Isabella Henao On “The Rehearsal,” “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” And Her Love of Pirate’s Booty
A candid interview with the singer about her appearance on Nathan Fielder’s The Rehearsal, and how it’s shaping her blossoming career
Isabella Henao performs on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” in Hollywood, May 27, 2025.
Photo courtesy of Randy Holmes, ABC
Very few people, in fact, only one, can say that they won the fake singing competition show Wings of Voice, created by Nathan Fielder as part of his faux-docuseries The Rehearsal. That person, Isabella Henao, has since appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, and had an unprecedented kickstart in her music career. The vocalist graciously took the time to chat with us about the experience, including stories from the set, her future plans, dream collaborators, and of course, the cast drama.
What is your life looking like these days? What are your plans for the immediate future?
My life has just been insane. I was just a college student two weeks ago, and now I’m getting hired to do gigs. I don’t even know if I’ll be going back to college anymore. It’s been unreal to see how many people believe in me and want me to succeed and support me. I’ve never thought I was an interesting person so it’s crazy that people want to hear about me and my life.
Are there any projects in the works right now?
Well, for my “Bring Me to Life” fans, keep an eye out because something’s coming out real soon. Outside of that, I’m finally working on my own music. It took a lot of setting up because, while the publicity’s been really good, there’s been a lot of people taking advantage of the position that I’m in. But finally I got a producer I really like and we’re doing music–my own stuff, which is so exciting.
How would you describe your sound?
I have always put so much work into my voice. I’ve been in voice lessons for ten years straight now–, every week. I’ve always wanted my voice to be as flexible as possible. I started with jazz, so my jazz foundation has influenced pretty much everything that I did. Then, I started doing songs that are rock-heavy. If you’re familiar with musicals like Heathers, Moulin Rouge, I’m very influenced by them. When it came down to learning “Bring Me to Life,” I was already working on it. I got to the point where I’m like ok, I’ve done the main fundamentals so now I can do these niches. Currently, I’m learning metal––the screams, the vocal fry––and it’s so much fun.
Do you think there’s going to be any metal influence on your new music?
Yeah, I love rock music. I grew up listening to classic rock and then in my teenage years, Fall Out Boy, Panic! At the Disco. Who didn’t listen to them during their emo phase? There’s going to be a lot of alternative rock influence. I was lucky. When I started singing rock music, my voice fit really well. I’ve never had that. I’ve always had to work and learn the style, but having grown up with that music influencing me, I guess I just kind of picked it up.
I love doing the rock accent too.
Isabella Henao performs on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” in Hollywood, May 27, 2025.
Photo courtesy of Randy Holmes, ABC
Is there anything you can tell us about Wings of Voice?
It was an incredible experience overall. You always hear these horror stories about celebrities and Hollywood, so going into the filming, I was wary. But honestly? The staff took good care of us, and I still reach out to the people who were helping me on set. Other people I was on set with said the same thing.
It was a legitimate competition, that’s what people don’t understand. The pilots did vote for me. There are two stories I can tell from the set.
I have a Pirate’s Booty addiction. They ran out of it because I ate all of it. They completely ran out. I invited everyone on the show to my house to watch the season finale with me, and one of my friends, Alan, made a bouquet of Pirate’s Booty for me and fudge with Pirate’s Booty in it.
The other one I can tell is, I kept the finale dress––I tried to steal it. I never steal, but on set, I was like, I’m never going to do something like this again. I didn’t get to keep my Wings of Voice ticket.
I asked one of the people I was working with, “are you gonna say anything if I keep it?” and she said no. So I put the dress in my bag. As I was walking out, someone in the costume department came up to me to ask if I’d forgotten anything, and I looked at her and I was like “I wanna take the dress. I have the dress in my bag.” I felt so bad. I just came clean. I was like, “can you ask if I could take it? Because I really want to have something from the show.” And she was like, “you know what? Let me ask.” And she called the head of the costume team and was like, “can she take the finale dress?” And they were like, “Let her take it.”
I tried to steal the finale dress, but they gave it to me.
There’s that Variety article going around about one of your co-stars, Lana Love, who had a bad experience with production. Is there anything you could say about that?
I’ve already said what I needed to say. There are a lot of people saying there’s a PR team behind it. Or that she’s breaking her NDA, which isn’t true.
You know, I wish Lana the best, and I understand why she did the article. We talked, and that’s what I told her. I said “I hope everything goes well with you. I can’t lie, and I’m not going to support something I don’t believe in.” That’s pretty much it. I wish her the best. She blocked me. I understand the whole situation and why it came out. I just feel like it was misrepresenting the actual show and what had actually happened.
Switching gears a little bit, what was performing on Jimmy Kimmel Live! like?
I used to watch Jimmy Kimmel on my Kindle growing up. I’m not like a big fan of late night TV, ironically, but I did grow up watching him. Guillermo was always my favorite.Guillermo was always my favorite. I bought him a bottle of tequila. This didn’t make it onto the show; it was during commercial break, but he was talking about how he had tequila in his cup. I just hope it was my tequila.
When you think about who they bring on, it’s celebrities. They had Miley Cyrus before me and Kali Uchis after me. I’m not often starstruck, but this was a really big moment. When I found out they booked me, I went to Goodwill and I bought a bunch of dresses.. I had one picked out, I was ready to style it, and my parents were like “Girl, you are not wearing a Goodwill dress to Kimmel”, and they bought me the dress I wore on the show.
Being on the set and having people take care of everything was new to me. I do small gigs. If you look up Utah Valley University, I did commercials for them. I’m all on the billboards in Utah. Anything I’ve done, I’ve had to set up myself. Scheduling, performances, pay. This was the first time I didn’t have to do that. There was a moment when I was getting ready, and I heard the band practicing. I was like, “I need to be down there, they’re practicing without me.” The makeup artist said, “No, you’re good. All you need to do is relax and get ready to perform.”
When I do gigs for my college, I’m just going into rooms where there’s nobody––usually it’s just a classroom––and just practicing. It was just such an awesome experience for me, especially because I’ve never done something like that, so it meant a lot.
How did it feel watching yourself on TV?
For The Rehearsal, I first appeared in episode four––I was there for like two seconds. On set, I was observant because I already knew what this was for at that point. I saw that they were constantly rolling, and I was like “Ok, I’ve got to be on my best behavior.” When they do the pan-out, I’m just standing completely dead-eyed.
The craziest thing was the credits because they played my solo. I recorded a version of Amazing Grace, which is what you hear at the beginning and again at the end. It was funny because I was gonna skip the credits, but then I heard my voice and I was like, “Wait! That’s me!” And that was the crazier part, hearing myself sing on television. And then it sucked because I couldn’t tell anyone. I was with my whole family, and it took a second. I don’t think it was until the next day that I was like, “That was me”. I kind of separated it.
I woke up and I heard everyone in the house playing it, and then I was finally able to be like yeah, that is me. They did such a good job. Especially considering the circumstances that I lost my voice.
When it came to Kimmel, I was checked out because I was so tired. I was out all day filming it, and then I had to wait until 11:30 PST. We watched it and were like, “Yay!” And then I went to sleep immediately after. That one I felt so much better about because I didn’t lose my voice. I thought the filming and the lighting, and everything was awesome. I looked incredible.
I would’ve never known you lost your voice, you still sounded great!
Growing up, I learned to give 100%, or at least 100% of your 80%. So every take we did, I was giving them everything I had. They were giving me cups of honey to lubricate my voice and told me “we can mark it,” and I was like “GIVE ME MY HONEY SHOT!”
Who is your dream collaborator?
Oh my goodness, there are three!
Tyler, the Creator; my brother, growing up, was a fan of his before he blew up, so I’ve been listening to him forever. Tyler, the Creator, hit me up, bro. Let’s do something. The second is Lalah Hathaway, she’s a jazz artist known for polyphonic splitting, which is singing two notes at once.
My final dream collab would be Jennifer Hudson or Kelly Clarkson. Just like crazy belters.
Where can people find you online?
For updates, it’s my Instagram @isa.gringalatina, that’s my handle on everything.