Telly settles into her identity on debut album, “Para El Mundo 2”

Music has always been part of the identity of Denver-based artist Shantelle Diaz, who performs as Telly. As a child, she had a speech impediment, and music was a way to express herself, playing clarinet in band through high school. Now, it is her passion, her career and her therapy.

We talked with Diaz about finding her footing as a queer Latin artist, living with grief and her recent debut album, “Para El Mundo 2,” which is dedicated to her late mother, Elizabeth Diaz.

Raised in what she calls “a very old-school Hispanic culture,” Diaz wasn’t allowed to listen to rap or hip-hop, so she favored hard rock bands like Linkin Park, Flyleaf, Evanescence and Breaking Benjamin. Listeners may not hear those influences in her music, but her aesthetic, personal style and some of her adlibs are still informed by alt-rock culture. Plus, she was surrounded by her Colombian parents’ music: “My dad, every day he’d be blasting salsa, merengue, cumbia, all that,” she says. “When I was 18, that’s when I really started listening to rap, hip-hop and just everything.”

While expanding her music tastes as a young adult, Diaz discovered a love for EDM. She started producing EDM tracks, with aspirations of being a DJ, then shifted towards a trap style of production. Diaz was hesitant to record her own vocals, but she wanted to bring the songs she heard in her head to life.

“I was always really nervous to put vocals behind my stuff, because I just wasn’t confident,” she admits. “I was like, ‘I’m not a rapper, I’m not a singer.’ But I would always hear these melodies, so I was like, ‘Fuck it, let me do it.’” In 2018, she released her first single as Telly, a high school nickname that came from teachers mispronouncing her first name, Shantelle. 

After making the leap from producer to recording artist, Diaz faced another dilemma: figuring out how to embrace her sexuality without limiting her opportunities. She didn’t want to be pigeonholed as just a “queer artist,” but didn’t feel understood or respected by a lot of her heterosexual counterparts.

“Growing up, I struggled a lot with my identity. Before I got to where I am now, it was really hard to see where I fit in,” she says. “I always said I never wanted to be boxed into the LGBTQ+ community, not saying I’m not accepting my own community, I just know that, musically, people like to box people into, ‘Oh that’s just a lesbian or queer artist.’” 

Especially as a masculine-presenting lesbian, Diaz felt pressure from the music industry to be more feminine or sexual. “At first, when I was coming up, a lot of people were pushing me aside, like ‘Oh you don’t show enough skin, you’re not sexy, you’re too masculine,” she recalls.  “I would get upset, like, ‘Man, this artist is getting opportunities because of how they dress and perform scandalously, and here I am just being me.’”

With experience, she’s embraced her queer identity, performing on the Denver Pride Latin stage and at other Pride-related celebrations while still appealing to the masses. “I think I found a good balance of being an artist who is a lesbian, but at the same time, straight people fuck with this type of music too,” she says. She credits this shift not just to her own evolution, but also seeing more lesbian musicians break into the mainstream: “These new mainstream artists, like Young Miko and KWN, have really opened up more doors for artists like myself.”

Diaz’s eclectic music taste led her to explore a range of sounds, from rap to pop and even “country trap.” She attributes the variety in her catalog to pulling from whatever emotion she’s experiencing while songwriting, navigating frequent fluctuations in her mood and mental health because of borderline personality disorder.

“I still struggle with a lot of my mental health, and I think that’s why I can be very versatile, too,” she says. “My moods switch up and down, so it’s whatever I’m feeling that day.” Diaz’s 2025 EP “The Many Faces” shows off her adaptability in many genres, earning her a Best of Denver 2026 award for “Best Album For Your Pregame Playlist.” But her latest project focuses more on the Latin influences she grew up with, highlighting Latin-inspired rhythms and lyrics that flow in and out of Spanish and English. 

In 2023, Diaz dropped “Deposit,” her first track featuring Spanish lyrics, launching a new era of her music career. “I actually got some traction from that song, and that’s when the jump started happening, and I realized I should start incorporating more of my culture and my language,” she remembers. She and her mother co-wrote a Latin EP, which became the precursor to “Para El Mundo 2.”

“When I released the first ‘Para El Mundo’ EP in 2024, I realized this is what people want to hear more of, a mix of English and Spanish,” she says. Noticing that most Latin artists in Colorado stick to one language, she wanted to offer something different. She’s also teamed up with other like-minded Latin artists, like Monica The Great, who won a Best of Denver award for “Best Bilingual Bars.”

“I love Monica. We’ve been friends for two or three years now, and I love working with her,” Diaz says of her frequent collaborator.

“Para El Mundo 2,” which dropped at the end of June, also features Mexican American artists JD the M.C. and Brígida, plus a fire rap verse from DNA Picasso.

“Para El Mundo 2” is dedicated to Diaz’s mother, who sadly passed away from cancer last year. “I wanted to dedicate this album to my mom, because I told her even before she passed that I was working on an album,” Diaz explains. “She was really excited, but she also knew she wasn’t going to make it until then.”

After her mom passed, she considered abandoning music entirely, but wanted to finish this album as a tribute and as a way to push through her grief.

“Going through grief is so hard. There was a point where I didn’t want to make music anymore, but I knew that music is literally the only thing that keeps me going, and I felt like I needed to do this,” she reflects. “Because I feel like my mom would’ve loved this album. There are a few songs that I can see her dancing to, laughing to, and that’s what kept me going.” 

Diaz is currently preparing for a mini tour produced through her music and entertainment company, Luzid Music Group, which she operates with her business partner, Brettney Starks. She’ll be performing in Denver on Saturday, Aug. 29 at ReelWorks, and Wednesday, Sept. 9 at HQ. With her debut album under her belt, Diaz is ready to take off: “I hope this album will put me on the next level – bigger rooms, different stages – and I think it will.”

“Para El Mundo 2” is available now on all music platforms. Follow Telly on Instagram for details on her upcoming Denver performances.