You might know Amaya “Papaya” Espinal because of Love Island USA, but with the 26-year-old’s stint on the Peacock reality show and filming for Beyond the Villa done—and the relationship she found in there over, as well—there’s a lot to learn about who she truly is outside the show and where she wants to go next.
Espinal, who became a fan-favorite on the show for her personality and her confidence, not just the fact that she walked out a winner, talked to Remezcla* about what she’s doing now, being in a relationship, her Latina heritage, and even her upcoming music.
“I’ve just been really embracing this new chapter in my life,” Espinal shared. “I’m also in a new relationship myself right now. And we’ve been going extremely, extremely strong.” And it’s not just about the new chapter, it’s about what it brings with it. “I’m also going to be embracing my art. So, music is coming out. But yeah, it’s all about the new. It’s all about the fresh. It’s all about saying goodbye to the old and hello to the new.”
And she’s got some strong sense of where she’s going, musically. “I’m going to be mostly doing rap. Growing up, I had a really strong love for poetry. So, that’s the way I express myself. And if it resonates with people, it resonates with people. And hopefully they like it.”
That’s just how Amaya Papaya sees the world. And in many ways, her Latinidad, too. And something she really emphasized she enjoyed is “the constant love that we have, especially from not just our family, but our friends, our locals. In the Dominican Republic, my family is from a village. But just the warmness, you know, like everybody just leaves their doors open. And you go to the neighbor’s house just to get garlic. It’s the small things like that. I think there’s a lot of beauty to our culture.”
Being all of that and being embraced after her time on Love Island USA has been a great experience for Espinal. “It’s really such a warming and welcoming feeling, especially when I would just go to random Walmart or Target, and I would have like a bunch of high schoolers all come together, and they’re like: wait, what? Like, thank you so much.”
And for Valentine’s Day, you can find Amaya partnering with JCPenney for their upcoming JCPenney Ex-Change, a one-day event that gives people a chance to exchange old jewelry that might, perhaps, have bad memories attached, for a new piece. Fits right in with Espinal’s new outlook on life.
“I’m always about just embracing your strength and not holding on to the past. So, the whole exchange and the whole idea behind it resonated with me. I cannot wait for my papayas to embrace the new.”
And we can’t wait to see what Amaya Papaya Espinal has for us next. If Love Island USA is proof of anything, it’s that it will be interesting, no matter what.
This Remezcla interview with Amaya Espinal was conducted by Trending Editor Lyra Hale and written up by Lissete Lanuza Sáenz.
