When Daymé Arocena decided to switch gears and record her fourth studio album in Puerto Rico with a legendary Latin producer, she never imagined that she would end up moving there. “From the moment I stepped foot on the island, I realized that I never wanted to leave,” says the 31 year-old Cuban singer/songwriter with a hearty laugh. “At the time, I had spent three years away from Cuba, living in Canada with my husband. I called and asked him to come over to Puerto Rico, and to please bring all my stuff. It wasnʼt a conscious decision on my part. It was simply love at first sight.” Relying on instinct and intuition is how Arocena has managed her career since she burst on the international scene with Nueva Era, her prodigious debut album, in 2015...
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When DaymĂ© Arocena decided to switch gears and record her fourth studio album in Puerto Rico with a legendary Latin producer, she never imagined that she would end up moving there. “From the moment I stepped foot on the island, I realized that I never wanted to leave,” says the 31 year-old Cuban singer/songwriter with a hearty laugh. “At the time, I had spent three years away from Cuba, living in Canada with my husband. I called and asked him to come over to Puerto Rico, and to please bring all my stuff. It wasnĘĽt a conscious decision on my part. It was simply love at first sight.” Relying on instinct and intuition is how Arocena has managed her career since she burst on the international scene with Nueva Era, her prodigious debut album, in 2015. Now, she has fully reinvented her sound with Alkemi (Brownswood Recordings), a revolutionary – and transformative – fusion of neo soul singing, Afro-Caribbean beats and slick new millennium pop. From the cosmopolitan smoothness of lead single “Suave y Pegao” – an effortless fusion of jazz, bossa nova and urbano stylings with emerging star Rafa Pabön on guest vocals – to the smoldering neo-soul of “A Fuego Lento,” with Dominican singer Vicente GarcĂa, ArocenaĘĽs latest relies on sacred formats of the past but rearranges them in a conscious quest to redraw the very definition of what Latin pop is supposed to sound like. “It was definitely a team effort,” she reflects from her new home in San Juan. “Flexibility may well be my biggest virtue. IĘĽm always open to every possible suggestion when it comes to making things better. My piano player, Jorge Luis “Yoyi” Lagarza, and I worked on the demos with the rest of my band. Then with Eduardo CabraĘĽs direction, we enlisted musicians from all over the Caribbean – Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic. Everybody added their energy and coloring.” It was ArocenaĘĽs piano player who suggested she contact Eduardo Cabra – former member of supergroup Calle 13, now a star producer known for combining commercial aptitude with a refined sense of craftsmanship. Not only did Cabra accept the singerĘĽs offer, but he also invited her to stay at his home during the five months when they recorded Al-Kemi in his Puerto Rico studio. “I had no idea that he was familiar with my music,” she enthuses. “Eduardo has been in the industry for a long time, and he comes from a world that is more global and commercial than mine. He was the ideal candidate for this project, but I initially didnĘĽt know if he would understand the social, psychological and personal complexities of the message that I wanted to express.” “DaymĂ© is one of the most talented musicians that IĘĽve ever worked with,” says Cabra. “Working together was a joy, because she knew exactly the kind of fusion that she was going for: a cross between her Afro-Cuban roots – which clearly are strong on this album – with the more contemporary vein of analogue synths, samples and a bit of electronica. We wanted both worlds to communicate, to be both respectful and disrespectful to the ancestral colors. I feel comfortable with both, and even Calle 13 walked the two paths. This is also the album where DaymĂ© opened up to the Caribbean at large. Her understanding of harmony and her performance skills are out of this world.” No other song on the album embodies ArocenaĘĽs artistic liberation like “American Boy” – an exhilarating, futuristic slice of progressive pop. “I wrote it ten years ago, but thought it was too much of a pop song,” she reflects. “In an indirect way, the music industry had shown me that I wasnĘĽt welcome in that world. There isnĘĽt a Black woman like me who enjoys the kind of success usually reserved for RosalĂa or KAROL G. The image of music genres like salsa or bachata has been painfully distorted throughout the years. You are supposed to clone and fuse yourself in order to conceal your Black or indigenous side. They told me I didnĘĽt fit in that world, but IĘĽm going to prove them wrong.” This spirit of defiance was also expressed in the music video for “Por Ti,” which finds the singer dancing joyfully in a variety of settings. In 2021 she became the youngest Latin-American musician invited to complete the “Signature Artist” program of the prestigious Berklee College of Music so far. This exclusive artist program where Berklee students study the music of an artist that makes a big impact in their musical development has been completed for Latin legends like Juan Luis Guerra, Alejandro Sanz, Chucho Valdes, Paquito de Rivera and Gloria Estefan, just to mention a few.
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