August was a busy month for Bella Valdes but this is only the beginning. We got to chat with Bella via email to learn more about the rising dancer, musician and actress as well as catch a glimpse into what is coming up next.
Fresh off her debut as Cha Cha in Ryan Murphy’s “The Shards“ and the release of her dance-driven “Playing Pretend” music video, Bella is opening up a much more personal side of her artistry with the project, which serves as a time capsule of sorts to her younger self.
Written from songs and journals Bella began creating as a 17-year-old college freshman in NYC after buying her first guitar, “Siren Songs” revisits the intensity of that formative period through the lens of who she is today. The EP was written and produced with her close friends and longtime collaborators Thomas Moro Sanders, Carter Bannwarth, and Aleksei Laziç, with songs touching on coming-of-age, relationships, ambition, emotional growing pains, and the realization that the things that once felt monumental eventually find their place.
You can pre-save Bella’s upcoming EP here: https://tr.ee/
You can watch the official music video for Playing Pretend here: https://tr.ee/t0vtF9rmhw
Check out our Q&A with Bella Valdes:
You are a singer, dancer, and actor– what sparked your passion for the arts?
Bella: I’ve always followed the fun in life and I think that motto has led me to the arts every time. Sitting in the backseat of family car rides and screaming ballads with my favorite people… MUSIC VIDEOS! “Bad Romance”, “Baby One More Time”, “Tik Tok”, Miley Cyrus. I always loved making my family laugh; being a storyteller from a young age, I loved playing princess dress-up and my mom would film me. With friends, I preferred playing the evil queen. What ultimately drew me to my passion for arts was the fun I had doing it and that led to deeper aspirations.
Can you tell us a bit about your journey leading up to “The Shards“?
Bella: After graduating from NYU Tisch in May 2025, I booked a Bret Easton Ellis special, “American Psycho,” at the Houston Broadway Theatre, where I was featured in the ensemble as Victoria/Hard Body Bartender. I was so thrilled to have booked my first job out of college and grateful it was in theatre. The show ended in September, and I was able to make it home to keep auditioning. 2 weeks later, my audition for “Law and Order SVU“ came in, and after the callback, I thought I didn’t get it because I didn’t hear anything for 48 hours. While I was crying to my boyfriend in the car that I’d blown it, I got a call from my manager saying I’d booked the role and had to be in New York the next morning for my fitting. The best anxiety an actor can have is knowing you need to be on a flight to work. While I was doing “Law and Order,” I was able to squeeze sessions in with my boys to record my EP.
The week I wrapped “Law & Order,” I got the audition for Cha Cha in “The Shards,” a character, production team, and script that instantly drew me in. AND IT WAS ANOTHER BRET EASTON ELLIS SHOW?! The night of my birthday, I submitted my audition, and in my slate, I was sure-to-include my birthday wish was to secure this exact role, and it came true! It’s truly been a year of wishes and dreams come true.
What are we in for with “The Shards“?
Bella: “The Shards“ is sexy, vibrant, thrilling ’80s culture/music we all long to have been a part of. Ryan Murphy creates a world around Bret Easton Ellis’ deeply thorough and expressive writing. The show draws you in with humor, sensuality, and drama: there are so many unexpected surprises that you have to tune in to catch.
What can you tell us about your character?
Bella: Corazon “Cha Cha” Rodriguez is a vivacious, crazy, curly-haired, passionate dancer. A role I was born to play; I feel like I trained for it my whole life. I come on screen later in the season to shake some things up between characters. Set in preppy, privileged 1981 rich-kid LA, Cha Cha is seen as an outcast among the main cast, but you can’t help but love her for marching to the beat of her own drum.
I hear your dance background came in handy with this role, can you explain that a bit?
Bella: Dancing since I was three, my favorite part has always been performance and drawing people in. It was nice to use my craft through Cha Cha, who commands a room’s attention with the way she expresses herself through her body and spirit. I really wanted to tap into the sensuality that Cha Cha naturally possesses, so I was going to heels classes in LA, “Hot Girl Fitness” at Dance Empire in Miami, and took a pole class or two in NYC. Reminding myself that while technique rocks, people want to feel good when they watch Cha Cha move, and so I needed to feel that myself while I danced in her red shoes.
What can you tease about this season?
Bella: Mystery, suspense, and endless cliffhangers. The beautiful thing about Ryan Murphy is how he is always full of surprises, and Bret Easton Ellis’ imagination always takes us to an unexpected place. This reigns true throughout the season.
If you had to describe this show in three words, what would they be?
Bella: Blondie, Magic, Scream!
The show has officially premiered; where can we catch it?
Bella: Hulu! Disney+! FX! Tune into my Instagram @bellaibisvaldes and @theshardsfx for updates!
You also premiered the official music video for “Playing Pretend,” which teases your upcoming EP. What made “Playing Pretend” the perfect debut?
Bella: The “Playing Pretend” music video is my coming-of-age story in a visual nutshell, representing the transition from innocence and yearning to becoming the woman I have longed to be. Written and produced by my dear friend Aleksei Lazic, it is a song that I was able to make my own through my dancing’s physical grit and passion, inspired by Flashdance and A Chorus Line,. It is SOOOO different from my EP but feels like an ode and release to who I was and who I am becoming. My EP marks the voice that I have been dying to share. Contrasting to the sonically fun and dance/pop nature of “Playing Pretend,” my EP “Siren Songs” is representative of that journey I took through “Playing Pretend” and now knowing who I am.
What inspired this music video?
Bella: Wrapped in a glittery-pink bow, touching on the emotional nuances of the “party,” it’s about breaking free from the limitations we box ourselves into and serves as a question: Where in your life are you playing pretend, and why? For the performance of it all? For the party? Because you are chasing your dreams or the ones others have put on you?
What can we expect from your upcoming EP?
Bella: So much nuance, love, raw passion, joy, and heartbreak. YEARNING.
This forthcoming EP is a culmination of years, journals of songs, and exploration; writing lyrics longer than I can remember. When I was 17, a college freshman in NYC, I bought my first guitar and spent my nights in my dorm messing around with chords, singing along to sad girls like Phoebe Bridgers + Mitski. So much of this EP is based on that time. Those experiences at such a pivotal point in my life all felt so big, and now I laugh because things have their way of sorting themselves out; evident as the EP ends with “Fix Me” and “2nd,” songs I wrote during this time, touching on this emotional concussion I gave myself (if you can’t tell by the titles). Also written and produced with close friends who are like family: Thomas Moro Sanders (guitar), Carter Bannwarth (Bass and harmonies), and Aleksei Laziç (production). We have been messing around with our music since college, and I’ve taken the next steps to bring our dreams and songs to life with this EP.
When will it drop?
Bella: Thursday, September 10, 2026! 6pm EST
Is there anything else you’d like to add about “The Shards” or your music?
Bella: I’m working on more music, of course, and hope I can find a label that will love and rep me. I want to be surrounded by people better than me so I can continue to grow and evolve as an artist. Next, I’m working on a music video for a previously released cover of mine, “La Tirana”, with some incredible directors and artists in Miami. I hope to keep bringing myself to my work and have people see a different perspective on me and themselves when they view my vulnerability. Vulnerability is strength.
As for “The Shards“– I want to do so many more shows like The Shards where I can act, sing, dance till I bruise. Working for Ryan Murphy was such a big moment in my life, and I would love to keep working for him. He and his teams create magic; they breathe life on set through every little detail. The set, the costume design by Lou Eryich and Joshua Marsh, my hair (Valerie Jackson/Sophie Rose), and makeup (Kate Boscoe/Abby Lyle Clawson) were so vital to my character and done by the best in the game. These shows are created on the backs of so many incredible artists like the ones I named and so, so, so many more. Being an actor is being the cherry on top of this whole universe they build, and it is an honor and a dream to do.
