Soraya Arnelas (1982, Valencia de Alcántara, Cáceres) is an all-terrain woman or, as she says, she adapts to everything.

She is in the 35th week of her second pregnancy and, despite her already bulging belly, she is following the frantic pace of a singer who is

in full promotion of her latest work

and that he has just finished a tour that has taken him all over Spain this summer. She sets herself the limits: "I no longer drive and on stage, instead of doing choreography, I just move," she assures as she walks briskly to El Retiro park, one of her favorite places in the capital, where the interview is conducted. She is in top shape, in fact, if everything goes well in the delivery, she intends to return to work in a month and a half, as she did with her first daughter: "After 16 years of dancing and singing, the body is wise and seems to respond ", says the former contestant of

Operación Triunfo

(2005) and representative of Spain at the Eurovision Song Contest in 2009.

He has just released

I am that woman

, a unique single that he has published only on his social networks and a video clip on YouTube. The launch corresponds to the commitment that the singer acquired years ago to try to reduce the use of plastic to the maximum, something that will be a trend in her career and to which she hopes the entire music industry will join. Are you an ecologist? "I am not an activist, but I am aware of the evolution of the planet and how we are doing. I think that everything that is happening is because the planet is talking to us and I am clear that something must be done. The last album I published [

Lights and shades

, 2020], it was not a CD, but a reusable USB, wrapped in a paper made of seeds that, in contact with water and earth, gave rise to a plant.

Symbolically, we favored reforestation, "he assures.

The new work defines it as a unique project that has to do with his vital moment, "a song to life without complexes to get rid of all labels."

What are those labels? I've had to deal with some that people who don't even know me have given me, simply because they've seen me on a television show. That if I am haughty, very cold ... and it is the opposite; I am a very close person, what happens is that I am very direct and sincere and, sometimes, that is misinterpreted. Also, despite the image of modern that I can have, I defend traditions a lot, I am of customs, of family ... In 'I am that woman' you say that you are not going to tolerate more humiliations either. Have you lived many? Yes, some have touched me. I remember when I left

Operación Triunfo

, they called me fat and stupid. Also personally I have had to live with couples who physically and mentally have humiliated me; specific things that have made me the woman I am today.

A very confident woman who shows off her body.

A few days ago, she posted on her networks a photo of her naked in front of the mirror

like Demi Moore

(the American actress also posed seven months pregnant for

Vanity Fair

magazine

in 1991).

"I am very proud of myself, of my curves and of being a mother. This photo represents how privileged I am to be a mother again, because I know many women who want to be a mother and cannot. The photo is a reflection of what who I am and what I feel right now. "

The singer Soraya in front of the Puerta de Alcalá Photo: Antonio Heredia.

Soraya says that to be able to sing a song like

I am that woman

, you have to have lived many things. "You do not defend this song at the beginning of your career, it is a subject already with a weight, with a reflection, with an energy and a maturity that does not come to you when you start. It falls into my hands now with 39 years, being a mother and having lived 16 years in the music industry.

Did you write it? No. Normally I do, but this one was made for me by producer William Luque, with whom I work from time to time. When I heard it, I thought it was a gift. I identified with her, but she actually represents the whole world. It is a song that speaks of self-love, of looking in the mirror, of accepting yourself as you are ..., so, deep down, it is for me, for you, for a man ... it has a message with which anyone can can identify.Have you had a difficult track record since you left

OT

? Not much. Nobody has come to complicate my years of profession. I have not had any hard experiences in my career. I have had more of them in my personal life. In fact, when all that

Me Too

movement came up

They called me to make a statement and I told them that I had never experienced that, because I have always made myself respected. If I had to punch the table, I have. If I had to say I don't want to, I have. The only time I had to go through the hoop was when I represented Spain in Eurovision, because I signed a contract and I had to do what they told me on stage, but it has not happened to me again and it will not happen to me again. involved in social networks, is it easy to be an artist nowadays? No and it is getting more and more complicated. Especially with the issue of social networks, because there is a debauchery when it comes to opinions and evaluations that is not controlled. Now you reach the whole world, an audience that you could not reach before that uses social networks and their evaluations are more ferocious.But you have to learn to live with it. Do you care what they will say? If after 16 years I did care, I would have a problem. What do you think of the uproar that has been created in the networks by the public support of Nacho Cano to the mayor from Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso? You have to be smart. I think that artists do not favor us talking about politics or positioning ourselves ideologically. I have changed my vote many times, but I have never publicly positioned myself, because I have seen how colleagues have been penalized for giving an opinion or saying who they vote for. We don't live in the same situation here as singers and actors in the United States, we haven't got there yet; In Spain, they scold and point to artists who declare their political preferences ... and I'm not going to be the fool to do it. Finally, it seems that cultural life is reactivated,theater and music in Spain ... Yes it is a relief, but not only for those who get on stage and sing, also for the light and sound technicians, for the choristers, the dancers ... But there is still a little left for return to full normality. I have not yet been able to give work to my dancers, because they cannot go on stage to dance. It is a pity. But I'm glad that the musicals are going to recover in Madrid. In fact, this week I'm going to seeBut I'm glad that the musicals are going to recover in Madrid. In fact, this week I'm going to seeBut I'm glad that the musicals are going to recover in Madrid. In fact, this week I'm going to see

The Lion King

with my daughter to support my companions on their return.

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