More than a year and a half has passed since Chanel stormed the Eurovision Song Contest with Slomo, an impact performance that earned her third place in the contest and ended up becoming one of the songs of that summer. The sensual movements of the Catalan silenced the controversy that arose around her choice, pitted against Rigoberta Bandini and the Tanxugueiras, to open the doors to a musical career that is now taking the big leap with the presentation of Agua, the first and long-awaited album by a veteran artist despite her youth.
It is not easy to hear a bad word from the mouth of this 32-year-old multifaceted artist, born in Havana in 1991 and raised in Olesa de Montserrat, who knows what it is to break stones until these days she has become the most sought after by the press, radio and television. “Everything happened to me so suddenly that I had no plans,” she recalls, “but I was clear that I didn’t want to become an empty doll, I wanted to do things well, with time.” A maturation that has come to fruition thanks to the patience collected throughout her career.
“I carry many things behind me that make me aware of priorities.” That’s why he hasn’t had any problems sustaining the pressure from the fans, “the wait has been more for them than for me, because I haven’t stopped working in the studio, researching, creating and working hard.” A process to discover what kind of artist she was, an outstanding student in dance schools and an expert in the world of musicals, but inexperienced in recording studios.
“Agua” is a Cuban expression “similar to the Spanish ‘olé’” that links Chanel with her followers since she used it at the Benidorm festival, and at the same time embraces her Latin American roots. “Water adapts, it transforms,” says the artist, who highlights the importance of psychological help to cope with fame, both the good and bad moments. “Preparing psychologically is as important for the head as the gym is for the body,” a lesson that her parents instilled in her.
“When I was little they took me to therapy, they are very aware of the importance of this facet,” as is she, who continues the work to manage the consequences of being a public face, especially “when everything that happened to me happened to me.” “, he explains, discreetly avoiding bad words, to refer to the furious attacks he received and continues to receive. Not all of her professional colleagues tolerate Chanel’s humble origins well, “it is something that is linked to each person’s self-esteem, and I am working on mine.”
“The studio was a new place for me, the way of singing, the repetitions, interpreting with the voice and not with the face,” he recalls, and highlights that the most complicated thing was “learning and creating at the same time, facing something that “I didn’t know.” The result is 12 songs that transition from bachata to dance, the R
For now, her music is marked by the great divas of recent decades, Beyoncé, Jennifer López, Christina Aguilera, Madonna and Selena Quintanilla. Michael Jackson is the only male voice that sneaks into a very feminine list of influences to which Rosalía adds among recent artists, “he creates a concept that breaks heads, it is very authentic.” Now that she plays in the big leagues, Chanel has learned to trivialize things, downplay the importance of decisions.
“It has been said all my life that this industry is like a tyrant, but when you experience it as the main character it looks different,” he comments, good words for the record company and silence for those who have attacked it. “I am a super positive person, I learn from things and I think they will make me stronger and better.” Another lesson has been to “position myself as an orchestra director, I am quite bossy,” she says with a mischievous smile, and adds another important lesson: “mutual listening, which helps to learn from decisions even when they are wrong.”
