Thalía: Piel Morena

Dalia has got it all.

Decades of hits and eras that have touched multiple generations, fashion lines, iconic music videos, and a meme worthy telenovela.

Scenes, and her story touches on so much of what we've talked about this season. You've got child stardom, media industry, power brokers, salacious rumors, behind the scenes, drama, and unstoppable talent.

Her story is telenovela worthy.

There's fights, scandalous romance, a ransom, and a fairy tale wedding.

It's also a perfect study in playing the fame game, building an audience and staying connected with it no matter what.

But D'alia's story would be nothing if not for Dalia herself. Confident, impulsive, unapologetically herself, and forever in touch with her inner child.

Her story might share much in common with other icons from this season, but Talia herself, well, there is no one else like her, and that was clear from day one. I'm your host Liliana Oosquez.

And I'm Joseph Carrio and This is Becoming an Icon.

A weekly podcast where we give you the rundown on how today's most famous LATINV stars have shaped pop culture.

And given the world some extra level.

Sit back and get comfortable.

Because we are going in.

The only way we know how, with whenas, unassas and a lot of opinions, as we relive their greatest achievements on our journey to find out what makes them so iconic. Our story begins into that de Mexico, where on August twenty sixth, nineteen seventy two, Ernesto sod Payas and Yolanda Miranda Mankee welcome their fourth daughter into the world.

Little Ariadna Talia Sodi Miranda will show herself to be hard working, mindful, keeps her pencils in a row, virgo big straight, a student, vibes at her best. She's down to earth, but perfectionism and high expectations can lead to disappointment with the people around her.

If you already know what goes down with Timrice, you might be nod in your head.

Here.

She's going to take care of herself, but she might miss the big picture. Luckily, the moon in Areas will keep her in check with a self starting, adventurous energy aka. She won't be stuck in her head, but trust her instincts.

Unlike many of our icons from this season and some from last. Dalia was born into a pretty well off family.

Daddy was getting that coin. Ernesto was a scientist, medical pathologist, criminologist and right.

I guess having four jobs was maybe a good thing back in the seventies. In any case, Thalia's mother, Yolanda, was a dedicated homemaker for eleven years. Yolanda was busy with three daughters, and then along came Talia.

Dalia was an accident.

Yolanda says by the time her youngest daughter was born, she and Ernesto felt like they could have been her grandparents.

Now that's some brutal honesty.

Aware from what we can tell, this didn't make for an unhappy childhood though. Falia grew up in Santa Maria La Ribera, a colorful and famous neighborhood in Mexico City.

And she had that kind of childhood people only dream about now. She roamed free and explored the streets on her bike.

Falia has fond memories of eating vanilla raisin balletas and having picnics at the Kiosko Morisco, a big, colorful pavilion that looks like it was time warped out of medieval Spain, but.

Before our girl could even walk. She was on TV. She was just a year old when she appeared in a soda commercial. Some girls are just born to be on screen.

Fun fact.

She also grew up in one of the neighborhood's most famous buildings, the House of Dogs, a building guarded by twenty seven dog statues.

God, my neighborhood growing up had a house like that, But the dots are real now.

Once Talia was able to get around, she became a bit of a tomboy. She played baseball and made mischief with a slink shot it's giving.

It now, and then the backwards baseball cap pink bubblegum.

Look, but our girl contained multitudes.

At just four, she took ballet and piano at the National Conservatory of Music.

Wait wait, wait, wait, wait wait, this sounds too good to be true.

Are you about to hit me with a devastating tragedy that up ended little Talia's sense of normalcy?

Oh yeah, I knew it. Thank God, this is the last one, Joseph. Sorry, Demi Lovado, I gotta give my heart a break. Oh wait, should we do Demian season three?

Wait?

Do we need to get approval for that? Anyway? Back to Taaliam.

When the future Raina that Bop was just six years old, her father fell ill. He would stay at the hospital days at a time.

Yolanda and her four daughters visited him constantly, but each hospital stay he got sicker and sicker.

One day, Yolanda said to Talia, give your dad a kiss so he gets better.

So she did, and as they were leaving the room, Bealia suddenly heard beeping from the machines that were hooked up to her father. Medical staff rushed past them and into the room. Ernesto was gone.

And poor Talia was immediately convinced that her kiss had sealed her father's fate. After that, Delia didn't speak for days, weeks, months.

Balia still went to her lessons at the National Conservatory, still played baseball, still explored the streets, but she didn't utter a single word.

Yolanda took Dalia to a psychologist, believing something had broken in her daughter.

The doctor told her it was a trauma response, but that otherwise Dalia was fine. Unsatisfied, Yolanda did what a lot of mothers would probably do, myself included, and took her to see several other psychologists for additional opinions, but.

They each told her the same thing.

And so Yolanda had spent a full year wondering if she'd ever hear her daughter's voice again. And so one day, Yolanda and Dhalia were sitting at dinner, and Dahlia turned to her mother and asked, Mom, where's Dad.

I've got to imagine that time literally stopped for Yolanda. That's a gun to your head moment as a parent, like if I say the wrong thing, what will that do to my child?

Like?

Will she not speak for another year?

Real Yolanda was shook, but she took her breath and said, well, your dad's in heaven with God, so he's not coming back.

You won't see him again.

D simply said, oh, okay. She kept on eating and that was it. She went about her life and started talking again.

Look, I get it. Vocalist is totally valid.

Tama respond better known as selective mudism, incidences of which are super rare. After her year of grief, Falia grew up healthy, happy, and inspired.

Dlia's first rush of inspiration came from watching the nineteen seventy six Olympics, where Nadiya Kominici became the first gymnast to earn a perfect ten.

But she also had a role model closer to home, her older sister, Laudasabata, a working theater and film actress.

Delia stayed on her best virgal behavior so that her mom would let her come see her big sister on stage and on screen, and watching her big sister shine showed her that her own dreams could be made real.

Finally, in nineteen eighty two, Balia Yolanda took a mother daughter girls.

Trip to New York City.

Their first stop Baby, they.

Took in show after show during a Broadway season that included Cats and a musical adaptation of Alice in Wonderland. Balia, at ten years old, was dazzled by the shows.

Then came a trip to Saint Patrick's Cathedral, and like everyone who visited Saint Patrick's Cathedral, like me, Dalia took one look at the place and thought, I'm getting married here.

And we will check back in on that wish later, but for now, Dalia was heading back to Mexico City with a head full of dreams and a belly full of fire Ballia's story connects a few dots across the icons we've covered this season. One of the biggest dots being te La Visa.

Are we about to pull a curtain and reveal the mastermind behind the entire Latin pop industry.

It's it's not that serious.

Although actually Televisa definitely has the makings.

Of Mexican succession in a way.

It was and remains Mexico's single largest mass media company, and ownership of tele Visa has been passed between three generations of one family, the Escatagas.

Damn, where do I watch that telenovela? Honestly, tele Visa. If you owned a television set in Mexico in the eighties, you were watching Televisa, and the actors on that telenovela would have been trained by Televisa's own drama school, El Centro de Educispeka.

So let me get this straight.

It's like, instead of going to theater school and then swepping out to Hollywood t audition for a network show, the network itself ran a drama school.

Home Grown Baby, and in the eighties Bella Visa's drama school founded a children's division and began airing Jugemo Sacanta, a yearly singing and dancing competition show for kids.

Mmm.

So this is where Dalio's story starts to sound a little bit like Christina's in.

More ways than one.

So in nineteen eighty three, an eleven year old Talia makes her second appearance on national TV.

A decade after showing up in a soda commercial as a baby.

This time she's singing and dancing in a purple satin jumper. The song Mina moderna de rock modern rocker Girl is about being a little different from other girls.

Oh does she sing about going quiet for a full year?

No, she is not the original Billie Eilish. That doesn't happen. Baala's debut performance earns her second place, meaning she just missed out on the grand Prize, a professional recording session with major record label Moussart Records, and three appearances on ci Mfreno Mingo shows.

Do you remember the show? It's the Mexican Dick Van Dyke Show, Mexican Dick Clark.

That's what I said.

Are you being cute?

Aren't I? Always?

Yes? You are, in fact always so cute.

But sire and the Mingle, if you guys remember, is the same show where Los Digres performed after the runaway success of Contrabandocidalia would go on to make a number of appearances on that show.

Bye Dick Van Dyke and Talia would have to wait, I Hate You.

Disappointed, but not discouraged, Thalia kept working on her craft and kept an eye out for opportunities.

Sometimes opportunities come knocking, and sometimes you got to bang down that door yourself.

That's actually more my style, which brings us to nineteen eighty five. Talia and her mother would take another trip to the theater, this time in Mexico City, where Talia's favorite children's pop group Bi maric Is performing in an adaptation of Greece.

Dimniccio was like a boy band and girl band group were coed like Spice Girls crossed with in Sync, Nediott degrees crossed with throughout w when d meets New Genes'.

They were basically Mexico's response to a Spanish group, Batichies, that had captured the hearts and ears of Mexican tweens a couple of years earlier. And I should add they were another product of the Televisa machine. Yo, can I get some stock in Televisa. I'm not doing a good job invested like and.

They did musical theater, and like any kid watching Greece for the first time, Daliah wanted to be Sandy.

And just as Sandy makes her transformation.

From shy girl too thick and me, Talia's mother leans over to her.

And sets so help me, God, you are going to wear that kantast other jacket or my name isn't Yolanda Miranda Manche.

Remember listeners, not all of Joseph's quotes are direct quotes. Anyway, Felia laughs it off, but agrees to go backstage with her mom to meet the producer.

Of the show You knock that door down, Yolanda.

The producer just so happens to recognize Talia from her time on Hugemo Sakantar and offers a role in the course.

She's in the back line, barely visible. Oh God, I hope I get it. And then one day, just a month later, she.

Does the female lead ends her run as Sandy, and Dalia puts on the leather jacket.

Her mama was right, Okay, now this, Yulanda, I can get behind, not seldomar.

And it turns out when you bang down that first door, door after door will open for you, because months after her run, ends in Grease, Dalia gets a dream offer to join them Verche itself.

Dahalia's about to join the big leagues, but not everyone is going to be happy about it.

The year is nineteen eighty six and thin Verce is riding a high.

Dahlia is the undisputed it chrome. Her looks, her stage presence, and her moves single handedly saved the band. Without her, you're going to go from les dardom to major cringe.

I also want to talk about the looks from Theme Betica, because if I had a mood board to represent this time in my life, they're showing up a lot on that vision board.

I think that these looks can be used. Now.

I feel like my hair looks like that right now.

Okay, I'm rocking my natural wave pattern and I look like I am a defunct, rejected It's not true.

Former member of Theme Betche. It's so good.

The often By the way, why did teens in the eighties and nineties need to look like they were forty seven?

It was a thing.

Why do we want to Carl Lagerfeld, He was very that and you know Latinos love their chanel honey.

Oh wait, it's just.

All I just can't understand why we all wanted to look thirty years older when we were teens.

The hair, I'm not worth skipping this, okay.

And besides the herself, no one was happier about this than her manager, I mean her mamager, Dina Lohan aka Yolanya.

After helping her daughter break down a door into an industry neither of them knew anything about Mama your last, stepped in to make sure her daughter had someone trustworthy by her side.

Yolanda was one of the very first female managers for a pop artist in Mexico. To say that the field was a man's world is an understatement ow gross. But amid the Machismo, Balia and Yolanda were a tight knit, dynamic duo.

But there was one person who did not stand.

That was a Chica Dorada aka Mia Moore Paulina Rubio.

Now, for those of you that do not go deep in the history with the Miricee, Paulina had been with the group from the very beginning.

Fans knew her as.

A bit of a princess, a bit spoiled, a little cocky, and kind of a brat.

And here in Brat summer twenty twenty four, we can say we are.

Here for it, and so were many of them Bettica's original fans, so much so that the fandom was split. Were you them Faulina or team Thalia.

This is Brittany versus Christina, but with perms, high rise jeans and velvet tops.

Where do you think the wardrobe went archives?

Yeah, for sure, Elisa call me. And like Brittany and Christina, things didn't start off hostel. They shared dressing rooms and help each other get ready.

Talia had three elder sisters, so she knew how to hang and they had each other's.

Back, but fans began to notice each girl shooting dirty looks at the other during interviews. Rumors swirled that Ballina threw shade on Thalia behind her back and vice versa, but nothing could be confirmed until the infamous concert at the Luca.

Tic takes the stage and Balina, taking a page from Kristen Bell in Burlesque, peaks behind Dalia's back and unpugs her.

Microphone so she did not and when Talia notices that her mic isn't working, she immediately puts two and two together, marches George Baulina and snatches her microphone out of her hands.

Within seconds, the two girls are literally in a tug of war match over the microphone.

The rest of the band. Okay, sorry, I had to go back to my normal serious self. Okay, I'm having too much fun with this because the fact that I don't see a video of this playing in YouTube right now is making me so angry, Like where were the cameras. Cameras up, cameras up, I wish. The rest of the band freezes, unsure of what to do, and from there it escalates quickly. Paulina accidentally hits Falia in the mouth accidentally. I mean, all we have is her word, so we

Oh my god, not the perms.

And the crowd is ampt deem. Paulina and Team Talia chant the names of their faves like it's a TNA wrestling match, and they pre ordered those tickets.

But the rest of Mexico wouldn't need no pay per view to keep up.

With Ballina versus Dahlia.

The magazines and TV gossip shows were all over this.

A week after the infamous show at Do Luca, the two girls sat down for an interview with actress Rodonica Castro.

I mean it's like she made this shit up, right.

They denied having ever fought or having held any grudges, but the concertgoers knew exactly what they saw today.

That shit would be all over TikTok.

I mean, it would literally fill up your entire FYP and I would be in.

A deep pull back in there, so deep in there.

I mean, by the way, life was just easier before smartphones. It was, it was nicer, but the chief Mosa and me digging cameras up investigative journalists always now. It not be long after that that Talia would ultimately walk away from Tinice entirely. Her shift away from the band starts in nineteen eighty seven, when a producer approaches her for something similarly dramatico, a role in a telenovela.

It's a small guest role in Bobre senor Tali Mantour, but Jessic with Grease, Dalia's short appearance would lead to something much bigger, a co starring role in the first ever teen oriented telenovela, King Seneta.

Put some respect on the name.

For those of you that don't know, King Signea was a cultural phenomena youth. It's in that Degrassi euphoria skins mold of teen drama. We are talking provocative, topical, and ultimately so relatable.

It touched on teen pregnancy, substance abuse, prejudice, and discrimination.

It was it was juice uh huh, and it spoke to a generation that had never experienced a show that was this confrontational and reflective of the world they were growing up in.

And the theme song was a bob and sung by Timbiriche where Dalia was still a member.

This teen telenovela was a sensation, and today it is actually considered to be one of the greatest and most influential Felen novellas ever made.

Night after Night, Talia was there on screen in the role of Vietris, one of a pair of besties excitedly planning their keenses.

But the two realized that womanhood is more complicated than just a party.

Spoiler alert, Viatrins gets pregnant.

Jim Sigea would sweep the theve Novellas Awards that year, and Talia would win an award for Breakout Performance for an Actress.

All of this would have been enough to cement Dalia's place in the hearts and minds of millions of Mexicanos as a teen icon. But that wasn't enough for our girl.

And so in nineteen eighty eight, after kin Signena goes off the air, Dalia approaches Emilio Ascaraga, the president of Telavisa, and tells him.

Sata s getway, I want to be famous, world famous.

Not a direct quote. Not a direct quote.

At that point, Thalia has more than proven her star power. She has been the it girl in Mexico. She was like an it girl before it girls were on TikTok okay got it all right?

Anyway?

She was the it girl in Mexico's leading team band and the co star of a groundbreaking TV drama, but still the spold.

And yet Dalia stands her ground and says that she wants to be like Veronica Castro, the very same actress who interviewed her and Ballina Rubo, and.

Emilio matches Balia's bet and sends her to Ali Wood to further study singing, theater and of course English. Dalia leaves Binberiche and begins her solo career.

That's next time on becoming an Icon.

On the next Becoming an Icon, Balia makes her solo debut with the Sanderdine moment of her own.

Yaoa esperta la more canis mea.

Becoming an Icon is presented by Sonoo and Iheart's Michael Duda podcast Network. Listen to Becoming an Icon on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcast