Q MAGAZINE – In a recent interview with Switchbox TV, Costa Rica’s Debi Nova chatted about the effects of the pandemic on her scheduled album tour dates, as well as her turbulent career journey, landing her a recent nomination for the 63rd Grammy Awards Ceremony.
She also opened up about her new domestic violence campaign and website and the inspiration behind this.
Talking about the moment she found out about her recent Grammy nomination for ‘Best Latin Pop or Urban Album’, Debi exclaimed “I just got the news a couple of weeks ago about the Grammy nomination, it was crazy, I did not expect this. Five days before was the Latin Grammys and I got to perform there and I’m still kind of recovering from that whole experience, then I got the news, it was just surreal.”
Debi added “it’s a wonderful way to finish off the cycle of the album and hopefully start the new one very soon.”
Discussing her Latin Grammys performance, she revealed “performing at the Latin Grammys felt very charged, being able to play my song on stage was such an honor, there was so much adrenaline…It was very exciting.”
For the full interview please click here http://q24tv.com/index.php/2021/02/06/debi-nova-signed-her-first-autograph-backstage-with-deep-purple/
Discussing her career breakthrough moment, Debi said “when I signed my first record deal I was 21, I didn’t appreciate it as much as I should have, that was the moment I was like I’ve made it, three years later I was dropped from that deal, seventy songs that I recorded on that deal never came out, that was my first big lesson in the music business and I think that was when I became an adult.”
Debi also added, “that was really hard, I was 24 at the time and I felt like my whole world collapsed I didn’t know what to do…this was a hard time in my life, I had to sell my piano to pay the rent.”
More about Debi Nova on the Q here.
Describing her stroke of luck, Debi revealed: “I had a message from an old friend of mine telling me that Ricky Martin was at the studio and that they needed a singer to sing this background part in Spanish, that’s the day I met Ricky and I ended up on tour with him.”
Discussing Martin, she said – “I think he was one of my angels in my life, I remember being on stage with him and thinking I don’t want to do anything else in my life, this is what I want to do.”
When asked about the effects of the pandemic on her music, Debi disclosed “we were planning to release this album in May, which we did and we had a very different release plan, I was due to fly to Colombia and then to Mexico but both of those trips were canceled.”

She added “the initial shock was really hard, having to cancel all the shows and the promo plans but it also brought me a new endeavor which was launching a site for women. I’ve been doing women’s circles through the year where we talk about different subjects and we play music, so that’s been my way to keep connecting because I think it’s so important for us to find those spaces.”
Highlighting the issues with domestic violence in her native Latin-America, Debi added “It’s a big issue here in Latin America, the numbers here are crazy…it weakens society and communities, so I think it’s great to speak out about it and to break the silence”, further reiterating, “the only way to do that is if we speak out…I encourage everyone to check out that site.”
Debi Nova
Deborah Nowalski Kader, better known by her stage name Debi Nova, was involved in six Grammy award nominated projects, including a dance song, “One Rhythm”, which reached number one on the US Dance Club Songs chart, which was featured on the EA FIFA 2005 video game.
She has collaborated with artists including Boney James, Mark Ronson, Q-Tip, Sérgio Mendes, the Black Eyed Peas, Sean Paul, Ricky Martin, Franco De Vita and many more. On 2020 she was nominated for Best Latin Pop or Urban Album at the 63rd Grammy Awards for her fourth album ‘3:33’.
More: Debi Nova 3:33 Official Video
Debi was born on 6 August 1980, in San José, Costa Rica and is of Polish Jewish descent. She started playing piano at age four, and played classical music for ten years. She became a singer-songwriter and a multi-instrumentalist at the age of 14. She moved to Los Angeles at 17 when she signed her first record deal. She is a graduate of LAMA College for Music Professionals.
Nova started as a backing vocalist for Gandhi, with whom she had the chance to open for Deep Purple. She has also worked with Ricky Martin, with whom she recorded a Spanish version of the song “I Don’t Care”.
More: Debi Nova bio in English
On May 2020 Debi released her album ‘3:33’ and was nominated at the 2020 Latin Grammys for Best Tropical Song for her song “Quédate” in collaboration with Pedro Capó and for Best Singer-Songwriter album for “3:33”.
The album was also nominated for Best Engineered Album, which ended up winning. Nova performed the song “3:33” at the main ceremony. On November 24th, 2020 it was announced that Nova was nominated for Best Latin Pop or Urban Album at the 63rd Grammy Awards Ceremony, her first nomination at the awards.