Cristina Luis Madrid
Video: Reda Slafti
Madrid
Updated Friday, March 22, 2024-13:28
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Enry-K
(Barcelona, 1997) says
that when he listens to opera he gets a stomachache. It could pass as an artist's delirium but it is the logical explanation for an association of ideas. He simply remembers the dizziness he felt when traveling in the car as a child while his mother played great concerts on the radio.
He also says that she has always supported him in his adventure in music - "not like my father," he points out - which began a decade ago. He did it by working as a producer for other artists - he has worked with Cecilio G or C. Tangana - in that incipient urban scene that is
mainstream today,
although his figure has taken a turn and he is already releasing his own songs on the microphone.
With 275,000 monthly listeners on Spotify, he has just released
DOT
, a long album. The title of the album is an acronym for
Don't overthink
, that is, "don't think too much." A mantra that tries to be applied daily and not always successfully. The work brings together all types of rhythms - from tropical sounds to trap and other urban genres - under the sole premise of having a good time.
idols
Recycled J.
"They gave me a lot of grief for being soft"
Editor: CRISTINA LUIS Madrid
Editorial: VIDEO: REDA SLAFTI
"They gave me a lot of grief for being soft"
Morad.
"People must be given the right to change and mature"
Editorial: CRISTINA LUIS L'Hospitalet
Editorial: VIDEO: REDA SLAFTI
"People must be given the right to change and mature"
You started very early in this music and you are one of the examples that you can progress by self-taught. Yes. I studied Sound Technician but halfway through the course we released a song and it started playing. From then on I stopped because I didn't learn either and it was a lot of YouTube and trial and error. Have you gone through seasons of being obsessed with something specific? Yes, I have had some of wanting to learn more. But the obsession is bigger, it encompasses more things. I have it and I will always have it because otherwise I would not be here. What things? Obsession with my life. For my project. My music is not just music, it is my project. They're not my albums, they're me. I am 100% involved and that means mentally, physically and emotionally. To be 100% involved in this I have to be obsessed because otherwise I would end up exhausted at the end of the day. Wow, motivated in everything. I don't like to call it motivation because sometimes it's sick. I prefer to call it obsession. Well, obsession also has a sick connotation. What does this mean for you in your day to day life? I guess it has its good and bad things. The good thing is that I am happy with what I do and I feel that it is what I should do. The bad thing... I don't know, my head is very intense sometimes. I would like to be able to take a break and have a vacation where I'm not thinking about music. But is very difficult.
What is the goal in this obsession? I have many, but I think the summary of all of them is to achieve something I have never had: peace of mind. Live peacefully until I die. Chaos so that calm comes later...Yes. Sometimes I feel like I'm in a sea enduring one wave after another. You feel like you're getting closer to where you want to go, but the waves are hitting you hard as hell and water gets in your ears, in your eyes, and you can barely see. So rowing to the shore. I hope I get to a motherfucking shore. Why did you start in music as a producer and not as a singer? If I tell you the truth, I have been very shy all my life and I have been very reluctant to sing. That's why I preferred to start producing. Until you get older and it starts to rub your balls a lot. There you are already yourself and you do what you really want to do. I wanted to sing. Talk about everything. I've been there for a long time but I haven't had the opportunity to speak and I had things to say. What did you feel you needed to say? I needed to express myself and let people know what I am like. I am a very cool person. It's ugly that I say it, but it's true and it bothered me that people couldn't know it. Singing is cool, but what's cool is what comes after. I mean, when I'm at a concert and I see a couple, a 40-year-old man and a woman, hugging, kissing and singing the song of a 23-year-old kid, I think it's amazing. Like: Damn, what strength and power music has! I understand that then one normalizes it and gets used to it. Yes, but I never get completely used to it. I don't have imposter syndrome, but
humble yourself
. Humble yourself. When I'm like this too Hollywood I try to say: hey, relax a little.
You have gone from producing to singing when producers are taken into account more than ever with cases like Bizarrap. Could be. I also tell you that I have never felt that they do not take me into account as a producer. I've moved around a lot, I've talked to people and one person has connected me to another. And, for the life of me, my name wasn't going to be left behind the title of a song, period. I mean, I have fought a lot to have my work recognized. How have all those years of producing helped you in your current career as a singer? Wow, it's awesome. Getting into the studio and knowing that I can do whatever the hell I want without any kind of limit is the best feeling there is. I can express myself to the maximum, 100%. It must be a bit shitty to be an artist or singer and not be able to produce, honestly. Because, damn, it's so cool to sing about something you made with your own hands. Do you ever think about how powerful it is to create music from nothing? Yeah, and when I think about it, my head explodes, so I try not to do it. a lot. It's heavy. You are creating sound waves that do not exist, which are pressure changes. It seems a bit dark magic. It's very crazy. What idea was this new album born with? What did you want to capture? I wanted not to overthink so I could be myself as much as possible. DOT and period. If you like it, fine; If you don't like it, great. All I want is to express myself without filters. I have not done any song for anyone, nor thinking about any audience, nor thinking about absolutely anything. I have done everything thinking about what I like. In the end I think that's what it comes down to. Is that because you've thought about liking it in the past? Will it work well? Yes, of course. I mean, everyone wants to be liked. Everyone wants to do something they like and I am a mad scientist. I study. I like to try to understand how to reach more people, what formula this or that one has... Then I think that I'm not making music for that reason. If I wanted to make pasta, I could have made it 50 different ways. That's not the
goal.
I can make
radio ready music
and it's going to sound good. The problem is that the day I have to sing that live is not my song, nor is it me. Are you going to be acting all the time for a year? There are many artists who spend all day acting and doing something they are not. That's torture. I prefer to reach a smaller audience and be myself. Where do your inspirations come from? Well, to tell you the truth, I don't watch many movies or many series. I miss that because I would have to get more information from there. What inspires me is the fucking Sun. To make music I need a good day, that there is good sun and few clouds. That inspires me. Maybe it's too basic or abstract, but I like it. It warms you up, gives you vitamins, makes you happy... Working during the day is the best. How do you see the urban scene in Spain? What do you think of the underground? Would you like to stay there? It has very cool things. They are the coolest people by far. But I think that the effort, art and work they do is not compensated as they deserve. There are many people involved in very top circuits, very serious in the industry, who I see as puppets. Then I see that, for example, Cecilio G doesn't have his chalet and it bothers me. Because of this boy and others everything exists now. And he doesn't throw the flowers he should have either. Do we have to wait until he is gone?
"I err on the side of not watching many series or movies. What really inspires me is the Sun"
I understand that the recognition of people who innovate is not compensated as it should be. Sure, but you also have to understand your role as an artist. You can be an artist who is going to make hits, radio songs, disco songs, which your 13-year-old cousin and your 50-year-old aunt will listen to. Or you can be an artist who pushes the game forward from behind, without being see you These are the ones who usually do not receive what they deserve later. But those people are necessary and you, when you have that role, in a certain way accept that this happens. Of course, you are not going to look for the commercial. Industry Standard, I would say. When you are not doing industry standard things, when you are trying strange things, when you are expressing yourself without thinking about any audience... That is when you are doing things so that everything moves forward. That's when things come out. And what would you be satisfied with in your project? How far are you trying to go so that you can say 'I'm fine'? Let's see, I'm very easy. I mean, I have a place to sleep, I have my food, my dogs and that's it. I'm fine with that.