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I cannot believe I got a chance to grow about Frank Ocean with
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Listen, we can talk for hours and just, yeah, we can analyze
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the lyrics everything you want.
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You were actually born in the Dominican Republic and then
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you grew up in Italy.
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I was born in Dominican Republic and when I was four years old
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I came to Italy and started a new life with my mom.
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That's the story of Nena, one of my songs and uh you know about
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my Gran's mother that they just, you know, some of them just
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leave their Children in their own countries and they go to
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another country to find a better job, better opportunities
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And um and my mom left me in Dominican Republic with my grandma
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and my aunties for one year.
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And then, you know, finally we get to get, get to get together
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and you know, start a new life.
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I can say now that I found um my own space, but it's been hard
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when I was a teenager because I think you don't really know
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yourself as a teenager.
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So you have to find out stuff about yourself.
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And it was hard because I was like, am I Italian because I lived
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But am I Dominican because, you know, I have that approach
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to life, you know, the Dominican approach to life.
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And, um, and I could feel there was, you know, uh elements of
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Italy or elements of Dominican Republic in everything I was
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So, you, you've always been really hard for me.
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And also I think Italian society was really hard to fit in.
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I was like, oh my God.
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I, I, that's why I think I forced myself to speak Italian.
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Very good and to study and to be good at school and to be one of
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them, you know, because I was, I really wanted to be one of them
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I wanted to be accepted, like as a teenager, I wanted to be,
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I wanted to feel accepted.
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But I think growing up, you start to accept a lot of things about
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And also I, I remember I really wanted to investigate because
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I was going to Dominican Republic.
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But I was just staying at my grandma's house and, you know,
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eating uh everything she was preparing and just staying there
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in the road on the road on her street.
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I mean, but I remember like uh five years ago now I went on a trip
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to Dominican Republic by myself because I wanted to discover
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I wanted to discover my people.
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I wanted to know more about the place I was born and, you know
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in this way, know more about myself.
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So now I find I found my place, how was the experience like going
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back home but not, you know, just to visit or like anything
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like to work on music?
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How was that experience?
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Like it was super exciting because I honestly uh didn't expect
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um you know, the support and the love from Dominican Republic
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from Dominicans because you always think, OK, um I'm not really
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So maybe they're gonna be like, oh who, who she think he is,
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you know, she is or I don't know, you never know how to, how they're
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So, but it was amazing.
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I really wanted to do this documentary because documentary
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because I wanted people to know a little more about myself
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about me and uh I wanted people to get, um you know, to get in
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touch with my music through reality.
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Like I wanted them to see where I was coming from, you know,
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to just, just to put together the, the pieces and, and realize
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you know, and, and I think connect more to my music with my
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So sorry for my English, I'm speaking Italian every day now
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And it's hard to switch between languages so quickly and I
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think I'm getting better at it, but still, sometimes I miss
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some words the documentary was amazing.
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And also, you know, get it arriving there.
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I remember I was doing promo, people were, were just inviting
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me, you know, to radio stations and TV.
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And I was like, oh my God, this is amazing.
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It means they know about my music and also some people recite
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I was like, do we know each other?
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Did I meet you before?
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And they were like, no, I listen to your music.
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I'm a fan and I'm like, wow, you never realize, you know, but
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then when you're in the, in the country, you get to, to touch
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And that's what I wanted to do.
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Honestly, I wanted to reconnect with my family in your own
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How would you describe your sound?
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I think what I really, what I really, really, really try to
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do is not having limits in the studio.
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So for example, I'm gonna experiment more with English and
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Spanish both because I think sometimes some songs just, they
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just, you know, come up in English and some of them just come
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I can't really control it and I don't want to, I don't want to
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be like, oh, this is gonna be, oh, this is gonna, I don't want
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And um and I think I would love uh for my music to be experimental
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as much as I can but still accessible to everyone because I
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listen to a lot of weird things, a lot of experimental things
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But I, I recognize that, that music, my mom would never listen
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to that music, you know, because it's like, she, she can't
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really listen to that.
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Sometimes she tell me what, what's, what's this noise you're
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And I'm like, yo mom, what would you consider that?
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Are your, like, musical influences, like, which are like
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some of like your favorite band?
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For example, I listen to Radio Hat to Aphex Twin.
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I listen to Fke Twix.
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Uh but I also listen, listen to Caesar to Kendrick Lamar um
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to Nati Peluso Rosalia.
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I listen to a lot of stuff, you know, and also I listen to a lot
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So Alti Redding, James Ella Fitzgerald.
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Juan er Juan, there's like, you know, you know, when you ask
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someone, oh, what kind of music do you like?
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And I'm like, and they're like everything so like your iphone
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can go on, on and it goes all over the place, weird places, super
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One thing that I have to say that I'm really, you know, um not
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really into metal and, you know, really hard rock.
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I, I really don't know much about it but I'm trying to, you know
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inform myself because I'm super curious and I wanna know
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So I'm always, and by the way, let's fan grow about him because
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I, he's in a top three and he's not two or three.
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So that's why, you know, so um with him, like, do you have like
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any, any favorite songs?
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Uh any favorite uh Frank Ocean Songss or do you have any other
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artist that you would consider like your dream colase?
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No, there's um uh pink and white is one of my favorite ones and
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it has been my alarm for a lot of, for a long time.
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And um God speed can, you can speak?
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That thing is like, and uh I just got to me right now.
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And, uh, but I must say that I've been um a fan of Frank Ocean
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since he, he still didn't release Channel Orange.
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So he had some stuff on youtube and there's all this music that
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I found out that they now put it on Spotify on his channel.
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But before there's like soccer for Love Wise Men, they were
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you know, all those, all that music that I was like, super
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Like, I know every sound of it and people were like, you know
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And I'm like, this is from coach, you know, and also think like
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I, I don't know, he never has like, you know, a lot of concerts
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You know, it's, it's really hard to see in life.
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So it's like that kind of diamond, you know, that you need to
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any other um artist that you would like to work with.
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I'm a big fan of James Blake.
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Um A lot, like a lot.
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Yes, I love and uh and Caesar as well I remember.
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But um on the Spanish side, I think Natiello is like one of my
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you know, one of my dream, you know, right now because I think
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I would, I would love to work with her honestly.
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And see, you know, the, the, the beauty about music is that
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when you meet someone, when you meet another artist and you
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get to the studio with them, you never know what's, what's
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gonna come on, you know, you never know.
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And that's, that's what I love most about music about doing
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this before I forget.
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Congratulations on your performance.
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I think I'm pretty sure II I think you like the, I'm like a star
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is born because I'm like, whoever didn't know about you before
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they're gonna know who the is now.
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So performance, it was amazing.
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What can you tell us about that, that experience?
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Because it was this your first you show that you performed
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It was my first red carpet.
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Also the anxiety about falling for me.
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It was like, yo, I'm gonna fall.
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I was telling Lauren and I was, I'm, I'm gonna fall and Emily
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Like I'm gonna fall guys girl.
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But um no, honestly, it was, it was a little bit weird because
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But they made it super safe and they made us feel comfortable
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you know, but the thing is that you don't really get to um leave
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it, leave the human side so much because of COVID.
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Um But yeah, the performance was good for me.
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I'm, I'm super critical about myself.
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Always, I always find, you know, the thing where that I could
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Uh But I'm really, I'm really happy about that performance
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Um because, you know, the there was no uh choreography.
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I wanted to be natural and raw because I wanted, it's my first
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It was my first one.
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So I wanted people to see to see me as I am first.
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And I think, I think we nailed it.
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What plans do you have for 2021?
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Those are our last question.
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Well, I'm working on an ep uh on new music because I think I would
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love to have this piece of, you know, body of work and uh I would
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love to spend it more and not releasing singles.
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It's harder if you're, if you're a new artist because people
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don't really know, like you said before.
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There's a lot of things that people don't really know that
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I can do in my music or that I can be, you know, where I can be as
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So, yeah, I'm working on new music.
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I've been working with Damien Marley as Well, yeah, it happened
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so like random and naturally that we were, we were jamming
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It was a beautiful experience and it's just one of those artists
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that you wanna work with.
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You know, it's pure, he's pure and what he's doing is really
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bad music and nothing else.
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So, as an artist that's an experience that you really want
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to have and uh I hope, I hope we're going back to have concerts
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and, you know, yeah, let's cross because I really miss that
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I really miss the energy from people and the, the feeling of
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you know, being on stage, Latino music by.
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