And it is that for David Martínez Álvarez -the real name of this 36-year-old rapper-, it is necessary to “row in the direction” of “dignifying the profession” and make it clear that “entering television is not going through any hoops, it is a opportunity also for many people who come after “.
In fact, in an interview with Europa Press, he defends that “many who have not dared” this year will be “begging” to be at the next Benidorm Fest. He himself has noticed a “small boom” in his career right now and is grateful for the support of the Eurofan public: “They are very passionate, it seems that if they like you they put a plate for dinner on their own table and treat you like a family member. “.
Despite this, he is trying “not to pay much attention” to the “very beastly energy” of this Benidorm Fest, from which “a lot of dimension” is being generated. “Many people are afraid of putting live music on TV and fear is contagious,” he laments, but defends the “cultural, social and meeting point value that live music has.”
In the specific case of his music, he says that this year he performed for the first time at a New Year’s Eve gala. “I saw that it gave the hit, that these things did not happen of people who do not dare to sing live and when they dare something strange comes out. In my case no, it even sounded like a disco”, he says.
“IT SEEMS THAT THE LAST DINNER HAS COPIED TANGANA”
Facing Benidorm, Rayden is in charge of the interpretation of “Calle de la Llorería”, but set designer Javier Pageo has “the keys” for the staging. What will be seen on the Alicante stage has “nothing to do” with the video clip, which came out at the end of December.
“The staging was already closed with Javier before, so no, there will be no table,” he explains. And it is that he, his band and several guests share a table in the video clip, with an aesthetic that has been compared to the video clip of “You stopped me from wanting” by C. Tangana. “Its scope is curious, it is that you put a table and everything looks like Tangana. It seems that the Last Supper and everything copied Tangana,” he ironizes.
Without a table, inspired by Agatha Christie’s ‘Ten Blacks’ and the Cluedo, and with a color “that has never been used” as the key point. This is how Rayden describes his staging for Benidorm, in which he will also have his band to create a “very powerful” show and a “closed pack”.
Of references the own “Calle de la Llorería” is also truffled. In the houses that make up this theme, which he himself co-produced with François Legoffic, there are references to Raphael, Nino Bravo or Paloma San Basilio; Andalusian rock and root music such as chirigotas and saetas.
Thus was born this “13 Rue del Barnacle” which is the song, which Rayden himself describes as a “gallery of personalities”. He points out that he was looking to do something in the style of artists like Stromae, who come from “more orthodox rap” but who “do something more open” in their music.
One of the most characteristic moments of this song are the clapping of the chorus, and that they appeared “by luck.” “The guitar didn’t work well for us, and when ‘I already cried for him, I already cried for him’ we didn’t know how to clean it so that it would stand out, so we came up with clapping hands”.
Same situation in the video clip: “Looking at the whole band, I say: ‘Hey, what if we hit and clap? Why don’t we do it?’ And in the end it was the most iconic. “
“STRENGTHEN VULNERABILITY”
The “Calle de la Llorería”, for Rayden, is a “way to validate and strengthen vulnerability”. “Many people have been sucking guilt for decades, and it seems that we do not allow ourselves to be vulnerable, because that is about being weak, that you are a fool and that life is going to eat you up.” Given this, the objective of the song is “to show that it is the opposite” and focus it on a place, “I would cry”.
This theme was born from the artist’s own experience in therapy. “I could not even have taken it out at the beginning of last year,” he acknowledges. And it is that, a few months ago, when he felt “in the best moment” of his life, he decided to start going to therapy to have “tools to work” on himself.
“There everything that makes up your person begins to come out, with the mess that had to be worked on. Thanks to that I have been able to get a song in which I tell that I am vulnerable and that everything is going well,” he defends.
The song is dedicated both to his previous ‘me’ and to “those who tried to take advantage” of his vulnerability before. “To those who want to play with fire but hates to burn themselves, to smoke sellers who seek clarity”, are the first verses.
The lyrics are one of the strong points of the song, and this also has an explanation: “Last year I saw many colleagues saying ‘If Spain wants to win Eurovision, let him call me’ or things like that. I then thought I did not know if I would present myself But if I did, at least few people would beat me by letter, although sometimes I slow down, but by letter they would not beat me. “
A good part of the responsibility of going from “not knowing” to embarking on the Eurovision journey belongs to her friend Ruth Lorenzo, who was already at the festival in 2014, and to the swimmer David Meca, a confessed Eurofan.
The night that his collaboration “The same dagger” was coming out, the artists were having dinner and the athlete, who was living to meet Lorenzo, appeared. In the end, they ended up at Mecca’s house watching Eurovision performances and Rayden went home with the “bug” inside. “I liked the energy so much and all that world that I did not know that stung me,” he admits.
And from that dinner, to Turin. “Without disrespecting my teammates, there is a lot of level, I do see myself. The truth is that I see myself there and I am very excited.” In addition, it is clear that this time “if it has to be, it will be and if not, no.” “I do not think I will present myself again, at least in the foreground,” he says.
For Rayden, “seeing what has happened in this edition, that there is a lot of talent and many people with proposals that need focus”, we must “step aside”. He does not rule out the possibility of returning as a producer, in a collaboration or even as a jury, but he does not believe that he will return “bearing the full weight” of the candidacy. “You have to make way for many proposals.”
This is precisely one of the things that he remarks this year: “Whoever goes will seem great to me because I feel that I have little to lose and that I am already winning.” In fact, he highlights the “dimension” of many of the proposals, such as those of Tanxugueiras, whom he compares with Rosalía de Castro because “without raising a weapon they are doing more for the Galician than many people with wars”; Rigoberta Bandini’s “liberation speech” or proposals that she hears daily like Luna Ki’s.
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