In this interview spotlight, I chat with Latin Pop singer/songwriter Joaquin Torres about his new single/video Desnudame, motivations, challenges and more.
Full Q&A along with links and music below.
Where are you from and what style of music do you create? (In your own words, not necessarily in marketing terms or by popular genre classifications.)
Hi, my name is Joaquin Torres. 🙂
I’m a singer/songwriter, I am from San Mateo, California. My style of music is POP. I love that I can use elements from different genres to create my songs. I incorporate anything from Electronic, Latin, rock, blues, reggae, anything that will make the song sound great, fun and exciting.
What led you down this path of music and what motivates you to keep going?
Response: What led me down the music path, was my need to express through music what I couldn’t express with words. I was always making songs up, even as a kid. The first Melody I came up with was when I was 5 years old. It was called Banana Shake. I still remember it, until this day.
What motivates me to keep going is that I love being in the recording studio creating something great with my producer and friend Aldo Muñoz and also the desire to sing in front of thousands of people around the world. Every time I feel like it is getting too difficult, I think of Places like Glastonbury, and I keep going.
How is this new release different than previous ones? Were you trying to accomplish anything specific?
There is a lot of difference between this release and the previous releases. Funny enough, I feel this release is much more experimental for me. We (Aldo Muñoz/Producer) started incorporating different elements from Electronic, Latin, Caribbean into the song. I am also more open to new ideas when I’m working in the studio. I used to think that it was more interesting marching to the beat of my own drum. Now, I give more opportunity to go through different avenues in the songs that I sometimes didn’t even know existed. I’ve found it’s more fun to create. Breaking all the rules, but following at the same time guidelines that make a song a great pop song. I want to bring joy to the public.
What I was trying to accomplish was to break all of the pre-established ideas I had of my music and reinvent myself, and create myself at the same time. It was painful many times, because it plays with your ego, but luckily being in the studio, the ego stayed out of the room. I could focus on the only thing that is important, which is the song, and not myself. I think I’ve accomplished that, and if not, I have a strong feeling I am on the right path.
Name one or two challenges you face as an indie musician in this oversaturated, digital music age? How has technology helped you (since we know it does help)?
I don’t find any challenges with being an indie musician, at least not yet. Even though, I am considered “indie”. I am not fully independent. I still have a team of people around me guiding me along the way and working very hard to push my music. My song “Desnudame” is already in the TOP 40. It wouldn’t have been able to get there without the help of my amazing team. The goal is to keep moving forward and get a major label to sign me, but it comes through time. I am enjoying the process of getting to where I want to get, which is conquer the whole world with my music.
Technology has helped me a lot , not just because of social media, but nowadays you can create amazing pieces of music through your computer. I admire artists such as Martin Garrix, who has proven that to be a fact. I love that technology can push things forward. Thanks to digital instruments, it enables you to create all the sounds you can. It also makes things much easier for a lot of the people from my team who are all over the world, like sending important files in a manner of seconds. My producer lives far away from me. He sends me music through the internet. Without technology, it would only be able to do manually, which would take significantly more time. I also love social media. I’ve been able to share my music to the whole world just by uploading music. It’s a fantastic tool.
Where is the best place to connect with you online and discover more music?
The best way to connect with me online is through my socials.
