Latin music isn’t exactly new to us. We’ve been jamming to the likes of Ricky Martin, Enrique Iglesias, Shakira, and Jennifer Lopez over the past few years. Ever since “Despacito” blew up last year, the genre is experience a huge resurgence. New boyband CNCO is hoping to carry on the mantle.
Richard Camacho, Zabdiel de Jesus, Joel Pimentel, Erick Brian Colon, and Christopher Velez, who were touring Asia, dropped by Kuala Lumpur last week. Before their awesome performances took place in The Gardens Theatre, Sony Music Malaysia invited us to have a little chat with the handsome guys.
During our session, we got the boys to share about their exposure with Asian culture throughout the past few weeks, their time together with Little Mix, future music plans, and some important people in their lives. Of course, we also touch on the topic of love.
Read on:
Hype: What has been the highlight of your Asia Tour so far?
Joel: Seeing just how much people are supporting us right now. We didn’t expect so many people to turn up; the love we’ve been receiving so far, and the smiles on their faces just because we’re in their country.
Richard: The difference of the cultures as well. These cultures are very different for us as well, so it’s cool to be in a place where we don’t know anything about. Everything has been a culture shock – the way they live, the way they dress, everything that they eat, it’s so different from each other and our culture.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BdHMrPKHGFP/?taken-by=christopherbvelezm
Hype: Chris, you were probably the only one among the boys who was separated from your family and loved ones during “La Banda” (Mexican reality-singing competition produced by Simon Cowell). Could you share with us some memories during that chapter?
Christopher: It was hard because I started from scratch and I was away from everybody. Not having their constant support was hard but it helped me grow a lot. I became more mature and I was able to help my family. So I’m really fortunate and I wouldn’t change anything because I grew a lot. We all have our struggles. But I think I’m really positive.
Hype: Joel, we know that your late grandfather was and still is important in your life. Can you talk about how he inspired you throughout your life?
Joel: He has been an inspiration since I was 8 years old. My heart is still healing. Obviously I’m not completely healed cause he was like another father figure to me in my life. What I learn from him is always to be myself. If I want to do something, to always do it out of love. Something I remember that he would always tell me is to be self-conscious of what’s happening around – be aware of who you’re surrounded with.
Hype: Y’all collaborated with Little Mix on “Reggaetón Lento”. How did that came about?
Richard: We first recorded the songs by ourselves and we were going to release it in English. That was our plan. But Sony called us and said that Little Mix heard the song and they loved it. So they send their version that they recorded and we loved the remix.
We recorded the video in different places, like they were in London and we were in LA. In the video, you can’t even tell that we’re in different places. We got to perform together in the “X-Factor” (UK version). After that, they showed us around London. The song has opened a lot of doors for us.
Richard: We saw how great they sing, how great they dance… We also met their vocal coach. He was fire you know (laughs)! So now we know where they get their techniques from.
Hype: What sort of techniques?
Zabdiel: Exercises for warm up by using a bottle of water. You put a straw in it and you just blow it.
Richard: Yeah, but with a tone, say a scale from 1 – 10. It opens up the vocal cords.
Hype: Are there any plans to work on an English album? Maybe more collaborations in English?
Joel: It’s in the plans for sure but I don’t think anytime soon cause I think what’s working right now is Spanish-Latin music. So we’re gonna continue and focus on that. But we’re definitely open to do something in English. And hopefully we can go to countries that don’t speak much English and have like our Latin fans sing our songs in English. That would be cool.
Richard: We wanna release more features. We’ve trying to do more English stuffs as well.
Hype: Do you have any favourite lyric from your songs?
Zabdiel: It’ll probably be the ones we wrote because we feel more attached to it. Maybe like “Bonita” and “No Me Sueltes”.
Christopher: I really like the verse in “Primera Cita” from the first album. I really like words and the meaning of the song. (Side note: It’s about the experience of going out on a first date.)
What is love to you guys?
Joel: A whole bunch of things – God, our family, fans, the music.
Richard: We’re still young so we haven’t had enough experience (in relationships). Every day we learn more about what life is and the struggles, the good and the bad. So sometimes we get into character when we’re performing. That’s the cool part about music, you can be whoever you want.
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Hopefully CNCO will be back in KL in the near future 😉
Feel free to check out our review on their showcase performance here.
