Who Is Bella Dose, the Latin Girl Band Who Gained Visibility Thanks to Shakira?
Of the many dances and videos that “Shakira: Bzrp Music Sessions, Vol. 53” has spawned, the one that caught the Colombian star’s attention the most was created by Bella Dose.
“Loving your creations! Found this one from @belladose and had to try it!”, Shakira wrote on a post that shows her doing the choreography — which ends with a hand gesture strategically coordinated with the Spanish language pun “sal-pique” — along with three dancers. In the week following her post, which has over 160 million views, curiosity about this Latin girl band has skyrocketed.
In case you haven’t heard of them, the female quartet has been working hard since 2017. The young composers, dancers and singers amass millions of views of their songs, and more than two million followers on TikTok. Their first EP Suelta, produced by Mike Sunshine and Xavier Herrera, has racked up almost six million streams since its release in 2021, and that seems to be just the beginning.
Brianna Leah, Jenni Hernandez, Melany Rivera and Thais Rodriguez are the four members who comprise Bella Dose. Originally from Miami, they bring an interesting cultural mix — with roots from Cuba, Honduras, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Colombia and Chile — something that is undoubtedly reflected in their sound, which combines reggaetón, bachata, dembow, merengue and hip-hop, among other genres and rhythms.
“We want to bring the music of our countries into ours, and that’s why we represent the culture of all of us in everything we do,” Jenni Hernandez tells Billboard Español.
The choreography that has generated so much interest in the group is not originally theirs. After the recent release of Shakira’s new hit with Bizarrap, Vicky Curiel, music entrepreneur and Bella Dose’s manager, saw Voonniie, a talented dancer from Madrid who studied musical interpretation, in a TikTok video doing her own choreography for “Bzrp Music Sessions, Vol. 53”. Right away, she suggested the girls replicate it by adding their signature rotation, where they take steps in a circular format so they all have their moment in front of the camera.
As Brianna Leah says: “We’ve been doing the rotation since we started on TikTok and with trending songs. We like this style because every girl has her moment”. Their ability to learn and execute choreography in such a short time is a testament to their dedication and talent.
Bella Dose got down to business and posted the video on January 14. It took them 15 minutes to learn Voonniie’s choreography and do the transitions. The clip was pretty well received, but a few days after posting it, they realized that something big had happened: Shakira had mentioned them in a post. They were in the middle of an interview, on a radio station, and according to Melany, “someone had mentioned us in a video. I see it and I think, ‘Oh, look! Shakira is doing the rotation that we did of her song.’ And then, when I read the caption, I realized she tagged us.” They were in total awe.
The video shared by Shakira, of her doing the dance with the rotations along with three other girls, has racked up more than 150 million views on TikTok, and more than 46 million on Instagram. Thanks to this, Bella Dose has seen its followers increase by more than 36,000 in a matter of days, and the group has gained more notoriety, something they’re grateful for as independent artists.
“We are very grateful to Shakira, who gave us the opportunity of being mentioned in a post,” Thais says. “She didn’t have to do it, but she did it with her heart. We thank her so much because she is a global artist with such a positive message for young people. We’re happy with the support we have received and the opportunities that are coming our way as a result of this.”
Now the group wants to use this momentum to continue releasing new music and make themselves known in more countries. This Friday (January 27) they are releasing “Mírame,” a new techno and dembow single produced by Nítido Nintendo and Hansel de la H, both of Dominican origin. Melany says “the song is about how you’re not in a relationship anymore, and your ex thought you needed to be with him to be somebody. But we’re telling him, ‘I don’t need you, I’m alone and in even better shape than before’.”
The girls of Bella Dose are convinced that this is a song that many can relate to — even Shakira.
Sigal Ratner-Arias
Billboard
