Bella Saona Talks About Baile Funk and her Music.

By Rodrigo Brandão

Brazilian singer Bella Saona, the female lead in the electro-rock band The Fire and Reason is ready for her moment under the spotlight.

Since 2006, Bella and her band partner Steve Narvaez (from Ecuador) have perfected their unique electro-rock signature sound, recorded singles in English (Do It Again – LISTEN TO IT BELOW), Spanish (Mi Corazon) and Portuguese (Preste Atençao, Bomba), and have built a large fan base by playing in almost all urban markets in the United States.

Bella Saona Live

Months ago, the band won the NewNowNext Award for Brink of Fame, in the music artist category, beating the likes of Lykkie Li, Morningwood, LMFAO, Ladyhawke, & Sam Sparro! Last year’s winner, Lady Gaga, has done pretty sine then. And even Time Out Chicago recently wrote that “the band has the potential to break electro-rock in the mainstream—they could give the Ting Tings a run for their money.”

On this exclusive interview with BrazilNYC, Bella Saona talks about her love for Baile Funk and Electro-pop dance, and her hopes for their debut album set to drop during the summer of 2010.

Rodrigo Brandão: You’ve recently won Logo’s New Now Next Award and is probably on the brink of having your first major hit with your new track, Do It Again. What happens next, Bella? Does the idea of becoming famous make you a little nervous sometimes?

Bella: We are finishing up our first album and talking to some big record labels about putting it out. I don’t think so much about being famous, more about making the best music I can, and putting on the best show I can. I focus on making people have a GREAT time at my shows, and making my fans feel like they are part of something that is theirs. If fame comes along with doing all this, then thats pretty cool.

Bella Saona and Steve Narvaez

Listen to the Baile Funk Inspired track BOMBA here!

RB: Your fans are probably hoping that you’ll keep singing in Portuguese and Spanish, even after becoming famous in America. Did you speak Brazilian Portuguese as a child? Tell me about growing up in a Italian-Brazilian family.

Bella: I want to put out a full Spanish album one day, and do a full album with my Brazilian Baile-Funk project, which is called Força Do Futuro. I spoke mostly Spanish in my house (my father who is Brazilian, grew up in Ecuador for a while), but then I spent a few years in Brazil with my grandmother growing up.

RB: When did you and Steve Narvaez, who is Ecuadorian, start working together? How do you combine the band’s electro-rock sound with both of your Latin roots?

Bella: I met Steve a few years ago, when I snuck into a club in NYC and he was performing with his former band called RADIATE. I was blown away by the performance, and went right up to him and said- “Hi, I’m Bella and I am a singer too.” We started working on music together soon after, and he eventually left his band to work with me! We love latin music, and have no problem switching languages in songs … It seems natural to us. We never intended to do it, in order to reach out to a certain scene … This is just a representation of who we are.

RB: Is your next album ready to be released? Can you tell us whether you have closed on a date yet?

Bella: Every time we think we are done, we always end up writing 2 more songs that we get so excited about that we head back into the studio and record more – it’s hard to know when your done. I could record forever … I think after these next 2 songs, we’ll wrap it up. And of course, we released an EP over the summer, and hope to have a full album out this coming summer. But we’re still trying to close with a label.

RB: What are some of your inspirations when it comes to favorite bands and stage performances?

Bella: I love so many artists, from Hip-Hop, to Rock and Classical music. I really love the rapper DRAKE right now, and I am inspired by Shakira and Scott Weiland, from Stone Temple Pilots, when it comes to live performance. So I am all over the place … Mainly I am inspired by life and my friends. They make me want to work harder, and to make it – so I can help them achieve their dreams too.