Kenia Os can’t stop giggling when I mention her broken toenail. “You just unblocked a memory in my head!” she says, stifling a cackle. “My nail is good now!” The mishap was actually recorded for posterity, appearing midway through her new documentary Kenia Os: La OG, which follows the biggest show of her career at Mexico City’s Palacio de los Deportes.
One of the film’s most human moments shows Kenia during a dance rehearsal a few weeks before the show. In the scene, Kenia bumps her foot into a floor lamp, cracking her pedicure nail, and forcing a medic to rip the nail off and wrap the toe in gauze. These looks into her life are spliced in with footage from her high-glam, choreography-heavy spectacle with the chaos and vulnerability of how she went from an influencer to a pop star woven in. Screening Friday at the NVISION Latino Film and Music Festival in Miami, the film covers her weeks of rehearsals, intimate moments backstage, and more.
“I think it’s great to see the concert, the glam, the good stuff and then, ‘OMG! A dancer fell, the nail thing happened, this happened, that happened!’” Kenia says.
Shot across two back-to-back shows during her sold-out tour last year, the film also features cameos from some of her collaborators, including Snow Tha Product, La Joaqui, Yeri MUA, and Bella Poarch. It arrives more than a year after Pink Aura, her latest album that gave her the viral hit “Kitty.”
Kenia says watching back the film gave her a new sense of confidence as both an artist and a person. “I feel like sometimes I doubt myself,” she admits. “I can be very insecure and I worry about messing up and not doing things so well. But when I put my all into things, good things happen.”
The movie is playing in select U.S. theaters and streaming on Disney+ in Latin America on Sept. 3. Over Zoom from a hotel room in Southern California, Kenia opens up about her film and gives a tease about the new era.
How are you feeling about your new documentary coming out?
You get to see what happens behind the scenes. As a fan, you can have a different perspective and appreciate the concert a lot more. We kept most of the songs in. Just a few didn’t make it, but only because we didn’t have as much time and we wanted to show the behind the scenes. I have fans in places of the world who can’t come to one of our concerts so it’s great to know that they’ll be able to enjoy it this way. It’s like seeing your baby being born.
Why is it called La OG, aside from your song of that name?
The whole concept of Pink Aura comes from “La OG” about this person who is original and leads trends. She isn’t a follower. It’s a concept but I liked the idea of having that energy in the film and in music. It’s almost like “La OG” is an alter ego or character that empowered me for concerts.
You mention some insecurity with your dancing and also with your artistry in the documentary. How do you make it a superpower instead?
It’s not something that I can change, but it’s something that you work on internally. For me, it’s been a much longer process because while I’m working my interior, I’m exposed to the world and I face opinions from people that want you to doubt yourself. But it’s also been a gratifying process to grow with my fans, and inspire them with my transformation and healing. I have been able to connect with my fans in a very real way, and I’ve been able to make great albums, like Cambios de Luna, or songs like “Año Sabático” and “La Invitación,” and also some of the ones that are coming.
It feels like, because of your start as an influencer, there will always be those people who question your artistry.
Yeah, but it’s about understanding that as a public figure you receive so many opinions. It’s more about what you believe in yourself. There’s so much noise from the outside and it’s important to know your reality and who you are as a person.
In the documentary, you talk about having two left feet. How did you change that and grow from it?
For me, it’s all a challenge. When I start rehearsing, it’s hard to tackle a million different choreographies. But then, I start to enjoy it a lot more. It’s very strange, because at parties I’m a pirinola. I can dance cumbia, salsa, banda but don’t make me dance at a concert because I’m so stiff. I really don’t know how to dance, and I have poor technique. It’s about preparing yourself and learning day-by-day. It’s about discipline. Every time I have a bit of time, I make the effort to take dance classes. It’s helped me a lot.
I love how close you are to your dancers. That seems to help.
I have worked with so many of them for so many years. I have a deep connection with then. They protect me onstage and they’re a big part of my musical family.
They are also such a reflection of your gay audience, no?
Hahaha, very much so. Fans joke that “if you want to be a dancer of Kenia Os, you have to have ‘I’m gay’ on your resume or else you don’t pass.” Maybe true because I am surrounded by my queer friends and I love it. But I promise you that’s not a requirement.
Alfredo Persan*
I feel like gay people understand your artistry and style of music more, no?
They understand my pop fantasy. Concerts are like a fantasy, and gay people really understand it. Oh, and gay fans are very loyal too.
It was great to see you bring out your collaborators onstage: Snow Tha Product, Bella Poarch, La Joaqui. What’s your relationship like with them?
With each of them, I’ve had such good experiences when making the songs. With La Joaqui, she’s a friend that, whenever I can, we message each other and comment on our TikToks. It’s like that with everyone. I have such good energy and vibes with the women I’ve collaborated with. I feel their support and it’s truly genuine.
And they’re all girls.
That’s not a requirement to work with me, either haha! It just ends up happening like that and women artists have helped support me and it makes me so happy to bring out this feminine energy in the music.
You’re one of the documentary’s directors. I’d assume that someone like you’d remove the part of the film that shows the not-so-glamorous parts, like your nail breaking off.
People perceive me in a certain way: Yes, I like being glamorous, wearing perfume, dress up, and have my makeup done. But I love my imperfections too… I’m funny and can be silly. I fall and get up and it’s something my close friends see more of me. I think it was funny to see the nail incident in the film. That’s why I kept that in the movie. It’s hilarious I bumped into a lamp. It was something that real Kenia would go through.
I love seeing how you laughed it off and continued with the rehearsal.
The hours I had left for rehearsals were so little and I couldn’t miss out on even one hour of practice. If not, ya valió! With or without a foot, I needed to keep working and finish practicing. It didn’t hurt, to be honest. Maybe it was my adrenaline of rehearsing, but I felt fine.
Toward the end of the film, you spoke about how women are discouraged from being sexy and showing that side. Why is that so important for you in your music and also in the film?
People have seen me grow in this industry since I was 19. To go from a teen to a woman, I feel a strong, sexy, feminine energy and I have to channel it in my music. It’s not about sexualizing myself or to sell myself, it’s just the energy I feel. And I feel secure with this. But also it’s contradictory, but being a woman, representing yourself this way, it’s seen as a “bad example.” There’s this taboo that women can’t show themselves in this way. Just because I’m secure in myself, it’s unfair for people to point fingers at me because of people’s own taboos and perspectives. It’s not my responsibility. For me, it’s important for the younger people to feel free to be who they are in their bodies, dress how they want, and be themselves. Who says it’s so wrong to be that way?
Do you think things are changing?
I’m not sure if things have changed that much, but what I do know is that I try my best to contribute a grain of salt for change. There’s a lot of machismo. I’ve done what I can to help people free secure in themselves without being judged.
You also rep Mexico in what you do. You’re like the First Lady of Mexico because of what you’ve done but also with your relationship with Peso.
I love it. I love being Mexican. I love repping where I’m from wherever I go. Not just Mexico, but also Latinos. When I went on tour in the US, it made me emotional to see how I, as a Mexican artist from Mazatlan, Sinaloa, is doing a tour in the US and singing to Latinos who love my work. It makes me proud and I always try to raise our flag.
Are you living more in Mexico or the US now given the visa situations affecting artists?
I live in Mexico. Sometimes I have some more personal parts of my life in the U.S., but I live in Mexico. I have my house in CDMX and Mazatlan. Every time I can escape, I go to Mazatlan.
What’s coming after Pink Aura?
I want to tell my fans who think I’m always sleeping and that I don’t do anything all day… I adore you and thank you for thinking I get to rest every day, but no, I am working on several projects. I’m spending so much time in the studio. I’ve spent hours and days in the studio making new music. My next album is almost done. I don’t have a date but it’s almost done.
What’s inspiring you?
I’ll be able to share more soon, but it’s an energy that has always pushed me, but I hadn’t touched it in the music. I’ve used other tools but I was empowered by this energy that I don’t want to share yet but once I do, you’ll understand what I mean.
Is it about being in love?
Why do you think that? I don’t know… well, maybe. But I think you’ll be surprised.
