Achieving success in the world of music is not an easy task, but doing it from Lanzarote and in the middle of a pandemic is even less so. Under an apparent teenage shyness, José Luis embarked a little more than four years ago on a personal and non-transferable path, developing his internal creativity in the form of songs.
Luenco's adventure began as a freestyler in the rap battles organized by the Cabildo. Now, at 20 years old, he has a contract with a national record company.
"Some friends convinced me to sign up for the rap battles in the Arrecife skatepark," says the singer, who even admits that at first "he didn't like writing songs", and only flirted with improvisation. "Who would say nowadays, that it's completely the other way around."
A friend lent him a microphone and he started recording his first song. "Today I read and listen to what I did and it's really not good, but that's where I started, and once you start writing you can't stop," says the young artist.
The love for music, as usual, comes to him inherited from his father, a staunch lover of the rap genre. "When I was little he always played songs by the groups 'SFDK' or 'Violadores del Verso'. Initiated in rap, Luenco has been maturing musically with other styles such as trap or reggaeton.
A song made in quarantine and with almost no resources, the springboard to success on the internet
Luenco was gradually making his own songs, trying to get them out to publish them on his YouTube channel. What the young singer never thought was that a song recorded in full confinement, without a video clip and with the microphone of his mobile phone, would launch him to success on the internet.
"I didn't even have the whole song written, and I uploaded a "story" to Instagram with the chorus of 'De amor nadie se muere'. The surprise came shortly after, when they told me that there were about 400 videos on TikTok with that music," explains Luenco, who when he saw the impact reached hurried to finish it to upload it to the internet.
The result of that "improvised" song is almost 6 million views on Spotify and 1.4 million on YouTube. "It was crazy," says Luenco, who admits that he "didn't expect" it to have the success it had.
"I never thought I'd be like this when I made that song in quarantine"
"After that song I spent a few months without uploading anything, but it was because some record companies noticed me and I had to decide which one to commit to," clarifies the artist. Once his contract with the record company Music Hit Factory was signed, everything started to go "smoothly."
"Lanzarote has a quarry of rappers; what people don't value it"
It is not common to see how a conejero triumphs at the national level, and even less so in the world of urban music. However, Luenco assures that on the Island "there is a quarry" of young promises of the genre, although people "do not value it".
"The citizens of Lanzarote themselves do not value the people of the Island", explains Luenco, who hopes that as they become known the perception will change. To try to make local talent visible, he anticipates that they will soon release a song "with five artists from the island."
Luenco highlights the creativity and work involved in making a song. To this should be added the recording of the video clip and all the costs involved, without guaranteeing to achieve the desired notoriety and recognition.
"De amor nadie se muere' was a song recorded with the mobile and look what it caused. Now I'm doing more professional things, which take me more than a month to do, and I don't get that level of impact."
You have to have a little "luck" to be able to achieve success at the national level
The usual thing is that most of the artists who have talent and passion for what they do, due to circumstances of life, can never fully dedicate themselves to it. The young conejero will try to prevent that from happening in his case, although he recognizes that a little "luck" is necessary to be able to achieve success.
"Sometimes you need more luck than talent, because in music there are many people who try to make a niche for themselves," says Luenco, who recognizes that this factor was the one he had in his song "De amor nadie se muere."
Looking to the immediate future, Luenco explains that he will soon go to Barcelona to record some songs with other artists. "I have few collaborations with people, and I hope that there I can do them in the two weeks that I will be there."
The artist assures that the objective of the trip is "to have music for a while" and to deal with "different people". "I hope to release two songs per month, thanks to my own songs and collaborations, in order to have enough content for the rest of the year."
The lack of support, an impediment to growth
Logic says that for an artist to get a greater number of people to support him, it is necessary for people to see him. It may seem obvious, but it is not so much for the young talents of the Island, who see how companies and institutions "close doors" to be able to promote themselves.
"There are nightclubs that hire artists from outside, for a lot of money. And they don't give us the opportunity to perform to local artists. If you want to value what is here, you have to give us the opportunity, because the conejero artist will be happy to sing two songs before the big artist who comes from outside comes out."
The conejero artist also requests greater support from local institutions, so that the singers of the Island can make their musical content known. "If the singers from here don't do concerts in Lanzarote, I don't know where they will be able to do them".
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