because it's a push and pull. You're like, am I happy? Am I sad? Am I locked in? Am I not locked in? What's going on? I'm just waltzing through all these feelings, and I think that's kind of what inspired everything.

I was losing why I began pursuing music in the first place professionally, just losing the plot, if you want to call it that. As you can see in that video, there's a little girl, that's me reconnecting with my inner child. I'm remembering why I like doing this in the first place, and it's easy to get distracted by a lot of noise and people and record executives and people who will always have an opinion, bad friendships and stuff like that. It's very loud sometimes.

I wanted to portray in that video that yes, it's jarring to grow up. It's weird and scary, and it's a lot of different things. But if you connect to your inner child, for me, that's a way to stay true to your path and to yourself.

You’re Colombian, how do you feel that influences your artistry?

This next project, it comes out the most it's ever come out. I sing a lot in Spanish in this EP, but I would say it usually comes out the most. Sometimes I use slang, but I think the way I sing in Spanish, and the accent I have, only works because I'm from Barranquilla, and the way we say certain words kind of makes sense, but it doesn't. Sometimes people who are reading the lyrics in Spanish are like, how did you fit these words into that melody? I'm like, that's what we're talking about.

I've incorporated it a lot into the production and whatever beats are being used. I like it to be done tastefully and in a cool way. Maybe if you compare me to other Latin artists, it's not as on the nose sometimes. I think that's why people sometimes don't know what box to put me in, because it's in Spanish, but it sounds pop and electronic music sometimes. I like being ambiguous in that way. It's Latin alt-pop, in my opinion, but being Colombian in general just touches all aspects of what I do. It's just never flashy.

What have you learned about yourself in your career so far?

I've definitely learned more about myself in the last three years than I've ever learned. In a nutshell, that's what this project is about. I've been able to live all the experiences that I never thought I would live in the past three and a half years, and I've definitely learned how resilient I am.

It's hard to be kicked down. It's like, kicking the puppy while it's down is kind of a thing that happens to a lot of young artists. I feel that it happened to me, but I was able to rise through it. It took a long time, and touring helped in that aspect, to see people physically in front of you singing, being like, "I love you, you're awesome." It helps to bring you up.

I've learned that I love performing. I think it's one of my favorite things to do. I've been learning how to songwrite more on my own as well. I think that's something I've grown to like more throughout the process of this EP.

I also learned that, at the end of the day, the most important thing about making a project is that you like it before anyone else, and I really prioritized that with this EP. I was like, dude, I really don't care if it's commercially digestible, if it's gonna be put in a box, if it fits that box. I just want to make something that I love, because, like I said, I think I went through a long period of time where people's opinions were really getting to me, and I was not enjoying creating music. This project really brought me back to why I love performing, writing, and making music.

Those are a couple things that I learned through this process. Just be strong, girl. Show up.

What's in the future for you? Any other upcoming projects? 

My first headline tour is happening in November on the West Coast and in December on the East Coast. My first headline tour ever. I'm really excited, nervous, scared, and all the different emotions. My sophomore EP, La Danza del Despertar, comes out October 2, and I'm really just excited to do all this and be a real artist.

Listen to "La Danza del Despertar" below: