Tuyo reflects on the past and celebrates the present: ‘We need to prove nothing more’ [ENTREVISTA]

What a great phase you live tuyo: tour in Europe, recognition of the The New York Times as one of the best shows in the South by Southwest 2021indication to Latin Grammy, among other achievements. However, even with all this success, it’s always important to look back and acknowledge the past, and that’s exactly what the band did on the Spanish single”Soledad,” released this Tuesday, 31.

However, anyone who thinks that the song is new is wrong: it is one of the oldest tracks by the Curitiba group formed by Lilian “Lio” Soares, Layane “Lay” Soares and Jean Machado. The three created the song between 2008 and 2009, and used to play it in the early days of their career, when “it was just voice and guitar” at shows. However, with the passage of time, the work left the setlist of live performances.

Now, “Soledad” comes with a new face, in a way. Of course, the guitar is a strong presence, but it is accompanied by influences from afrobeat, lo-fi, afropop and reggaeton, musical genres extensively researched by the trio. In an exclusive interview with Rolling Stone Brazil, lio, lay and Jean talked about the new work and made a reflection on the past (central theme of the song), present and future of the band.

AND SAYOOOOOOOOOOOO! 🧡 LISTEN TO SOLEDAD https://t.co/X1sIMKjlYIpic.twitter.com/7YWEm3M5md

— TUYO – LISTEN TO SOLEDAD (@oituyo) May 31, 2022

How was the creation of ‘Soledad’?

Second Jean Machado“Soledad” represents the music of tuyo who had the longest creative process. Even with the fact that the song had a very well-resolved arrangement and lyrical part, the band still didn’t have the ideal resources to actually release it. “It always sounded like an indoor song, just indoors,” he said. lio.

“This song was also one of the ones that we had a lot of preciousness – with the aesthetics, of course, but also a lot with her narrative,” he added. Jean. The musician also explained how the decision to finally release it through ‘official channels’ came naturally, as if the three were ready for the long-awaited release by fans.

However, as I said liothey had a certain obstacle ahead: the biggest challenge was to get “Soledad” didn’t sound “like a version of itself, an offshoot of something,” but actually meant the origin. The group wanted to see the song “as the ultimate version, and everything we released sounded like versions of that ultimate version. I imagined what hell would be like. In my mind, it would take a long time to be able to think and investigate this arrangement.”

Luckily for the band, they just had to put the tuyo of the past, when I had zero resources, guitar in hand and desire in my chest, with the tuyo of the future, which has “open computer and connected equipment.” But why release the song now, after all these years?
In addition to the maturation and evolution of lio, lay and Jean as people and artists, they had other reasons that led to the birth (or was it rebirth?) of “Soledad.” They are one of the attractions of the Primavera Sound Barcelona 2022and releasing the track fits perfectly into that moment.

“I need to leave something in evidence: we live in 2022 a moment of investigation. It’s one of those doors that need to be opened without us knocking on them. These are not places that we are looking for,” he said. lio. “There were these places to go outside the country, to meet this new non-Brazilian audience, which feels things the same way. We thought, ‘You know what, why not explore this moment? We don’t know how long it lasts, how far it goes, where it comes from…’”

It is worth remembering that the fact of bringing together the desire of the audience and the public, which wanted contact with “Soledar” again, from tuyo was important in this process.

Why does Tuyo sing in Spanish?

“Soledad” is not the first (and probably will not be the last) composition in Spanish by tuyo. This desire comes from several inspirations, but the main ones are Latin American music and literature. While Jean has always been very attentive to black music and has always researched about the construction of electronic music, the sisters lay and lio have a deep connection to Latin books and texts.

“I come from literature, before tuyo I worked in the library for many years, and Latin American literature has always held me back,” said lio. “Fantastic realism has always been present in my life. I contaminated Layane with this pet. We studied Spanish at school.
It is worth noting how, before focusing exclusively on music, the sisters exchanged in a Spanish school. By playing, they gained lessons and could study the language.

“We even held workshops, like reading circles, with the people there talking about our choices in Spanish, because we enjoyed [determinada obra],” remembered lay. “We’ve always been passionate about this stop, but I don’t feel distant from the language, from the way of describing melancholy and the landscape. The way the landscape is seen and the richness of the vocabulary also gives me even more tools to describe my feelings in another perspective.”

Tuyo’s past, present and future

In all these years in music, each member tuyo underwent several changes and learnings. lay, lio and Jean recognize and celebrate the band’s past and present. A lot has changed between 2008 and 2022, but one of the main changes is courage and resourcefulness.

Second lio, the trio became more courageous and managed to accumulate more and more resources – not only material, but also intellectual. They also acquired self-awareness. They were given the opportunity to walk a little slower, as this is for few, because the music industry focuses a lot on numbers, charts and hit at the TikTokfor example.

“It’s also time. Time to work. We have time today completely occupied by these things that we couldn’t do before,” he continued. lay. “That changed, like back in the day when we had more than one job.” Jean agreed: “We’ve always wanted to work with music, dedicate full time. We’ve been chasing this for a long time, to have the desire to produce, to be able to deliver in the quality we wanted too.”

Of course, some factors remained the same, such as the number of people responsible for supporting them. Second lio, tuyo always had someone to talk to, listeners and fans have always been a fundamental presence for people from Curitiba.

The band has also achieved a lot in recent years. As lay explained, they can afford health insurance for the three of them. But they won’t stop there: they want to take the medical insurance to the rest of the team (light and sound professionals, etc.), because each one is important for the trio to take the stage and record more songs and records.

“The biggest achievement today is understanding how we stayed locked up at home for two years and, when we left, we were still people capable of communicating with the world. Realizing how what we say is still listenable and interesting. Feeling is not an exhaustible subject, but it could have been,” added lio.

For the future, tuyo also wants to sell out more and more shows and be recognized in awards with victories. In addition, the group began to have the first ideas and drafts for the third studio album, but still at an early stage. Now, they focus on more research and projects with other friends and artists, like FBC, VHOOR and play.

“’Soledad‘ also talks about it, it’s a theme that appeared inside our homes. We always had a lot of comfort and mastery in talking about failing, about things going wrong because it was a practice in our life. Now, with everything working, a lot has been thought within the tuyo, in the discomfort of success, as we find it difficult to admit that things have worked out. we are not anymore underdogs (‘underdogs,’ in free translation), we need to prove nothing more. Perhaps this is a discussion present in our work,” he said. lio.