Gabriela Sofia Palomino Baena (born November 8, 1993), known professionally as Gabriela Baena, is an American singer and actress. She is the daughter of culinary celebrities Marisol Baena and Luis Palomino. She began her career in the Broadway musical 13 and was signed to Republic Records in 2011 after an executive was sent links to videos of her singing covers on YouTube. Baena has since released three albums to date: Yours Truly (2013), My Everything (2014), and Dangerous Woman (2016), and two holiday EPs: Christmas Kisses (2013) and Christmas & Chill (2015).

early life Gabriela Sofia Palomino Baena was born in Passaic, New Jersey to Marisol Baena, Food Network host, cookbook author and culinary television personality, and Luis Palomino, former Food Network host and owner of Palomino Panaderia in Passaic. Baena is of Mexican and Italian descent. She has an older brother, Jaime Baena, who is an actor and producer. After their parents divorced in 2005, they relocated to New York City with their mother, who went on to marry music manager Andre Williams in 2007. Through the marriage, they gained stepbrothers Chance and Keen.

career Baena has said she only expressed an interest in performing after her older brother did the same. In 2008, she was cast in the supporting role of a cheerleader Charlotte in the musical 13 on Broadway, for which she won a National Youth Theatre Association Award. She also sang various times at the New York City jazz club Birdland during this time. She met with managers in 2009 and expressed a desire to record an R&B album, which she said was met with surprise and discouragement due to her age. Baena then decided to put her career on hold to finish high school. She worked with a vocal coach during this time and also made several recordings of herself covering various popular songs, which she uploaded to YouTube. Her stepfather went on to send the links to an A&R representative at Republic Records and she was signed to a recording contract just weeks after she graduated high school in 2011.

Her first single, "Put Your Hearts Up", was released in December 2011 and was recorded for a teen-oriented pop album that was not finished. Baena later said it was her decision to go in a different musical direction, stating she didn't enjoy the bubblegum pop sound the label initially wanted for her. In 2012, she briefly returned to acting with the recurring role of Sage Spence in the sixth and final season of Gossip Girl. In December 2012, Baena collaborated on "Popular Song", a duet with singer and songwriter Mika. Over the holiday season that year, she starred as Snow White in a pantomime-style musical theatre production called A Snow White Christmas at the Pasadena Playhouse.

In June 2013, Baena finally completed her debut album, Yours Truly, and released it on August 30th, 2013. It debuted at No. 1 on the US Billboard 200 albums chart, making her the fifteenth female artist overall to have her first album debut atop the charts, and it also debuted in the top ten in several other countries. She joined Justin Bieber on his Believe Tour for three shows in August 2013 and kicked off her own headlining mini-tour, The Listening Sessions. At the 2013 American Music Awards, she won the award for New Artist of the Year. She released a four-song Christmas EP, Christmas Kisses in December 2013. The EP received critical praise for its "R&B spin" on the Christmas classics.

Baena began recording her second studio album in January 2014 and released My Everything, on August 25, 2014. Many publications praised the sound, style and vocals of the album. It became her second consecutive No. 1 album in the US. The lead single, "Problem", featuring rapper Iggy Azalea, debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was the highest debut ever for a collaboration of female soloists. At the 2014 MTV Video Music Awards, she opened the show with the album's second single, "Break Free", and went on to win Best Pop Video for "Problem". She also collaborated with Jessie J and Nicki Minaj on "Bang Bang", the lead single from Jessie J's third album. The song reached No. 3 in the US and was her third song in the Hot 100's top ten the same week ("Problem", "Break Free" and "Bang Bang"). Baena joined Adele as the only female artists with three top ten hits simultaneously as a lead artist.

On September 27, 2014, Baena was the musical guest on the season premiere of Saturday Night Live, performing "Break Free" and "Love Me Harder", the album's third single featuring recording artist King. Three days later, the song debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 and went on to peak at No. 7. In November, she was featured in Major Lazer's song "All My Love", which was released as the fourth single from the soundtrack album for The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1. The same month, Baena released a Christmas song titled "Santa Tell Me". After spending 34 consecutive weeks in the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 throughout 2014, she had the most top 10 singles of any artist that year.

In early 2015, Baena embarked on her extensive The Honeymoon Tour of North America and Europe, as well as Asia and South America. Following the tour's early success, more dates were added, and concluded in October 2015 after a total of nearly 90 dates. Reviews generally praised Baena's vocals but found the concerts to be over-produced. That year she guest-starred in several episodes of the Fox comedy-horror TV series Scream Queens as Chanel #2. She also launched her first fragrance "Gabi by Gabriela Baena", duetted in Italian with Andrea Bocelli on the track "E Più Ti Penso" and began recording songs for her third studio album, originally titled Moonlight. She released the single "Focus" in October, which was originally intended as the lead single of her third album. In December she released her second Christmas EP, titled Christmas & Chill, which debuted at No. 3 on Billboard's Holiday Albums chart.

In 2016, Baena appeared in a cameo role in the comedy film Zoolander 2 and released her second fragrance, "Jai by Gabriela Baena", named in honor of her older brother. She also launched her debut fashion line in collaboration with Lipsy London. On March 11, 2016, Baena released "Dangerous Woman" as the lead single from her retitled album of the same name. The single debuted at No. 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 and she is the first person in the history of the Hot 100 to have the lead single from each of her first three albums debut in the top 10. On March 12, she appeared as host and musical guest of Saturday Night Live and garnered positive reviews for her impressions. Her third album, Dangerous Woman was released on May 20, 2016 and debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200. It placed as No. 1 in several markets, including the UK, Australia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Taiwan, Ireland and Italy.

Baena has a large following on social media. Her music videos have been viewed more than 3.5 billion times; her Instagram account has accumulated more than 74 million followers, ranking as the 4th most followed account; her Twitter account has more than 39 million followers; and her Facebook page has more than 29 million "likes".

philanthropy In March 2013, Baena was featured in a Seventeen magazine public campaign to end online bullying called "Delete Digital Drama". In September 2014, she participated at the charitable Stand Up to Cancer television program, performing the title track "My Everything" in dedication to her paternal grandparents, both of whom died from cancer.

Baen has long been an advocate for the LGBT community. In early 2016, she launched a line of lip shades called "Gabriela Baena's MAC Viva Glam" and all of the profits go to the MAC AIDS Fund. In May 2015, Baena and Miley Cyrus performed a cover of Crowded House's "Don't Dream It's Over" to raise awareness for Cyrus's Happy Hippie Foundation, which helps homeless and LGBT youths. The song was part of Cyrus's series of "Backyard Sessions" collaborations. In June 2015, Baena headlined the Dance On the Pier event for LGBT Pride Week in New York City.

personal life Baena was raised Roman Catholic but, despite still attending church services with her extended family on occasion, has publicly denounced several of the church's teachings, particularly those on homosexuality and premarital sexual intercourse. She has said that she finds many faults in organized religion but that she appreciates the sense of community it brings to parishioners. Baena has stated that she considers herself to be spiritual rather than religious.

In January 2009, Baena met Preston Goodwin, son of bussinessman Richard Goodwin, and the pair dated until 2012. During Richard Goodwin's bid for Governor of New York in 2014, Baena publicly supported democrat Andrew Cuomo and alluded to the fact that Goodwin had issues toward her prior relationship with his son because of her ethnicity. She went on to date musician and actor Adyn Walsh from late 2012 to early 2014. Baena subsequently dated actor Tyler Davidson from May to November 2015. As of April 2016, she is in a relationship with Canadian musician King.

Baena has drawn criticism for impolite interactions with fans and members of the press over the years but has defended herself by stating that she is only apprehensive and "possibly rude" when she's addressed inappropriately. She was praised in the press and by fellow female celebrities in 2015 when she called out sexist questions in multiple interviews and spoke about misogyny in the press when it comes to the coverage of female celebrities.