Lele Pons

Venezuelan-American performer Lele Pons entered entertainment with an expansive background that already encompassed acting, singing, writing, and modeling, yet she first rose to prominence through social media videos whose relatable humor quickly drew a vast youthful following. Music came into focus with her 2018 dancehall- and reggaeton-inflected singles “Celoso” and “Dicen,” the latter a platinum-certified duet with Matt Hunter. Additional singles carried her forward into the new decade, among them the hit team-up “Hit It” alongside Black Eyed Peas and Saweetie. In 2023 she issued the album Capitulaciones together with her partner, Puerto Rican singer/rapper Guaynaa.

Born Eleonora Pons Maronese in Caracas, she arrived in Miami at age five and remained there until high school prompted a move to Los Angeles. During adolescence she cultivated a talent for comedy, frequently as a shield against bullying and isolation, and channeled that impulse onto the internet. The resulting material proved so widely viewed that it surpassed a billion streams and secured her a 2015 invitation to the White House. The next year she co-wrote the book Surviving High School with Melissa de la Cruz. Acting opportunities followed, first in the feature We Love You and later in the television version of Scream. She also appeared in the videos for Camila Cabello’s “Havana” and Anitta and J Balvin’s “Downtown.”

By 2018 Pons added singer-songwriter to her credits. The breezy tropical track “Dicen,” her inaugural single with Matt Hunter, reached the Latin Top 30 and earned platinum certification. That summer she released the reggaeton-tinged “Celoso,” then assumed hosting duties for the singing competition La Voz Mexico. She further collaborated on the remix of Spanish singer Aitana’s single “Telefono”; in November Pons presented Aitana with the Latin Grammy for Best Pop Vocal Album.

Pons resumed recording in 2019, joining Fuego for the charting single “Bloqueo,” which climbed to number 42 on the Hot Latin Songs tally while its video surpassed 52 million views. December brought the single “Vete Pa La,” and she co-hosted the red carpet at the 2019 Billboard Women in Music awards alongside Chelsea Briggs. March 2020 saw the electro-cumbia video single “Volar” featuring Susan Díaz and Victor Cardenas. A month afterward the trailer appeared for her five-part docuseries The Secret Life of Lele Pons, which examined her lifelong mental-health challenges and whose first episode aired May 19. That September she and reggaetonero Guaynaa delivered the electro-dembow single “Se Te Nota,” which landed inside the Top 40 and whose video tallied 460 million views within a few years. As visibility grew, she united with Black Eyed Peas and Saweetie on the 2021 single “Hit It.”

The artistic alliance with Guaynaa turned personal when the pair became engaged in 2022 and married the following March. Their collaborative album Capitulaciones (“Marriage Contract”) arrived that April. She closed the year with appearances on The Masked Singer and Dancing with the Stars.