Interview with Melody Thornton of the Pussycat Dolls

1. Most people don’t know about your Latin heritage; can you tell us about it?

A lot of people are not aware that I am 50% Mexican America and my dad is African American. My mom was born in Sonora, however; I do not speak Spanish. I grew up on all the Mexican American cultures though and I embrace that part of me.

2. Has not speaking Spanish had positive or negative effects on you?

At times I wish I did speak the language, because there are so many interviews and networks I could be talking to, to represent the Pussycat Dolls and my Latin descent. However, it is a goal of mine, before I have children, to learn Spanish.

3. What are your favorite cultural traditions?

Food, I am definitely looking forward to Thanksgiving. We never miss out on the tamales, tortillas and frijoles and we do all the America traditions too; like turkey and stuffing and mashed potatoes.

4. What is your experience being a minority in a famous group like the Pussycat Dolls?

I didn't realize I was the only member of Latin origin until we starting recording the album. I have to say that I am blessed and honored to be the only member representing the Latin culture. It means a lot to have some really hard core fans in both cultural groups.

5. What are your plans for the future?

My plans are to continue on with the Pussycat Dolls until I am at a place where I am comfortable and then record a solo album that may include some awesome Spanish records as well. I can record them pretty well because I have good accent even though I don't speak the language. I also want to continue to inspire young girls of a mixed cultural race.

6. Being Latina and pursuing your aspirations of being in the entertainment industry what did you find to be encouraging / discouraging? We use the work Chilosa to describe ourselves. To us it means: A sassy, hot and feisty girl who’s independent with a little spice. She’s the fun and fearless girl next door with lots of spirit who has a deep sense of inner self confidence. She knows who she is inside and doesn’t have to put up false fronts to be something that she’s not; would you describe yourself as a Chilosa woman and why?

Absolutely, in this industry you have to always keep your head up. There will always be people that have something to say that is either positive or negative and you have to be able to pick yourself up and keep your confidence high as a strong woman.

7. How would you feel about being a part of the Chilosa movement?

I am honored. Thank you guys so much for asking me. People aren't aware that I am of Latin descent and it's important for people to know we can be successful too.

Hello and What up!?

We’re cousins Jessica Martinez and Janelle Martinez and welcome to our blog! Earlier this year we signed a recording contract with Geffen Records as the act Prima J. We’ve had so many ups and downs being young Latin females and trying to fit into this mainstream music company and we’ve learned so much about ourselves and trying to be successful in music that we decided to start a blog to share our experiences and those of others just like us trying to make it in this big crazy world!!

CHILOSAGIRL.COM

We’ve always used the word Chilosa when we’re feeling extra cute and like we have it all together. In our culture the word Chilosa is sometimes used as a slang word for like a “little hottie” so we just took the word and added some things to it to make it our own. To us Chilosa means a sassy and feisty girl who’s independent with a little spice. She’s the fun and fearless girl next door with lots of spirit who has a deep sense of inner self confidence. Chilosa is what we strive to be everyday of our lives. It’s what we focus on when we start to feel overwhelmed or lost in trying to fit into this crazy industry. One yell of “chilosa baby!” and it’s on!! Any woman can be chilosa…it’s just all about having the right attitude. So welcome to chilosagirl.com!! Every couple of weeks we’ll add interviews with other Chilosa woman and share new experiences. Please, please add your experiences in as well so that we can all embrace the Chilosa spirit together!!

Do You Speak Spanish?

It seems that every day that every time we walk into the record label and meet someone new the first question asked of us is…Do you speak Spanish? Well, we don’t and the constant question began to make us think that something was wrong with us.

Growing up our families only spoke English. Our schools were 80% hispanic kids and 70% of them only spoke English. It wasn’t until signing with a major mainstream record label that we started to think that maybe we weren’t all that Mexican at all. Even though we don’t speak Spanish we still embrace our Mexican culture and practice all of the traditions. We thought about it for a second and got a little angry that we allowed other people to make us feel like something was wrong with us. We are proud of our Mexican heritage and culture. We are going to stand strong in representing our culture in everything that we do in this business. We realized that we need to have some patience and start to educate the people working with us. It’s frustrating when someone wants to put you into the “Spanish box” because you are Latin. The mainstream THINKS that because we are Mexican we are supposed to be confined to a certain area of very traditional Latin music. What they don’t understand is that we embrace our culture and we are VERY proud of being Mexican but that as 3rd generation Latin females, we live in the mainstream and we want to be a form of entertainment for EVERYBODY. We want everyone to know how great it is to be Latin. We want to create music that lives in the mainstream but is grounded in our culture. We want to stand next to Fergie, Rihanna, Beyonce and Gwen Stefani and rock it with all of our Latina style and have the world singing with us!! We’re so glad to have each other to lean on as we take on the mainstream and educate them about what it is to be Latina in 2007 and show them what it means to be Chilosa baby!!!