At 14 years old, Paloma Ramos was given an ultimatum by her boyfriend: choose him or her music. At the time, Ramos was living in Queretaro, Mexico, and performing at clubs with a cover band called Double U-C. Garnering her fair share of attention from male fans, her young boyfriend started to get jealous and pleaded with her to exit the music business.

Ultimately she let him go for her first love: performing.

Now 22 years old, Ramos’ decision is starting to pay off big. Three years ago, the young singer and songwriter traveled to Orlando to compete in a talent contest put on by Lou Pearlman, the former manager of hugely popular pop acts the Backstreet Boys and ‘N Sync. There, she caught the attention of Kenny Alarcon, who signed on to be her manager. Alarcon works at Sound Management, a San Jose-based entertainment management company that represents popular music acts including Smash Mouth and Flipsyde.

Ramos, who graduated from Monterey High School, admits that Alarcon and Sound Management have helped her develop her sound. “Basically, when I came to them, I didn’t have a style,” she says.

Now, Ramos has a batch of songs that mix pop, Latin, reggae and hip-hop genres that Alarcon is going to shop around to a bunch of record companies including major labels. “She’s not an underground garage band,” Alarcon says.

It doesn’t take much to imagine the catchy numbers, which Ramos co-wrote with a handful of other songwriters, being blared in clubs or played on pop and rap radio stations. “The Crazy One Is Me” is a ridiculously catchy tune with a driving drumbeat, flutters of acoustic guitar and lyrics in Spanish and English, and “Can’t Stop Us Now,” which features a guest rap by Piper of Flipsyde, is pop filtered through Latin and reggae influences. Meanwhile, “Des Madre” is an upbeat song about partying in Cabo, and “Tengo Una Foto” is a ballad with a beat, featuring all Spanish lyrics.

At the end of last summer, Ramos recruited The Rubys, which currently consist of female backup vocalists Alex Hays and Maria Phillips. With the two in tow, Ramos has been performing in the atrium of Santa Cruz’s Catalyst and even secured a spot in the 800-person-capacity main room for a show this past Jan. 12. Without the benefit of a backing band, the trio sings over pre-recorded tracks during their performances at this point in their career.

Currently, Ramos says she is working hard to realize her dreams of being in the music business by practicing three days a week, writing songs twice a week, doing shows on weekends and recording every two weeks, all while holding down her job as an administrative assistant.

The young pop aspirant says she has always loved to perform and cites her lead role in a play at Monte Vista Elementary School as a kindergartner as evidence. Later, at Monterey High, she got in front of all her classmates to sing the national anthem at homecoming. She also sung in a short-lived local ska punk band called SAQ. “It’s just my personality,” she says of her motivation to perform. “I’m always like, ‘Look at me, look at me.’ ”

Though she has a model’s good looks, Ramos does want to be known for another reason. “We want to make it more about the music than the hotness and the dancing,” she says of her future goals.

Alarcon, for one, sees no reason why she couldn’t attain her goals of being a pop musician. “She is made for show biz,” he says. “When she is onstage, everyone knows she owns the stage.”

PALOMA AND THE RUBYS play 7pm Friday, Feb. 1, at Doc Rickett’s Lab, 180 E. Franklin St., Monterey. No cover. 649-4241.