Singer/songwriter/actress, 26-year-old Brazilian Giulia Be is your classic high achiever. The type who, in school, destroys the curve.
Still, even by her absurdly high standards of impressiveness, her latest album, the self-titled GIULIA BE, is the type of accomplishment that leaves fans shaking their head in disbelief. The impressive album finds Be delivering 21 total tracks, some in English, some in Spanish, and some in Portuguese.
An insanely talented and driven multi-hyphenate, Be is the perfect pop star for the increasingly small global music business in 2026. I spoke with Be, who you can absolutely forgive for wrecking the grade curve because she is every bit as sweet and personable as she is a global superstar.
Hit Parader: I’ve talked to so many songwriters about the idea that songwriting is a form of channeling. Stuff comes to you in a vision or whatever. I’ve heard from people about how songs come in dreams, or Jimmy Cliff told me how he wrote “The Harder They Come” in 10 minutes. Where I’m going with this, since you are doing an album in three languages, how do your songs come to you? Do they come to you in English, in Portuguese, and in Spanish?
Giulia Be: Depends on the song. I agree 100 percent with what you said. I genuinely believe that we’re all vessels channeling different things and if an idea comes to me, I better write it down, otherwise it’s going to come to someone else soon enough. I start with lyrics usually, which are different. A lot of artists usually start with the melody, and with me I’m very much of a storyteller, so I like to know what I’m going to write about, honestly, in order to inform what melody I should add to the lyrics. So, a lot of times I’ll have a phrase that comes about, and if it comes in Portuguese, then the song is in Portuguese. And if it comes in English, I write the song in English and vice versa. But a lot of times what has happened is I write a song in a language and try translating it into a different language, and it ends up being sometimes a lot worse, sometimes a lot better. There’s a song called “Grillos” that’s in the project that I originally wrote as Crickets, which was a song in English that I translated to Spanish. So, everything can happen in this little brain.
HP: What inspired you musically?
Be: I was a huge Hannah Montana fan. That was my inspiration as an eight-year-old to be out here writing songs.
HP: And have you ever met Miley Cyrus?
Be: I actually have met her. She was doing a Gucci show at Chateau Marmont. And one of the PRs at Gucci, who’s a friend of mine, knew how much I loved her. And at the end, he was like, “I have a surprise for you. I’m going to take you to meet Miley.” My legs started shaking. I literally felt like the eight-year-old that fell in love with her at first glance. He took me to this very small after party in her hotel room and she was just in a white tank top and boxers. Before I could even get a word in, she goes, “Oh my god, you’re so beautiful.” I literally melted. I was like, “Oh my god, this is the most awesome person ever.” They say don’t meet your heroes but in this case I’m just beyond glad that I did because she was just so sweet and so nice and curious and asked me great questions.
HP: Who are the other heroes you’ve met that you most enjoyed meeting?
Be: Aside from Miley? Miley was my number one. There’s a Brazilian artist called Seu Jorge, who is also one of my heroes. He was in Life Aquatic, the Wes Anderson movie, just beyond amazing Brazilian artist. I met him last year and he was just the coolest person ever. He gave me a ride back home and he was just talking about social media and the music industry. He has social media, but he rose way before social media did and he’s a legend regardless of social media. I was like, “I cannot believe I’m in a car right now with this guy telling me about social media.” It was just crazy
HP: Being successful in multiple mediums, talk about what you’ve learned being around all these different people.
Be: Like you said you just absorb a little bit of their greatness. In that sense I love just learning. a lot of people are like, “What’s the best thing about having been nominated for a Grammy?” It’s not the actual nomination; it’s just being a part of the academy and being able to meet all of these people that are musicians at the highest levels. They can teach you so much and if they take an interest in your music you can work with them and potentially create something that’s just the next level of your own artistry. I’m an eternal student. I hope to be learning until the day I die and getting the opportunity to hang out around all these people that I admire, be it actors, producers, and other musicians.
HP: What did you learn today?
Be: What I learned today is it was early in the morning in L.A. But yesterday, honestly, I was watching the Lakers game, and I didn’t learn much, but maybe a few plays about basketball that I had no idea. And I will give the credit to that for my fiancé because basketball is not really a huge thing in Brazil. So, I’m getting introduced to it for the first time now that my fiancé is getting into it himself.
HP: Going back to writing, are there things that you find that trigger your ideas?
Be: I do this type of therapy called theta healing. It’s this therapy where the theory is that when your brain is in a state of theta, where it’s half up, half asleep, it’s more malleable to access your subconscious. And I’ve found that a lot of times, whenever I’m having a stressful day and I need a reset, when I come out of the meditation, it’s when the ideas are flowing the most. Also, there’s nothing like a good old nap. You always wake up from a nap with a good idea. That’s interesting now. You’ve got to catch the idea when it comes.
HP: What was the song you wrote in your sleep?
Be: It was a song called “Si Essa Vida Fosse Um Filme,” which means “If This Life Was a Movie.” That song I released at the beginning of my career, and I loved it. And I remember the label was like, “Oh, I think it’s more of a concept song. It’s more one just for the fans.” No one expected the song to do what it did, but it ended up charting, and to this day it’s one of my most famous songs, and I love it.
HP: For you, as both an actress and a musician, having a song called “If This Life Was a Movie,” would you play yourself in the movie or would someone else?
Be: I think, as of right now, I would love to play myself. But who knows, there’s such a cool young generation of actors that are rising that maybe in a few years they can play me in a movie. I generally do think like my life is a movie sometimes. I always look up and I’m like, “God, I don’t know who’s writing the script, but you guys got to chill because so many crazy things happen that feel like they’re straight out of a movie.”
HP: Give me an example of one great movie scene.
Be: This happened just the other day. It’s just something that you wouldn’t feel like could happen. This movie, a drama, was coming out and I really wanted to watch it. And I told my friends, “Oh, I’m so bummed that I’m going to travel on the day that the movie comes out because I really wanted to go with you guys and watch it.” They’re like, “Oh yeah, I know but we’ll watch it on streaming when you’re back. I was like, “Okay, fine.” Then I was at rehearsal with my band and my dog just passed. So, on the way back from rehearsal, we were talking about dogs. I was talking about my dog and now I feel like every time I see a dog, it’s an opportunity for me to just cuddle for a little second. It doesn’t matter if it’s not my dog. We were hungry, so I was like, “Why don’t we go to McDonald’s? I’m really hungry. I just want some chicken nuggets and fries.” We stopped at McDonald’s and as soon as we get there, there’s this woman and the security guard is screaming at her because she was with her dogs. And she’s trying to explain to the guy, “I’m buying a sundae for my pregnant wife, please.” She was clearly struggling with the dogs. And I was like, “Hey, do you want me to take your dogs? I’ll hold them outside while you get your wife’s thing. She was like, “Oh, my God, thank you so much. You’re an angel.” I got the dogs and held them on the side for a second. After she got it, she came out and she was like, “I owe you one. I own a movie theater company. So, whenever you want to watch a movie, I’ll close out a movie room for you and your friends for you to watch the movie.” I was like, “Well, actually, I really want to watch the drama with my friends.” She’s like, “I’ll make it happen.” Literally the day after we had a private screening before the movie even released in Brazil. It just felt like one of those moments where it’s like, “Okay, I rest my case. I manifested this.”
