Ignacia Fernández, the 27-year-old vocalist and founder of the Chilean progressive death metal band Decessus, has officially been crowned Miss World Chile 2025. The musician and model secured the title during the pageant’s finals on November 9, following a viral performance in the competition’s talent segment where she delivered a guttural death metal rendition of one of her band’s original tracks.
In a new interview with host Jose Mangin on SiriusXM‘s “Liquid Metal,” Fernández opened up about the pivotal moment she decided to bring extreme metal to the beauty pageant stage, a move that ultimately helped her beat out 19 other finalists.
According to Fernández, the decision to perform heavy music was born out of necessity and a desire for authenticity, despite her initial hesitation.
“When the option to enter the contest came, they were, like, ‘Okay, but we have the sport competition, we have the talent competition and everything, so you have to do them,'” Fernández told Mangin. “I was, like, ‘All right. But I was suspicious about making the music because I was a little bit afraid and everything. I was, like, ‘Okay, this is my only talent. I’m going to sing and I’m going to sing a song from my band to at least show what I do.'”
She notably avoided covering a more established act to ensure that if the risk backfired, it would be on her own terms.
“Because then if I did another song from, I don’t know, Arch Enemy, I didn’t want them to be mad at me because a beauty contest kind of thing… I was like, ‘Okay, if I’m going to f**k it [up], I’m going to f**k it [up] with my music at least.'”
During the talent segment, Fernández represented the Las Condes district wearing a formal ball gown while performing alongside her Decessus bandmate, guitarist Carlos Palma. The juxtaposition of the visual elegance with the sonic aggression of death metal challenged traditional pageant norms, a contrast Fernández fully embraces.
“I’ve been working as a model since I’m very young. The ‘Miss’ kind of side is completely different than the modeling job. It’s two separate worlds,” she explained. “But now I entered this, I saw this as an opportunity because Miss World has… I don’t care about winning a crown because of being the most pretty girl whatever. I don’t care about that.”
Instead, Fernández is focused on the pageant’s “Beauty With A Purpose” platform, which requires contestants to champion a social project. For the metal vocalist, this meant advocating for animal rights.
“Miss World, for me, is important because it gives you a platform to work on something you are passionate about, to have a voice… You have to do something real. You know, in my case, I’m very passionate about animals and animal rights. So I wanna work on that.”
By merging her advocacy with her musical identity, Fernández hopes to redefine what a “complete woman” looks like in the pageant world.
“They are trying to find this like complete woman. And I’m trying to show myself as I am,” she stated. “Of course, I know it’s not common to have a metal vocalist in a beauty contest. I am absolutely aware of that, but it is what I am, so I’m not afraid to show how I am, even though I know lots of people doesn’t like that I will go and sing metal vocals at Miss World.”
Fernández will now proceed to represent Chile at the international Miss World competition next year.
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