Up and coming Spanish artist Bad Gyal talks about how she separates who she is in real life, Alba from her on-stage persona Bad Gyal, making her first album 'La Joia,' getting to work with Tokischa on her hit song "Chulo" and getting Young Miko on the remix "Chulo Part 2", why she didn't want to twerk with Rauw Alejandro at his show in Puerto Rico and more!
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00:00 When I saw my grandmother at a concert of mine, I said, "I can be calm."
00:04 If she accepts it, if she's looking at me with those eyes of illusion
00:08 and understands me and knows it's me, everything is fine.
00:11 Hi, I'm Batyal and this is Billboard News.
00:13 Alba Farelo. Batyal, welcome to Billboard.
00:18 # You want to be in bed, you want to, I look at myself and I tell you.
00:22 # I have a high heel, you're jealous,
00:24 # even though you're the first.
00:26 # Cool, cool, cool, cool.
00:29 # You look like you're in bed, you're having a hard time. #
00:31 How do you divide yourself, Alba, and Batyal?
00:34 In terms of fashion, personality, everything,
00:39 or do you see them as the same?
00:41 In terms of fashion and my way of expressing myself,
00:44 I feel there's not much difference.
00:46 In the end, if I go to an informal dinner with my friends,
00:49 I end up dressing a bit like that too, maybe not so...
00:53 But it's like my style, I feel it goes beyond my profession
00:58 and my character, let's say.
01:00 But in terms of my life and personality,
01:02 people often get the wrong idea of how I should be,
01:05 personally, because of my music, my style,
01:08 my way of dancing, of expressing myself.
01:10 Actually, I consider myself a calm person,
01:14 obviously, I love the party, I love music,
01:16 I love to party, that's not a lie,
01:19 but I do have a different side, I like being calm,
01:22 I like being with my family, I like my routine,
01:24 because I feel it's good for me, it gives me mental health,
01:27 and it helps me to carry on the lifestyle
01:30 of a more hectic life, and in the spotlight, and all that.
01:33 Let's talk about "Yoya".
01:35 "Yoya" is the name of your new album,
01:37 your first album, which, to be honest,
01:40 surprised me when I found out it was the first album by Badgal.
01:46 I feel like you've been saying, "I'm ready, now I'm going to release an album."
01:53 I felt like it was the moment when I had more experience
01:57 in songwriting, in the studio, in choosing
02:01 both the producers and all the material that was made,
02:04 what's more worthwhile, what's less,
02:06 where do I want to direct, the sounds,
02:08 what kind of beat do I want to use today, why do I like this,
02:10 why do I like that, I feel like, as you get older,
02:13 you gain experience and you get to know yourself a little better.
02:16 I've always wanted to be able to put together where I come from
02:21 and the music that I've always liked and that has inspired me,
02:24 which is dancehall, reggaeton,
02:25 I've always loved Caribbean music,
02:28 and obviously, the music from the US,
02:30 hip-hop, R&B, has influenced me.
02:32 The first song we met with was Rihanna's cover
02:37 of "Bye Bye Bye".
02:38 Bye bye bye bye bye
02:40 Your name is Rihanna, bye bye bye bye
02:43 I watched the video again and she's so cute.
02:45 -I'm a different person. -Yes, and no, right?
02:47 -At the same time... -You're younger.
02:49 Yes, and well, a lot of things have changed.
02:53 At that moment, I was living a different life.
02:56 At that moment, I was trying to study fashion in the morning
03:00 and I had to bring my food prepared...
03:02 -Permit. -Yes, because I had to eat
03:05 next to the next job I had in the afternoon
03:08 and on the weekends, I started to give a little show in bars.
03:13 It was a very limbo moment.
03:15 I was leaving behind the decisions I had made
03:17 when I wasn't looking at the music
03:19 and I was getting into being an artist.
03:22 What was the moment for you when you decided to say,
03:26 "I'm going with the music"?
03:27 I think it was a moment when I wasn't so mature
03:31 to do that reading, but if I look at it in perspective,
03:34 I think it was a moment that outdid me
03:35 because I was doing three lives at the same time.
03:38 I was studying in the morning,
03:40 in the afternoon I had a job,
03:41 I remember that at that moment I was working at a call center
03:44 selling leasing plans to companies.
03:46 Oh my God, you were the one who called and said,
03:48 "Hello, I'm here, I'll talk to you later."
03:50 I was the one who was abandoned all the time.
03:53 And you hung up on the phone all the time.
03:56 Besides, I was the worst.
03:57 I was the worst.
03:58 In fact, I was fired from that job
04:02 because I was bad, I was bad.
04:04 And my mother told me, "Don't worry, Alba,
04:08 you don't have to work anymore,
04:09 you don't have to look for another job,
04:11 now you can only do your shows."
04:13 They were small shows, but I was already starting to get paid
04:16 to pay my rent of 600 dollars, 600 euros,
04:20 I mean, it was a humble thing, but I had plenty.
04:24 Your mom is very cool.
04:25 I have some super cool parents,
04:28 an incredible family,
04:30 we are quite brothers and...
04:32 -How many? -Five.
04:34 Five, including you.
04:35 Yes, I'm the oldest.
04:37 And they all go to the shows.
04:38 Well, when there are important shows, yes.
04:40 They come to support me, and not just my closest family,
04:43 my uncles, my cousins, we are a lot.
04:45 When I saw my grandmother, my father's mother,
04:48 at a concert of mine, I said, "I can be calm."
04:51 If she accepts it,
04:53 if she is looking at me with those eyes of illusion
04:55 and understands me and knows that it's me,
04:57 then everything is fine.
04:58 Because there is always that thing of,
05:00 "Wow, it's my grandmother, you know?"
05:02 I don't know if she will find it funny to hear things,
05:05 but she is proud and she has always told me,
05:07 "Honey, I love you so much."
05:10 "You will always be my little girl."
05:12 "I love what you are doing, I have seen you here, I have seen you there."
05:15 "But for her, I will always be her little girl."
05:17 What I want to see is your grandmother standing in front of the show.
05:21 Oh, that's...
05:22 That's worth gold.
05:23 The first time she didn't call you and didn't say,
05:26 "Honey, I love you, but you have to take your skirt down a little bit."
05:29 No, I was surprised by that.
05:32 She accepted me just like that, she loved it,
05:34 and I said, "Wow, that's great. I'm so lucky."
05:37 Well, let's talk about that a little bit,
05:38 because in "Joya" I feel that you have an album
05:43 that has a whole journey.
05:46 I think that when many people think of Bad Girl,
05:48 they think of these songs that are quite sexy and sexual
05:53 and very explicit,
05:55 but here you have a great gain.
05:57 # I'm a shit, I'm not worth anything,
06:00 # and everyone knows that. #
06:03 I had the opportunity to work with several producers
06:05 and each one gave me a vibe.
06:07 And I feel that it represents a little bit
06:10 all the moods in which I could be when I made that album.
06:14 There are moments when you feel, "I want to eat the world,
06:17 tonight I'll break everything."
06:19 And there are other moments that are more intimate songs,
06:22 that talk more about processes, emotions.
06:24 In the end, I think it's cool to have a scanner of myself.
06:27 # The chain shone in madness,
06:30 # it smelled like cows smoking a cigar. #
06:32 Let's talk first about "Chulo 2".
06:34 How did that song with Toquisha and Young Nico come about?
06:38 It was actually super organic, because I released the song alone,
06:43 and I started to see that Toquisha kept uploading stories,
06:46 and I had always loved Toquisha.
06:48 In fact, I had already tried to make a song with her
06:50 and I couldn't.
06:51 And in one of those, I saw that she uploaded a story,
06:54 and I said, "Let's do the remix."
06:56 And she said, "Perfect, Deura, it's done."
06:58 -And then... -Was it for DMs on Instagram?
07:00 -Yes, for DMs. -They didn't have WhatsApp yet?
07:03 -Not even WhatsApp, yes. -OK.
07:04 And after that, it was the Latin AMAs in Las Vegas,
07:08 and I met Nico there, I met her personally.
07:10 We also had mutual friends,
07:12 and they always told me, "Nico, I want to meet you,
07:14 Nico loves you."
07:16 And when I met her, she said,
07:17 "I have Chulo in my head all day, I can't stop,
07:20 I keep thinking about him."
07:22 And I said, "Let's do the remix, the three of us."
07:26 And that's how the Latin AMAs ended.
07:29 Nico joined us, it was all fast.
07:31 He came to Barcelona in the middle of his tour to make the video.
07:35 And I'm really grateful for that,
07:37 because I feel that sometimes things have to happen,
07:40 people do their part,
07:42 and with artists like that,
07:44 who are in a moment like mine,
07:47 or even better, so busy,
07:49 or who have a lot of commitments,
07:51 and I know that this life is hard,
07:53 because it requires a lot of energy and effort,
07:55 well, that they did all that to be in the song,
08:00 and that it happened in such an organic, easy way.
08:03 And the night we made the video,
08:04 it felt like they were my friends from my town, you know?
08:08 I spent the New Year's Eve in the Dominican Republic with Tokisha.
08:11 -No, really? -We're friends now.
08:12 -What did they do? -You don't want to know.
08:15 (Music)
08:19 I've always been clear that I'm going to do what I want to do.
08:22 And as I open up to new markets,
08:24 it's something that comes back to me,
08:26 that a certain audience that finds it harder to accept that,
08:29 that they don't like it so much.
08:31 But look, if something has made me reaffirm my personality
08:35 and keep being myself, always,
08:37 I've realized that in three, four years,
08:40 how much the industry has changed.
08:41 Women didn't want to say anything about all that before.
08:44 And now, absolutely everyone says, "We have to get her out there."
08:48 Because it's what people want to hear,
08:51 it's what people connect with right now.
08:53 Very objectively, you're a very beautiful woman.
08:56 Has being a woman been a positive part of your career?
09:00 And has there been a negative part of your career?
09:03 Women, we're beautiful.
09:06 I feel like we have many more advantages than disadvantages.
09:10 In the world, the physical appearance and beauty
09:13 are very important.
09:14 I'm lucky to be beautiful,
09:17 or to dress well, to get dressed well.
09:21 But, obviously, it also has its parts.
09:24 But I feel like, in general, I've earned my respect,
09:27 and I hardly find myself in situations
09:30 where I have to work with men who don't know the lines.
09:33 I feel like I've earned my position well,
09:34 and people respect me a lot.
09:36 (Music)
09:42 Let's talk about Raúl's show in Puerto Rico,
09:45 which was a huge success because he wanted to perrear,
09:48 and you said no thanks in the middle of the show.
09:51 Now, it was a show where he perreared with everyone.
09:53 Before, with Ivy Queen,
09:56 she was there, he sat on her, etc.
09:58 So, it wasn't like he said, "Ah, but yeah."
10:01 Exactly.
10:02 But you still said, "No, thank you, Raúl." Why?
10:07 Look, I don't know if the fact that I said no
10:09 made it all bigger,
10:11 because it's true what you say, that I wasn't there in particular.
10:14 Everyone was there perrear.
10:16 And, well, why?
10:18 To start, I think it's a bit of a cultural clash.
10:21 Normally, if I'm going to act with a man,
10:25 I do some rehearsal, you're going to come in here,
10:27 I'll go there, like that.
10:29 And if the man wants, "I want to hug you,"
10:31 then, when we say goodbye,
10:34 or, "I want to give you a ride," all those things are discussed.
10:37 But not there, it was like flowing.
10:40 So, I was quite surprised.
10:42 That, on the one hand.
10:43 On the other hand, I've never perrearred with a man on stage.
10:47 Hey, in a while, it might be...
10:48 -Don't tell me. -No, I don't think so.
10:51 A new frontier for "Bad Girl."
10:53 It'll happen, it'll happen someday.
10:55 It's fine, but we have to organize it a bit better, you know?
10:58 I don't like controversy,
11:00 but I don't know how I do it,
11:01 because people always have something to say or comment on.
11:05 And I feel that Raúl is also in a moment
11:07 where he has a similar situation,
11:10 so that any movement he makes,
11:11 especially, I'm talking about what's happening in my country,
11:14 because he's been a person in my country, super...
11:17 -Yes. -So, I feel that he was also
11:19 in a moment where he was talking about me,
11:21 any movement he makes, bam, bam, and my reaction
11:26 to that situation, which was at the moment,
11:28 was that, no.
11:29 He was approaching me and my reaction was...
11:31 It was my natural reaction, I mean,
11:35 but I talked to him and he said,
11:38 "It's all good, right? You didn't feel uncomfortable or anything?"
11:41 And I said, "No, it's fine, it's all good."
11:43 I just don't want to make things up,
11:46 because we're not friends,
11:48 and maybe I know that when this kind of thing happens,
11:52 it brings a lot of controversy, you know?
11:55 With all that controversy, and I wanted to save it,
11:57 because right now, I don't feel like it.
12:00 So, nothing, between him and me, it's cool.
12:02 # Don't get close, pussy.
12:04 # Get ready, pussy.
12:07 # In your life, you'll try it. #
12:09 To be honest, your music is provocative.
12:11 -Yes, yes. -The image is provocative.
12:14 It's going to cause a reaction.
12:16 Uh-huh.
12:17 So, I imagine that when you started making your music,
12:20 did you know that or did you not think it would be so much?
12:24 I would say it's much more normalized.
12:26 I listened to a lot of reggaeton and dancehall,
12:29 which is Jamaican music, which talks...
12:31 shit all the time, I mean, it's the most explicit all the time.
12:34 In Spain, the mentality of young people now is super open-minded.
12:37 Accepting that kind of lyrics, not judging it,
12:40 also as another kind of feminism.
12:43 If I want to wear something short, I wear something short.
12:45 If I want to dance like this, I dance like this because I like it,
12:48 not because I want to.
12:48 I want to get all the men in this room,
12:51 or I want their attention.
12:52 Now, let's talk about your collabs.
12:54 Why "Ñengo Flow"?
12:55 That was like a dream.
12:57 It's one of my favorite reggaeton players.
12:59 When I was starting, I listened to it to the fullest,
13:03 and I didn't think I could have a song with him.
13:05 I was here in Miami, at his house, recording.
13:08 They treated him super well.
13:10 As a person, I thought he was a super cool guy.
13:12 I feel that what he has done is also his identity.
13:17 I feel that our two identities fit well there.
13:20 -What do I see? -Yes.
13:21 -Real head? -Yes.
13:23 Also a very fresh artist,
13:25 very new when we recorded this song,
13:28 from my country, well, from the Canaries,
13:30 which is really another universe.
13:32 An artist that I found super interesting when it came out.
13:35 I love his voice.
13:36 I feel that he has a lot of seal, a lot of personality.
13:39 That voice is very unique.
13:40 And I really wanted to work with him.
13:42 All the people I have
13:43 were people I really wanted to collaborate with.
13:46 And in that part, I feel very happy.
13:47 It's like a message for myself,
13:50 "Wow, what a beautiful moment in your career,
13:52 that you can finally collaborate with the artists you listen to."
13:55 Mike Towers, Anita, Tokisha, Young Migos.
13:58 They are all people that I consume their music
14:01 and it has been very cool to meet them,
14:05 to record with them and to say,
14:07 "How nice that they like what I do too."
14:10 -Alba, thank you very much. -Thank you.
14:12 It's been a pleasure.
14:13 -I wish you good luck with "Joya". -Thank you.
14:17 [MUSIC PLAYING]