S5E9: The Whisper That Became Dolores - Adassa Candiani on Faith, Belonging, and Love That Keeps Showing Up

What do you do when the very thing you’ve built your whole life around — your voice, your purpose, your identity — is suddenly taken from you? Adassa Candiani knows that question from the inside.

You may know her as the voice of Dolores Madrigal in Disney’s Encanto, the powerhouse behind the chart-topping “We Don’t Talk About Bruno.” But before the Oscar stage, before the Grammy, before the Golden Globe — there was a girl from a Colombian immigrant family carrying three generations of unrealized dreams. A mother of seven who stepped away from the spotlight to be fully present.

And then there was COVID, which left Adassa paralyzed from the neck down, unable to speak, unable to sing, unable to care for herself or her family. In this episode, Adassa shares the real story — the one that lives inside her debut memoir, Love Keeps Showing Up.

We talk about what she found in the stillness of that season, how the voice of Dolores was born from a whisper, and what it means to recognize love when it shows up in the most ordinary and extraordinary ways. This is a conversation about divine timing, about belonging to yourself across every intersection of your identity, and about refusing — even in the hardest seasons — to give up on people.

What You’ll Hear In This Episode How Adassa’s grandmother gave up her dream of singing to become a nurse, her mother got one song on the radio, and Adassa made a decision: I’m carrying that torch all the way. The YouTube video she filmed before getting tacos — and forgot about — that Disney found months later.

What it felt like to be signed as the second dark-skinned Latina artist to a major bilingual record deal since Celia Cruz. The day after her Disney callback when she drove herself to the hospital and was paralyzed within 30 minutes — unable to speak, unable to move.

The bathtub. The water rising.

The moment she let go. Her husband Gabriel walking in “like Superman” — and the phone call that came while her head was in his lap.

Why she whispered to Gabriel: “You call them if I’m dead” — and then took the part. How Dolores’ iconic soft-spoken voice was born directly from Adassa’s weeks of whispered survival.

The shift from competing to contributing — and why she was finally willing to stand for something. What she wants every reader of Love Keeps Showing Up to walk away believing about love, community, and letting go of perfection.

ABOUT ADASSA Adassa Candiani is an Oscar, Grammy, and Golden Globe recipient, platinum-selling recording artist, and the beloved voice of Dolores Madrigal in Disney’s Encanto. Born to Colombian immigrant parents, she began singing at church at age four and went on to collaborate with Pitbull, Flo Rida, Missy Elliott, Snoop Dogg, and many others.

After stepping away from her career to raise her seven children, she was rediscovered through a YouTube video her husband filmed on a family vacation — a moment that led to the audition of a lifetime. Her debut memoir, Love Keeps Showing Up, weaves together her personal testimony with an original album, connecting each chapter of her life to a song.

CONNECT WITH ADASSA Instagram & TikTok: @ADASSAOfficial Adassa’s Community for Women: Visible Now Club — a community of women supporting one another through every season of life Book: Love Keeps Showing Up — At all major book retailers CONNECT WITH ELEVATING GOOD Elevating Good is a podcast for women of faith who refuse to give up on people. Hosted by Morenike Ogebe — attorney, bridge builder, and people-centered leader — each episode shines light on the good God is doing in the world.

Substack (subscribe to bonus content): https://elevatinggood.substack.com Instagram: Facebook: NEW! Elevating Good Everyday Bridge Builders Community: If this episode moved you — share it.

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