Uruguayan social media star and singer/songwriter Fede Puñales rose to popularity for showcasing his transgender transition from female to male on YouTube. The internet sensation posted lifestyle vlogs alongside tags and challenges and saw his followers soar to more than 859,000 and his videos viewed over 15 million times. He has successfully released his own music independently, including the his debut hit ‘Pendiente a mi’ which quickly exceeded 2 million views on YouTube and entered the top 50 of the most listened to songs on Spotify in Uruguay.
Puñales began posting on YouTube under the name of Antonella Shows in 2014, but it was a year later that he began to garner attention as he started to post content under the name Anto Puñales. Although many of his videos were comedy-themed parodies and jokes, his sincere way of sharing his life experiences led Puñales to become not just popular, but an inspirational example for many of his followers.
The young star began his hormonal treatment in 2016 and changed his channel name once more to Fede Puñales, then went to spend some time in Argentina with a friend before returning to Uruguay. Puñales has continued to post content for his followers across social media, and also launched his music career. The social media influencer had taken singing lessons as a child and dreamt of a career in the music business, writing lyrics for songs that he is now releasing as an independent rap/cumbia/trap artist.