Raule is left-handed. Finding guitars tailored to his needs has not been easy throughout his career, but few things stop the optimistic Andalusian from partying. Proof of this is the return of the Jerez native with his third studio album Zurdo (Satélite K, 24), the most personal and mature project of Raúl Rubiales, also known as Raule, to date. He spent two years celebrating his music, received the Odeón Award in the category of new flamenco artist, among other things for his previous album Limbo, and while taking care of his son – to whom he dedicated a heartfelt ballad – he composed Zurdo, an album where flamenco and funk-pop shake hands.
In full tour (Zurdo Tour 2024) he lands in Barcelona to give a concert on Friday, May 17 at the Palau Sant Jordi Club. Speaking to La Vanguardia via video call, Raule told us the ins and outs of his new album in which he reflects on optimism, fatherhood, brotherhood and love in times of anger.
What does he present with Zurdo?
A brotherhood, which is what I have set up with my followers. A much more direct and close album. We create the album with a membership card, a number and we raffle at each concert we do. Meet
That approach also carries over to the lyrics, right?
The songs I write are for them. They are songs that tell what happens to me, to my family, to my friends. They are real stories, nothing is invented.
So his lyrics are honest…
I try to use the slang that I speak, that of my colleagues, trying to be as true to myself as possible. By the way, everyone knows what I’m talking about in minute one. I would like all the songs to be understood as a movie or a series, with a beginning and an end.
What is the difference between the Raúl that he wrote in his first album Sin Protocolo and that of Zurdo?
Before I was a little crazier. I didn’t read that much. I have felt the need to season myself with books, movies and be much more open to everything that happens around me. That helps you be more empathetic. I am also more direct, the Raúl of before told the story with a little more complicated prose. In this time we all want to get to the point. I’m much happier with what I do now than what I did before.
In your new album you talk about optimism and love, what love inspires those lyrics?
In the first album I released alone -Sin Protocolo- I didn’t want to talk about love, only about social songs, about the fights I had with the world, until I realized that no matter how many albums I made, I wasn’t going to change the world. . I think I help more people by writing about love and heartbreak. I would get thousands of messages from people telling me, “it looks like you wrote the song for me.” The love that inspires my latest songs is that of my mother and father, that of my friends and followers, and of course that of my wife and my son Avi.
Protagonist of one of his songs Avi…
Yes. Avi was the most complicated song to write. When you write for someone else you can make mistakes. But when you write to your son you want to say so many things and be so true to yourself that it’s hard to know if you’ve fallen short or missed the mark. Even so, the song came at the right time and I wasn’t able to record it until Avi had been in this world for five or six months. It was very difficult for me, every time I went to record it was a blanket of tears. And the people I recorded it with, who were also parents, had to leave the studio because of their excitement. That’s when you realize that the song, whether it’s about love, heartbreak, for your son, for your mother, is a good song.
What has being a father meant for your music?
I have matured a lot and have obtained much more commitment to my work, always open to continue learning. I have a song called Perpetuo Aprendiz in which I talk precisely about that.
And learning also involves being open to new things, like mixing rumba with rock in Sin Connection…
Yes, I always wanted to do it. I wanted, within my range and voice register, to try to accumulate all the musical registers that I liked. Like rock, like funk above all, rumba obviously, which is something ours, the mid-tempos, the mid-tango. And that need had to be reflected on the album. I also wanted to have that detail of mixing rock with a flamenco guitar as a tribute to those rock artists with whom I have grown up and at the same time to the land to which I belong.
Is this how you normally decide to innovate?
Nowadays I think it is difficult to be original, I think we are still digesting much of what happened in the last century. But when you get rid of that weight of wanting to be original and focus on being authentic, the miracle happens. If there are 90 people heading somewhere, why don’t you go where the other 10 are going? Maybe more people will see you.
Does that countercurrent spirit define Zurdo’s production?
Lately I spend more hours removing than putting tracks in my songs. I prefer more minimalist songs that work well and can then be performed live. Furthermore, inserting many instruments does not guarantee connection. Four chords are enough to achieve it.
In Avi there is a verse that says “I choose to live”, can you choose to live?
Yes. I choose to live because it changes your life completely. For them, for me and for everyone.
