Sonia Barcelona (part II)

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The content of this program does not reflect the views or opinions of 91.5 Jas and more the University of Nevada Las Vegas or the Board of Regents of the Nevada System of Higher Education.

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You're listening to rebel radio with your host Malika Bella lyrics locals love on the rebel HD two

Unknown Speaker 0:39
Yeah, what's good everybody? Welcome back to rebel Radio. I'm your host Malika Bella here with our guest, Sonia Barcelona. Hello, hello. I'm interested in hearing more about like how you created Indian girl and how all of your experiences with your identity. Go into that song.

Unknown Speaker 0:57
Oh my god. Thank you. Thank you for listening to Indian girl. Yeah, um, that was another track. I remember being on the couch, like next to my next to my couch on the floor. And I was actually really sad because I was reflecting on the journey of my mom. So originally, the song was going to be Filipino girl, but it didn't like the amount of syllables. I was like, Yeah, whatever. It's like, I think it should be Indian and I am half Indian. It could also apply to Native American that experience. But since I am the child of basically a person who just moved from another country. It's weird because I wanted to say first generation, but I looked up on Google, and they're like, technically, I'm a second generation. I don't know who's defining generations anymore. Because Google is changing things all the time. And I'm like, yo, all of us thought we were first gen, but now we're being told we're sick. Anyway. So um,

Unknown Speaker 1:56
yeah, identity crisis. Like I thought I knew some Yeah.

Unknown Speaker 1:58
And I'm like, Who changed that recently? Because everybody has the same but who changed it anyway. So yeah, going back to that song, I was very emotional thinking about my mom's experience of just moving. Like just her whole life, just destroying whatever she had going on, just so she could like, raise me in the United States. And that really hit me in a way that I was like, would I ever do that? I don't think I'm that brave to ever. I mean, I can't say because I don't have a child. But she had the choice to be like, I can raise this child on a tiny island where there's not like the best education and there's like, literally too small, you know, to even meet a lot of people. Or I can move myself to somewhere that will be better for her. And she did that choice. She made that choice. So I I still reflect on it gets me really emotional. And that's how I wrote the song thinking about my mom's journey. The struggle, she had to go through the struggles she still goes through. As a Filipino American living in the United States for so long working in this country, still feeling some type of discrimination. She's a taxi driver, and I'm like, Oh my God. She's gone through lots of jobs. But she herself is very headstrong. She doesn't like having bosses. She's like, I want to be doing everything on my own. You know, I don't like

Unknown Speaker 3:26
having a birthday or whatever. So

Unknown Speaker 3:28
maybe I got some of that where like, I It's hard for me to work in an environment where somebody's just like, giving me orders. You know, as a corporate world X out I really like more like, Hey, we're all working together to try and make this thing work or, yeah. So Indian girl, going back to that was written thinking about my mother's journey, and then thinking about myself, and saying, like, I need to express myself in those Indian. And in Filipino culture. There's a tendency to not express ourselves truly how we feel to say, if like, you know, you don't disrupt order, you don't become an artist because that doesn't make a lot of money. You go to nursing school, you become a doctor, you know, you don't rock the boat. Those Those are the two things inside of me culture is like repress repress your anger repress how you feel repress it all. And I think maybe I came into the world to say like, No, I don't want to do that. I cannot physically my body if I repress something, it actually causes me like physical damage. Like I like a cry, or I can't like process things like I can't like function, right? So if I don't express it in my artwork, then I have it's like a robot being like, malfunction system shut down like We don't work properly. Like that's, that's kind of where I'm at. I'm programmed to express. And I think that's wonderful. I really do want to be kind of like the, the anti version of like repression of Indians and repression of like a Filipino of a woman to like, I have to do what I'm doing. Because typically those cultures are like, you know, it's like, not to not normal. So, yeah, that's kind of how I think of Indian girl. That's why it was written, it's more morose and lyrics. And dang girl, live in a crazy, crazy world. And then I say, the clothes that you wear to bred for this country, the skin that you bear to dog for the TV, the food that you eat too good for the city. So I had this job once where I brought in some curry that I made. And I was just learning how to make like Indian curries. And it like when I opened up my Tupperware, it smelled the whole like place. But actually, my job at the time was really like not about it, they actually got mad, I'm like, okay, I can shut it and put it somewhere else where we go outside, like, but they were actually really mad that I had, like, brought food that had that smell. And I was like, Whoa, that's crazy. Like you could, you don't have to react that intensely about it. But anyway, so that was a line inspired by that moment in my life. Just being darker, and skin color. So in the Philippines, like what is on TV and Filipino Filipino television is light skinned Filipinos, and there's whitening creams as well still on the shelves at like seafood city. So I'm very mindful of those things. And I, I myself am a darker Filipino. I'm a darker Asian woman. So I'm like, How do I get treated? I don't want darker skinned women to to not make lead roles. So it's really cool. Like when I saw bridgerton, and the second season had a lead, Indian chick being the lead romance. I was like, screaming dude, I was like, just, this is what I want to say. And so the other day I saw that actress have like one of those makeup tutorials because I was like, oh my god, like, that's what I need to know. I need to know how to do my own makeup. She's my skin color. She has my wavy hair, like what does she do? And like, I that's just recent, that just happened. For me. That's a big deal. And I think that's a big deal for any Indian American woman to see that and be like, Yo, there's somebody out there. Like, that, like, looks like me and is playing lead roles. That's so inspiring. Like, that's cool. That's what I want to see more of. And I think that that's what I'm a part of, as well. It's like, Yo, I need to keep doing what I'm doing because well first of all, like Indians and Filipinos do not mix culturally. So that is like a weird unicorn thing that I'm walking around as like, wow, this is not normal. But yeah, just being a part of that. And like, I can't give up when I see other people doing awesome things. I just gotta keep doing whatever I'm doing. So Indian girl is about that. Like we just need to highlight, be highlight ourselves, be confident in our skin. Know where we come from. Just really vouch for ourselves. So we can vouch for the whole collective of us, you know, so yeah, that's That's wonderful. long winded I'm

Unknown Speaker 8:34
sorry. No, I feel like I could talk to you all day about like colorism and really everything. And that's just considering like, the US just imagine globally, like, it's it's just wild smell. And I love that you're providing that representation, just like you said, for a lot of you know, younger ladies, and they don't necessarily need to be young. It could be like, honestly, how you're experiencing that with bridgerton in your life right now. It could be anytime in somebody's life. They're like finally, like, I've been waiting for this moment. Yeah, yeah, it's Kismet. Yes,

Unknown Speaker 9:09
I've lived and then, you know, in British culture, like Indians have been around for a very long time. So it's like, yeah, dude, it's about time you have somebody falling in love with an Indian woman because that's actually what was really happening. You know, I'm saying people be falling in love with these gorgeous Indian women and having little cute babies all the time. But you didn't see that in the movies. saying like, so. Yeah, it's a better reflection of history too. I think so. Yeah.

Unknown Speaker 9:38
Keeping a real again. When I saw you for the first time like performing I think Indian girl was one of the very first songs I heard and cinnamon skin. So those both of those impacted me so hard and you have this melodic trance kind of vibe. But I still live with that today that I'm like, Oh, the songs are so, so powerful, especially like witnessing you live that entire room. I'm just like, I find myself like swaying back and forth and being like, wow, and your skills on the guitar. I know you said that you're fairly new but somebody like me, I'm like, eating all of this up. So I don't know if you want to talk about sentiment.

Unknown Speaker 10:19
Oh my god. Yeah. Thank you. Yeah, I appreciate you expressing that. Well, that that brings me such like heartwarming. So thank you so much for expressing that reminds me again, I'm like, I gotta keep singing these songs. And they're my favorite. You're like mentioning some of my favorite lyrical songs. So I'm so glad that you have Yeah, yeah. But yeah, so cinnamon skin is about that concept to have like, I wanted to write a song that was celebrating darker skinned women. And I am because I am that you know, I was very influenced by the song Girl from Ipanema because when I first started playing the guitar is bossa nova chords. So from Brazil and I love the vibe. I love bossa nova in general, the, when I was trying to figure out what my style would be, I was like, I'm not a screamo person. I'm a very like, I have a soothing voice. I started out in yoga studios, because I was so afraid of performing in front of other people. I was like, I can perform in front of their butts, though. And saying, like, I can do that.

Unknown Speaker 11:29
Somewhere. Yeah. And then

Unknown Speaker 11:31
it's soothing. So it's like, that's my voice when I need to be reminded. I just go like, I actually just sing in my car and I'm like, oh my god, I'm like self soothing myself. So that that does that for other people. And I think that I went to bossa nova, the voices of bossa nova because they were so smooth. They weren't doing crazy runs. Were their vocals. They weren't doing crazy. Like, yeah, just, you know, I appreciate that world, that realm of singers who can do amazing things with their voice, but I'm not like one of them. And I've accepted that I'm a very smooth singer, I do some vibrato. And like, I like that vibe of just chilled super chill. So cinnamon skin was about that, like, let's write a song about a beautiful woman who has like brown skin. I want more of that. And I want it to be chill and sexy and in the vibe of bossa nova. So when I play it, I play it with the rhythms of bossa nova. And when it's with a band, it's very, like jazzy too. So yeah, cinnamon skin is celebrating. Women have darker skin tone. And I appreciate you recognizing that as well. Yeah,

Unknown Speaker 12:44
of course. I bring it up I know that the meaning and really the feel of it don't necessarily correlate with us but just the title right. So I'm in skin and thinking of back to heart station and the brother son like it is during the churros scene. So like the cinnamon and imagine, like tying it all together.

Unknown Speaker 13:07
Y'all I'm so glad you caught that because I was like, Dude, I thought that too was like y'all like Okay, first of all bitter melon and then cinnamon skin. It's like food related. churros are one of my favorite things. My name is Barcelona where there's like, I had my first churro that was legit Spaniard in Barcelona. So like to see that my song played during like an epic fight scene which arose. I don't know, it just all came together. Or like y'all say, like, the context of this is crazy right now. Like, Oh, I love everything, you know, the Asian cast, they were very mindful of like the singers and songwriters. And it's food related throughout the whole series, you'll see like food related things about Asians, you know, and the Turtles seeing like, the lead is trying to make turtles like he's trying to figure out why it's so good. And it's just, it's so simple. You know, it's like that it's like a simple recipe. That's so good. And that's what I've discovered about myself is that when I write songs, it's very simple. It's just really awesome lyrics that I would want to hear. So with cinnamon scan, it's like cinnamon skin on my mind. And then she's like, I changed the lyrics every time I'm very improvising with that song. So I'd be like, in the moonlight skin shining so bright, it's like one of those things where I can just like Vamp off and not be accurate to the recording so I have fun with that song so much. But yeah, thank you for just seeing that. I love that song. Yeah,

Unknown Speaker 14:44
what a beautiful tie in though,

Unknown Speaker 14:46
right? Oh my god.

Unknown Speaker 14:50
And then one real quick thing to do with heart station and then you talking about your sound and bossa nova and really finding out what works for you and what you want to really bring To the worlds some songs I don't remember off the top of my head but some songs when listening to them, like when they're recorded versus like in person. Like there's all these different variations right? I kind of hear you sound is like heart, like the the artist, or like this classic rock vibe. And I imagined that I imagined that with like, even your guitar too. So that could be a cool I don't know, random thing, but I do see the bossa nova a lot. Yeah, I love it.

Unknown Speaker 15:28
Yes, no, I love rock and roll. I love that. You mentioned heart. I was just talking about heart the other day. Just like some of their songs are incredible songwriters, singers melting out ballads just like, whoa, incredible. Just all all around, like that type of performance. Like, you don't see that around. That's like that vibe there. They were just such incredible skilled musicians with vocals and guitar playing. It's I still bow down. I like I bow down at your feet. I might feel like if I ever met that, like, Oh, God. So thank you. That's a huge compliment to me. But yeah, I think now, I've the way that I've approached music and I see my own pattern. I'm like, I love creating characters. I love that the consistent theme throughout every song is my voice is the positivity in the lyrics. Or at least I don't think I've I don't like cursing in my songs. I don't like saying things so bluntly. I guess that's like the, like, I like things that rhyme. If I'm in love, it's kind of the way I would speak to a lover I would I wouldn't be like you're hot. You know, I'm saying so like, so I'd be like, You're very handsome or like these words that I feel like are true to the dictionary. You don't use these words

Unknown Speaker 16:51
of like directness or stuff like that, like so blunt. And your lyrics kind of show this flowy like journey. Right? I think that that's another thing that brings you back to the name Barcelona because it's a Romance language like Spanish really is, you know, all these beautiful adjectives and different ways of communicating. So I think it's another thematic thing.

Unknown Speaker 17:14
Yes. Hello. Thank you for seeing that. Yes, I I love the Romance languages. You know, I have one song that I still want to finish full to Portuguese song called Fico. I have seen several said like, See, I don't know if I'm pronouncing it right. But I got the chance to play a dream show in Portugal in Lisbon. Like just to a crowd of all Portuguese people, 100 people they didn't it was supposed to be a house show. And then it ended up being in this like corporate building or whatever, that they turned into, like an intimate thing. They said it was gonna be entailed, but there was 100 people's like, what the break, but it still felt that way. It still felt that way because everybody was local there. And then I told him up front. I said, Yo, I don't know how to sing half of the song. Is it okay, if I still sing it? And they're like, yeah, like, so? Yeah, it's, it's, it's I love the sound of Portuguese, the sound of Spanish from Mexico or even from Spain. Even like, the way the words aren't inflicted in, in French songs, you know, so all the Romance languages I love. And in English, English can be so harsh. And I think that's why I strive to speak also in a way that, like, I don't want to be using these new Gen Z like, I'm sorry, like, I can't call a hot dog, Lizzie, I'm sorry. Sorry. So I want I'm aware of how things sound and how they feel. And I love love letters. It's like a song is like a love letter. Like, the music of Motown soul. Like when they express their love for another. It's just like that, like, the sacred souls has a song title and it's called, can I call you rose? Like, you just want me to melt right in front of you

Unknown Speaker 19:15
say my heart just melt. Yes. Right. So that's how

Unknown Speaker 19:19
I want my my words to be expressed to like, I really want there to be a, like a mindful expression of love, of love, you know, even like, who ever who uses the word heart station, you know, I'm saying, but it's kind of, like adorable to be like, This is my heart station. It's like a Care Bear feeling. saying like, so. I if I'm going to make new terms, that's how I'm going to do it. You don't say it was so lyrically, um, I focused on that so much. It's hard for me actually, I don't club because I just can't, you know, like, blah, blah, blah. Dude, like that is not attract me in any way at all. But I get it. That's cool. That's that vibe. That's really dope. But I want to, wouldn't it be cool to see something else like so it's it's cool to. I've been listening to, like European house music and I'm like, yo, I've really liked this chill, but still upbeat. Yeah, you can play it in a club. And then they're like re mixing songs from the 60s. And I'm like, This is amazing. Like, yes. So maybe it's a room mantich in me, maybe there's like a sense of nostalgia, as well. That's happening. When you have conversations with people, how does it flow? Everybody has a different way of communicating. And maybe it's me being a millennial who knows? Yeah. It's, I it's funny. I think that like expressing yourself in that way, the way that you want to like, it can be it's like, maybe brave. You know what I'm saying? It's maybe brave. Like, I want to say those words. I want to say Can I call you rose like, whoa. Anyway, so yeah, I'm

Unknown Speaker 21:19
still holding out for when I'll put it out there. If you're like, Girl, stop. I don't want this idea. But just Sonia around the world, right? And then that heart station, like you have different stations throughout. And it's like a little train or something. I'm just already envisioning, like, Barcelona is the first stop and it's like, dude.

Unknown Speaker 21:37
Oh my god. I love that. That would be kind of cute to name like a tour of that. Yeah. Someone did suggest actually a name. They're like, Where in the world is Sonia Barcelona? Or where in the world is SB? Like? Yeah. And I was like, Oh my god. I love that. Because I do love traveling. And I do love when I travel. I love sharing my music. So yeah, maybe that might be in the works in the in the future. Yeah, it was like next year, that's something that could happen right now. I'm like, releasing things. So I gotta like, stay put. But I will follow my intuition. Intuition. If it says like, you gotta go out again. But right now we're staying so who knows? Yeah, why in the world? Yeah. That's such a cute idea, though. I love that. I think with every song I tried to like I love making music videos with them and having a vision. So I'm like, always, like, it's cool to be hard station was placed and it's had sitars it was like, one of my first electronically produced type of things like it was I didn't use a real instrument because I'm, that's so what I'm used to is like writing songs on real instruments. And I remember four years ago, when I got an iPad, I was like, let's play around with this thing. And then I was just like, man, just like 20 minutes I was like, Oh my God, it was just so fun and easy. And now I think that I'm going back into that space of just like have fun with it whether it's with your guitar or with the computer and with samples and all this stuff and be true to who you are and heart station really is still true to who I am like those lyrics. Yeah, I love those lyrics. The sitar I've been recently like writing songs with the guitar more now because I'm like, Oh my God, that's a tar like what I can do with this guitar and like a rock vibe. I've been like really, like, enjoy something. So I'm actually kind of excited to release some music with the sitar. But like, hearing it in such a way that's not that I've never heard it before. I'm enjoying that. I'm like, Oh, cool. This is this instrument. This sound is part of my ancestry. And now it's gonna have like a modern twist. How cool so? Yeah. Anyway, I'm just saying that because of the future, there's some really cool things coming up that I'm stoked to share. So yeah. Yeah, well, I

Unknown Speaker 24:02
think that that's actually a perfect segue. So are there any things that you want to plug? I know, you already mentioned like, definitely go watch the brother son.

Unknown Speaker 24:10
Like the show is really good. Yes. But yeah, so I'll plug the brother son, it's on Netflix. You can find it. It's one series for now. Like one one season. And I think it's got eight episodes. eight or seven. Oh my god. I think it's eight. Yeah, eight. Oh, that makes sense. Because the number eight in the show up anyway. So um, yeah. And then my song is in the second episode around 30 minutes so you don't even have to like if you are just there for my music. You could literally just you don't have to miss a lot. You just second episode. 30 minutes boom. And then you'll like kind of get the vibe of what the show is and then you'll probably binge watch that. So that's the brother son. I just booked like a show. For myself, just this kind of like the first one where it's just only me. But that was my intention is like, so it's March 30. And I'm going to be announcing the location. So if anybody's interested in that they can message me. I'll be, I'm really true to my newsletter, people. So I noticed that first, but that one's going to showcase the photography I've been doing in the past year, the drawings I've been doing. I'm also going to share music videos that I've made throughout the years. So kind of like, timeline. It's like the timeline of Sonia, Barcelona, and how it's led up to Netflix. It's crazy. So it's going to be me sharing that and doing intimate live performances. I'm not sure I'm going to have a band because the venue itself is smaller. So yeah, it's like an intimate vibe. And if people are interested in knowing me more as an artist, and seeing what I've created in the past 10 years, basically, I think that would be something cool for anybody to experience. Like, it's just like, hey, like, this is me. This is who I am. My artwork shows you who I am. So yeah, I'll be working on that. That's March 30. And then I do have a new song that I'm going to release probably in the next week or so. It's very short. It's like, a minute and a half. But these are songs I wrote around the same time as hard station, that basically heart station reminded me you need to like get that all out. So there's like a slew of them, like three or four that I'm like, Oh my God, I didn't get that out.

Unknown Speaker 26:37
I am ready. Yeah, so Oh,

Unknown Speaker 26:38
and I'm just I'm stoked because I've never seen myself, I did a music video for it as well. So I've never seen myself in this way. Like it's a very Asian inspired music video, I was thinking about the movie in the mood for love, which is a one car why directed and cinematography film, like I don't know, it's just like, people who know that film will like, see the influence. So I'm stoked to share the music video. It was also produced, just like all electronically. And it's like, got the influence in me of hip hop because I am greatly influenced by some hip hop artists, just rappers and lyricist that just like I'm awed by that. I'm odd. So that that's kind of like a reference to like that in my life, that influence in my life. So that's a song coming up in the next week or two. I'm stoked. And then there will be some others for the summertime. And yeah, my creative juices have been flowing right after the Netflix premiere just reminded me like just just you got to just get it all out. So I was stoked. I'm stoked. Yeah, but next thing is March 30. So Oh, ended March 30. Yeah,

Unknown Speaker 28:00
yeah, so catch Sonia and art of Sonia on Instagram. Is that all your platforms? I don't know if yes, like anything. Yes, I

Unknown Speaker 28:06
made it really simple for anybody to find me you could just literally type up art of Sonia Sony with an eye or Sonia Barcelona and made it pretty easy to get on my website, Spotify, my Bandcamp if you buy my music, that's like the best place because I get the majority of the portions like Spotify is probably the least paying platform for musicians unless we get like placed in on playlists and stuff. So yeah, find me on all the things Apple Music. I'll be releasing more So Instagram is my most active thing though. And then I share from my Instagram to Facebook so you can you can still you know if you're on Facebook, you could be on Facebook, but it's like it's coming from my Instagram anyway. Yeah, art of Sonia and Sonia Barcelona.

Unknown Speaker 28:57
Thank you for listening to rebel radio with Malika Bella lyrics locals love on the rebel HD two

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