Meet The Warning: Three Mexican Sisters Who Have Been Changing the World (Exclusive)

• Need to know
  Dany, Paulina, and Alejandra Villarreal see being in a band with their sisters as “a gift from the universe.” The Warning began as children in 2013 and eventually became rock superstars.
• The publication of their first live record and concert DVD, “Live from Auditorio Nacional CDMX,” and a North American tour round out the band’s busy year of touring.
• The Warning, which originated in Monterrey, Mexico, was started and is still led by three sisters: Alejandra (bass), Paulina (drummer), and Dany (guitar and lead singer) Villarreal. Since its founding in 2013, the band has become extremely popular, thanks to hits like “MORE” and “Six Feet Deep.”

There has never been a day in the existence of The Warning without music. Inspired by rock bands, they began with classical piano before jumping ship to headbanging.

Around 2013, the sisters started uploading covers to YouTube. Their popularity increased gradually until they hit new heights with their rendition of Metallica’s “Enter Sandman,” which has had 26 million views to date. Following their appearance on the Ellen DeGeneres Show in 2015, they received a gift of funds to enrol in a five-week music training course in Boston, Massachusetts’ Berklee College of Music.

A WARNING TO PREMIERE CONCERT FILM LIVE FROM AUDITORIO NACIONAL, CDMX IN SELECT AMC THEATRES IN THE US AND PRESENTED UNDER CINÉPOLIS +QUE CINE IN MEXICO, CENTRAL AMERICA, AND SOUTH AMERICA FROM AUGUST 21ST ROCK’S HOTTEST RISING BAND

The Warning. Kuri Gustavo
Dany, Paulina, and Alejandra were 14, 12, and 9 years old at the time of the explosion. The sisters attribute their newfound popularity to the inspiration they received to begin writing their own songs, which is when The Warning evolved from a side project to a career.

Even for adults, pursuing music can be frightening, but The Warning didn’t have a lot of concern before they started, especially since they were still kids. We were given a blank canvas and told to do whatever they wanted,” Dany recounted. We said, “Yay, all right.” “You don’t understand the concepts of public opinion, of putting yourself out there and still not being well received,” Paulina, 23, continued. That isn’t actually visible to you.”

Luckily, The Warning adapted well to their new life as rock stars and developed a closer and better sibling bond as a result. Paulina refers to their friendship as “a gift from the universe.”

She goes on to say: “We experience things that are very specific to our occupations and are difficult to describe to those who aren’t affected by them. My closest loved ones are the ones that see me and completely get what I’m going through.”

The Warning, Live from Jimmy Kimmel!
“Jimmy Kimmel Live!” features a performance by The Warning in June 2024. Randy Holmes/Disney
Both on stage and on a Zoom chat, the sisters’ sincere love and excitement for one another are evident.

The Warning takes great pride in their ability to rock people to their core. It is largely responsible for their success in a male-dominated field that occasionally views women as outsiders.

According to Paulina, “You step on stage and you give a kick-ass show, and it’s just such a satisfying feeling of, ‘Hah! Look!'” The Warning thrives on the challenge.

The Warning remain grounded despite their expanding fame and unrivalled ambition, basing their success on the simple yet essential maxim, “Always keep being kind.”

According to Dany, 25, “in the industry… the whole base of everything is connecting with people,” she tells PEOPLE. “We meet new folks every day. “Being kind goes a long way because every stage is literally a completely different crew of that venue, of that festival.”

Particularly during the making of their most recent album, Keep Me Fed, which came out a little more than a year ago, the band has been taking having fun more seriously.

On November 10, 2024, in Manchester, England, Daniela, Paulina, and Alejandra Villarreal of the band The Warning take the stage at the MTV EMAs 2024, which are hosted at Co-op Live.

In November 2024, The Warning performed at the MTV EMAs in Manchester, England. Mazur Kevin/Getty
“We’ve always taken ourselves very seriously, trying to prove that we are songwriters and prove that we are musicians — that’s what happens when you’re a woman in rock,” adds Paulina. The fact that we were surrounded by people and other writers who were asking us, ‘But what do you mean you feel like you have to prove something?’ allowed us to relax a little. This is your music, and you’re here creating this album. That’s sufficient evidence enough.

Alejandra, 20, told PEOPLE, “I feel like it was hard at first, but we really like it now.” Writing alongside others was also a huge step forward for The Warning on Keep Me Fed. Sharing your thoughts with others is a lot of fun. Everybody has a different manner of working, and it’s quite fascinating to observe how they do it.

Constantly touring in 2024 and 2025, The Warning hasn’t had much time to reflect since the album’s release. After wrapping up a headline tour in the United States last autumn, the band returned to the country earlier this year to support Halsey on her And For My Last Trick Tour, which included nine performances with artists including Alvvays and Evanescence, before making another headline appearance in July.

Halsey, according to the band, is “involved in everything.” The sisters recognise this quality in themselves, and witnessing effort of this magnitude made them feel acknowledged. “It was good to know that we’re not insane. This is how people actually work. “It’s fantastic,” Paulina acknowledges.

The Warning seamlessly adjusted to the more pop-leaning sound of the “Without Me” singer. “It was a lovely challenge going up to an audience who normally doesn’t listen to this type of music and having them like you at the end of the show,” Paulina explains.

One of the band’s strengths has always been their ability to captivate an audience live. The way we play, the way we perform, the way the audio is mixed, and the fact that you are in the audience—it’s not like we’re a karaoke machine! Dany adds, “That energy exchange is everything.” Alejandra explains, “We perform them and we connect with the people that are in front of us.”

On their new live album Live from Auditorio Nacional CDMX, which was published together with a concert video of the same show that will be shown in select theatres beginning Thursday, August 21, The Warning set out to capture that enthusiasm, even though it’s hard to do so. (An exclusive preview of “Automatic Sun” can be found above.)

The band calls the recording and filming of the performance on February 11 “nerve-wracking,” with Alejandra observing, “We worked so hard from everything to arranging the show, and the lights and the production and the clothes… We’ve never had such a large staff work on a project before, I believe.

As one of their most eagerly awaited releases, the band went all out to create the concert film and live record.

“For the past eleven years, our followers have been requesting this from us. Therefore, the band tells PEOPLE, “It was a very significant day for us in our careers to be able to do it with Keep Me Fed, and Auditorio Nacional is such an important place in our country — having three sold-out shows here.”

A WARNING TO PREMIERE CONCERT FILM LIVE FROM AUDITORIO NACIONAL, CDMX IN SELECT AMC THEATRES IN THE US AND PRESENTED UNDER CINÉPOLIS +QUE CINE IN MEXICO, CENTRAL AMERICA, AND SOUTH AMERICA FROM AUGUST 21ST ROCK’S HOTTEST RISING BAND

The CDMX concert poster for “The Warning Live” from Auditorio Nacional. Republic Records
The Warning still don’t feel like they’ve “made it” — at least not for good, despite the incredible experience. They wish to ascend much higher.

“We always just want to keep growing,” says Paulina, and Alejandra concurs, “Our goals are so huge that I think that our rockstar moment will be like, ‘Will we sell stadiums throughout the whole world?'”

Despite these ambitious goals, The Warning has a straightforward strategy for achieving them. It’s the same one that initially brought them this far. Paulina says, “We’ve always had the same goal, which is make music, share it.”