Paulina Villareal. Best drummer in the world
One of the perks of living in Mexico is exposure to the incredible young talent in this country. In my other job, editor of a bilingual newspaper, I see a lot of stories about alerted Mexican youth and go to events featuring very, very skilled Mexican young people, especially women and girls.
Whether it is Amanda Enciso Jacbo, the 14-year old lead singer of local mariachi with the voice of a trained opera singer and the stage presence of Araina Grande, or the 20-something Carmen Perez who founded a film festival and film school and video company while working full-time, or the 11-year old girls who ride big fast horses in the Escaramuza Mexican rodeo event knowing that if one member of the 8-women team is a few inches off or a few seconds late they could all go down in a pile of writhing horses and broken bones, young Mexican women blow you away.
One women who is blowing away the rock world is 22-year old Paulina Villarreal Vélez, the multi-instrumentalist drummer for the red hot Mexican rock band The Warning, made up of Villareal and her two equally talented sisters.
I have written about Villareal and the band The Warning before, but they are now touring internationally and racking up audiences, streams and awards like never before, so I thought I would put on my headphones, stream their album Keep Me Fed (156 million streams)and take another look at the band and its drummer/main songwriter Paulina Villarreal Vélez.
As a child Villareal was taught classical piano (which she still plays), but began her life-changing drums lessons at the age of six, So she had been playing drums for 5 years when she and her sisters formed The Warning in 2013 as a family fun activity around the Rock Band video game. The three sister – Daniela “Dany” Villarreal Vélez, Paulina “Pau” Villarreal Vélez, and Alejandra “Ale” Villarreal Vélez – put their videogame activity on YouTube and then took off after posting a viral video cover of Metallica’s “Enter Sandman” in 2014.
Since then, they have released several albums blending hard rock, alternative rock, and heavy metal, drawing inspiration from bands like Metallica, Muse, and Queen. They began touring with bands like Muse, Foo Fighters, and Guns N’ Roses. And they became cultural ambassadors for Mexico, with features in Vanity Fair and People.
Villarreal stepped into the cultural ambassador role in 2014 – a year after the band was formed when she was profiled in the women’s drumming publication Tom Tom Magazine and received praise from Kirk Hammett of Metallica for her drumming.
In 2022, Villareal was invited to teach a Drum and Composition masterclass at the Sound:Check Xpo event in Mexico. In 2024, Villarreal debuted as an artistic director by creating and directing the official video for the song “Qué Más Quieres.” She sang the lead in the band’s “Narcisista” at Teatro Metropolitan in 2022 and sang “Consume” at Auditorio Nacional in this year’s tour, and sang with Dead Poet Society at the Aftershock Festival.
In September 2023, Villarreal was voted number one by readers of Modern Drummer in the “Up and Coming” category. Drumeo presented her the Rock Drummer of the Year award in February 2024. A month later she received the Decididas Global Award at the 2024 Decididas Summit. She was honored for her contribution to the Mexican music industry and society, and for standing out as an exemplary leader who seeks to inspire more young women to pursue their dreams. And she was chosen to be included in The 100 most powerful women in Mexico by the Mexican edition of Forbes magazine.
That is a hell of a story for a 22-year-old drummer who, with her sisters, is a great example of the incredible young women rising up in Mexico.
Patrick O’Heffernan
