Georgel – Rio

By starrymag | April 20, 2020

By: Kemberlie Spivey

 

 

Q) Who were some of your musical influences growing up?

 

A) It was a wide range. I grew up in Monterrey. There is a lot of people from Monterrey over there where you had gifts particularly. I don’t know if you are familiar with Monterrey, New Mexico in the north. I think it’s like the third biggest city in the world and there is a very multicultural cultural exchange because it’s the biggest college city in the country. There is a lot of interchange going on, a lot of people from different places all over the world and also, it’s so close to the border like only three hours away. We have a lot of American influence so in my house. There was a combination of mostly my dad side Brazilian, South America music and for my mom side she was very heavenly hit by the 70’s like Jackson 5, R&B kind of era. She was very into that and I grew up listening to a lot of soul from that time. It was a very wide combination. My dad was into The Beatles as well who wasn’t right. He was playing a lot of the Beatles at that time. My mom was playing a lot of Jackson 5, and Motown. I feel like remembering a lot of this or seeing a lot of this music in my house made me really curious about music and the theme of music in general. And from a really early age I started becoming addicted to researching music, the performers and the music industry of that era.

 

Q) What is your creative and songwriting process?

 

A) Well, there’s a couple different ways that I’ve done it. Lately, it’s been a lot of getting together with people that kind of have an understanding of this type of production that I’m looking to foresee. But, at the same time, they have a similar song-writing that I do. For example, my latest writing session was in Mexico City. I just came back from there and we went into a studio that’s up in the mountains and would lock ourselves out. Three guys would lock ourselves in the studio. We were just there to accomplish one song a day and come up with a pre-produce thing at the end of every night. We did it. It’s not the easiest way to exclude yourself from the world every day or week. But for me it was inconclusive and having a team that I can write with and hang out but feel comfortable being in the same place.

 

Q) Talk about the message behind your song “Que No Nos Importe.”

 

A) “Que No Nos Importe” means “we should not care” or “let’s not care” actually. It’s like it’s an invitation to just be like…I mean, because can we stop just giving an F about what you know limitations that the world has for us? Can we just take risks? Can we just go for it? Can we? So, it’s like it’s an invitation of freedom and being yourself and coming out of the dark. But always from the perspective of love. Like, I’m not a teenager. I don’t wanna put out darkness into the world and I feel like I went through my dark part of my life. And I think, God, I wasn’t trying to write songs about it because I feel like the world needs light. This world needs a message, needs light and a perspective. I was reading the other day. There is this writing that makes so much sense to me. It’s like what came first – the songs or the listeners. It’s just interesting to think what influences what and how are we going to have a world of light if we are going through darkness in a way

 

Q) You worked with Grammy award winning producer Juan Pablo Vega and co-produced by Miguel Rico for this song. Talk about your experience working with him.

 

A) It’s been amazing working with them. They are an amazing team. They are doing great things for music in my opinion. They are both artists on their realm as well. They have a very near point-of-view and they really know what they want to get out of music. So, it’s been really amazing. These guys are so busy they must have produced like thirty to forty songs already this year. They write most of them, so these guys are really busy. It’s not easy to coordinate their schedule to get together. They are from Columbia and I’m in California. We meet in Mexico City, so it’s like our pathway to come up together and do something. We really enjoy working together. So, they are people that I admire profoundly. I have so much respect for and that I feel the prosody of being able to work with someone that has a clear idea of what they want to do. Pablo produces and Miguel co-writing and also does some arrangement in production. I have a fantastic team.

 

Q) Who was the first person that you had listened to “Que No Nos Importe,” outside of those involved in making it?

 

A) It probably was my man. I went home and played it for him. He had the craziest reaction to it. He looked at me like, “Who is this?” Not like he didn’t know me, but in a good way. I never saw that look on his face. So, he hears a lot of music because he is in the music industry and does a lot of A&R. He likes it nice and not filtered. Not only does he care about me, but also, he is also the most brutally honest person that I know, so it’s kind of a nice thing.

 

Q) What do you think it is about the song that fans connect to?

 

A) I think the audience has been connecting to the music. I truly have no idea about the complicated kind of world just how streaming and music works nowadays. I would hope that people connect with somebody that is being themselves, being honest, being open about who he is in this world, who he loves that certain of have like a tiny little dose of activism in their music that is trying to make a difference in the world. I would hope that people use that in my music. I hope there is a message coming across that speaks freedom, liberty, different colors and different ways of seeing and doing things. If any of that passes into a person then I feel like I’m doing something good.

 

Q) What is the most challenging part about creating new music?

 

A) The most challenging part about creating new music, there’s just so much joy around it that I know for sure sometimes challenge comes with it. I think it might be that when you are in the process of doing it, I feel very free to be myself and go for whatever idea that I have. But then when you finish the song, this song, and the song starts getting presented to your team or your label. When you start deciding what to do with your music, I feel like the most challenging part is to come to terms with what is the thing that’s going to come out and where it is going to be released first. Leveraging everybody else’s opinion versus your desires to put out what feels the most honest thing at that moment. I feel like for me sometimes I struggle with that. I agree there’s some work to go what’s expected to be released, but it is really me right now. So, it’s always like trying to find that piece that you can hang onto in that moment. Just going for it. Just taking that shot and releasing it. Going through the whole motion.

 

Q) How much of a hand do you have in the production of creating music?

 

A) I am super nosy. I really go overboard when some other artists have parts like I try to control things a little much and I just go over and over again and again and again until I personally love it. I’m very persistent, so I get involved. I get involved with vocal arrangements. I have experienced arranging vocals for many different albums. Sometimes there are moments like song lyrically to me it has to match what has happened musically. And I’m very adamant about whatever producer that I’m working with is being sensitive to that, like this moment of the song can feel like I’m like dancing, happy, doing the happy dance because this is actually a very sensitive moment. And things like that I like the production to be very unified with the overall shape of the song and the overall concept. So, I participate in different ways. What I actually like about working with people that I’m working with lately, such as Pablo Vega or Sebastian Chris, is that they have such sensitivity about it. I don’t feel like such a control freak. And then I’m like micromanaging everything that’s going on with the songs. That’s a little of how I participate.

 

Q) What are some themes and messages prominent to your latest EP?

 

A) I mean, the things that I have released so far. I have three singles. I am expected to release my EP this year. That’s what I have been working really hard putting together. It’s been a process. It has been kind of a crazy process. The first song that I released I had to move into a very secluded nature environment. There were a lot of messages of nature metaphors in very poetic. And it was very also about freedom and always what’s that like. Be yourself. Do your kind of underlying concept in all ways of the lyrics or being daring or being risky. And then the latest two songs I started inviting the path with more acoustic and the latest two songs started introducing more of like electronic elements and these themes mixed with acoustic stuff. So, I feel like my music is sort of the journey of my project. It’s how my project started a year and a couple months ago. It started with me just picking up a guitar and singing by the river. And then this sort of thing has been evolving and still adding electronic elements to it. And putting a little bit of more of that R&B and a little more of that swag that I gravitate so much towards. I am excited for what is coming. Yet another development musically. So, I guess that’s kind of where we are.

 

Q) What do you hope fans will take away from your new EP Rio?

 

A) I am hoping that audiences will take away something really fresh, but at the same time with depth. I know “fresh” is such a 90’s word and a lot of people are starting to use it again. But it’s really there is just this freshness about all the sounds that we are mixing. The sounds we are producing now have like 70’s influences and 60’s influences musically. You’ll hear a little bit of Marvin Gaye instrumental. Also, I’m also doing a little bit of MC’ing, which I always wanted to embark on. I’m singing in English as well. I’m embarking into this whole new risk that I haven’t taken into my projects before. I’m enjoying it and I’m liking how it sounds. It’s hard for me to hear a lot of stuff I come up with – just being me, developing, taking new risks. Hopefully, the audience will also get a little bit of my message through this sort of Spanish/English section in songs. I’m excited to reach large audiences and then invite them into my cultural world.

 

Q) What are you listening to now? What’s currently on your music playlist?

 

A) Mac Miller. I can’t believe, but I hear so much stuff. I have listened to Mac Miller for a long time and all of a sudden, he took over my world. I’m listening to a lot of The Nationals and I am listening to Childish Gambino. I am a forever Miss Lauryn Hill and D’Angelo fan, like hardcore. I have been into H.E.R. and Jessie Reyes a lot lately. Marvin Gaye, Sam Cooke, Al Green and all the good old tracks. I’m also a hopeless romantic and I love all the old baby makers.

 

Q) In what ways do you feel that your personal struggles have shaped your music?

 

A) Completely. I have yet to write more about coming out of particular things that have happened to me, but I have also figured out some stuff that talks about personal stuff that I have recovered from. I feel like the life that I live, there has been a lot of amazing things.

 

Q) What can fans expect from GEORGEL live performance?

 

A) We would have known if SXSW happened but it didn’t. The experience we are still building because we are still going through a couple other things will happen later on here. A lot of stuff changes and is postponed. But that’s more time to perfect them. We are a great experience that takes you into this soulful journey, two different languages, and I’m hopeful that the show we are putting together can teach a lot about the romance of Latin melodies and how they sway/move and how they expand into that juicy stuff. But, at the same time, we got some stuff that is R&B, soulful kind of elements that are more about everything experience sorta like street knowledge. I’m hoping to bring those two worlds together and also through music giving you a little bit more of a bigger spectrum. The shows that are just putting out are almost the same song throughout the whole show. I want to give you different colors. I want to give you different options. I want to give you all the things that will make you go from bouncing your hands to feeling like you want to claw the nest for sunlight. We just jammin’ jams right now even though I don’t know you. I’m trying to do that and I’m trying to achieve that. I enjoy doing it so much and all of this diversity. I hope it makes audiences feel like we all have a little bit of everything, we all have a little influence about every single culture. This day in age, we are trying to unite the world. I’m trying to show you what I learn from all cultures that are exposed to life. I hope that resonates to people when we perform.

 

Q) Where are some of your favorite places to perform and why?

 

A) There have been some really cool performances happening. We have done a couple of Pride events and that has been really cool because it’s nice to see a community getting together to support its own community. Pride events have been really fun of different sizes and festivals. We are doing a couple of more here. I think the one I enjoy the most right now as I’m experimenting and enjoying my sets and shows. I really enjoy smaller crowds like two hundred people. I love the feeling that almost everybody can hear each other. There’s just this vibe in the room that bounces back and forth. It’s easier to control. Right now, my show is very much like that so I enjoy the smaller crowds.

 

Q) What advice would you give to those trying to break into the music business?

 

A) Keep doing it. You will go through really hard times. You will be broke half of the time. You will know who to ask for another favor to go to that gig, pay for that equipment, to put together a studio session. You will run out of favors from people, but there will always be someone out there that is willing to believe in you. They will give you that opportunity if you will look for it. Just continue doing it and continue working hard on your craft. Make something you are happy about. Get together with your band and write if you don’t necessarily do all the writing. Get together with your friends, compliment, make sessions with one compliment. Don’t worry about that, worry about the music.

 

Q) How do you feel your sound has changed or evolved between your 2018 single and now?

 

A) I think that it has changed a lot. It’s crazy that it has changed a lot in a short amount of time. My first song was like a visional and song-wise experience. We grabbed a lot of attention; it was something really ground-breaking especially for the Latin community as well as the American community. Also, the world community seeing two loving guys declaring love for each other and images of my wedding…It was something that hasn’t been experienced really in the Latin community, so we had no idea none of that was going to happen. I just wrote a song here on the river about one of the happiest days of my life. The day of my wedding and all that stuff certain rolled became this great opportunity. I wanted to make sure I represented my first song with something I wrote completely on my own and described a beautiful love. The romance behind it. The music now is certainly starting to give you hints of who I grew up with musically or who I listen to now. I’m expressing musically who I am and what excites me the most. We are exploring so many new genres within some many ranges of R&B and Soul music.

 

Q) What are the three most important things to keep in mind as you write your songs?

 

A) The three things I want to keep in mind is something I just started to work with now as far as management just like whatever you do in your careers are the five bullet points that define who you are. Just have clear of your identity, at least what is the identity at that moment that you are familiar and it feels honest with you. If you write from there, you can fool yourself but you can’t fool yourself that way. Also, I feel like getting the song done that day is one of the most important things. That will be the second thing. Get it done. It might not turn out good or it might not be something that you really like, but I’m a big believer…Someone else told me this, for the good songs to come out all the bad stuff needs to come out first. It’s like a club with all these bad ideas, like let them all out and maybe you will see a day of bad ideas, but they need to come out so good stuff can come out. Get it done. Get the song done. Tomorrow will be another story. Number three, I will say maybe just be open. Be open to something that you have never done.

 

Q) What was the best career advice you have ever received?

 

A) I have been so lucky to be around crazy, talented, knowledgeable people in this business. Somehow, I have been really lucky. I really like what I heard recently from this guy named Sebastian Krys, a very prominent producer, a mentor to me and my label CEO. He said something like Before going to write a song, I like talking to him because he has a lot of perspective. Just go out there and make sure you are doing something that any person can connect with no matter if there is a bank investor or unemployed in some studio and completely broken and don’t know what to do. Try to write something that anybody can understand or relate to and at the same time do something that nobody else has done before. It sounds completely opposite, like it’s impossible, but even if you can’t get there, I love trying to pursue that. So, I really liked when he said that so I like taking that in a lot when I’m trying to go out there and make music.

 

Q) You are the ambassador for the ‘It Gets Better” campaign. Why was this such an important cause for you to become a part of?

 

A) I am that kid and I am in some ways inside of me. I was that kid that they are trying to help. I was that kid that thought about suicide so many times. I feel very misunderstood, felt like in certain worlds that felt underrepresented, that felt maybe nothing good was going to happen because just the way he was born or the way he loved. I just love what they are doing and supporting youth. I love that they have an open line for people to call if they are feeling like nothing is better for them in this life. It’s an amazing cause and amazing thing that is happening. I feel honored that they looked at me to work with them because it’s amazing work that they are doing every day. So, I’m happy.

 

Q) What would you like to say to everyone who is a fan and supporter of your music?

 

A) I care so much about you and I care so much about every single one of you. It fills my heart to know that you are out there listening to what I do. I know you have so many choices so thank you. Thank you for giving me those minutes a day to try to bring you light. I’m very grateful and I try to show it through doing more music and releasing more stuff. Sometimes I just need to get better at putting it out to the world, sharing it and taking cute pictures. I want to find more ways to be creative to share my love back.