Diandra Interviews Rozalen: Taking “Este Tren” To A Better You

Rozalen is one of the sweetest people you will ever meet, and, for her, that has led to her heartbreak. She is a woman that says, “Yes!” to all that want from her, but her new music is about learning to say “Yes!” to herself even if that means saying no to others. When you are sensitive to love that is not easy, and, in our interview, we discuss how her music has helped her evolve into someone that puts herself first. 

Diandra: How is quarantine life? 

Rozalen: We are in a moment, in Spain, where the quarantine is coming down. So we are feeling lighter, but the first few months were really hard. We had not idea how long this would last and how bad this would get. So staying at home, for many, became a time of reflection and discovery. Reading books and starting to cook at home again and do things I had not done awhile. Creatively, I started playing the guitar again. I think, in the context of Covid, I was really lucky because I am living in a rural area, and I was able to focus more on my music in this isolation.
Rozalén – Este Tren

Diandra: Any books you have tried? 

Rozalen: So many! I even started Mujeres by Eduardo Galeano and the poems of Gloria Fuentes. 

Diandra: What is one love story that really inspired you? 

Rozalen: I talk about various love stories: not just love between couples. There is the love of family and friends and society and one’s love for one’s country. Yet, on my last album, I got the opportunity to sing about my parents’ love story. It is one of the most beautiful love stories I have ever heard. My father had been a priest for 10 years, and when he met my mother, he fell in love, and left his vocation for her.  It is called “Amor Prohibido.”
Rozalén – Aves Enjauladas (Lyric Video)

Diandra: So what about the next album? What can we expect? 

Rozalen: It is going to be very introspective. In my last album, I told so many stories about my family life, which is something I had the urge to do for awhile. You have to discover yourself and reflect about where you came from to see where are you going. So, in my last album, I learned so much about myself. I felt like I discovered who I was, and this album is about then what? Now that I know who I am, this album is about how I go forward. What do I with my identity? So there are many songs from the perspective of what it is to look at your surroundings via yourself. It contains songs heavily influenced by my time in therapy, and me learning how to say “No!,” what to be grateful for, and how to be an individual working in a collective.

Diandra: Wow! You seem to have learned a lot. Was there any specific lesson or growth that left you impacted in this “music therapy” of sorts? 

Rozalen: Oh yes! I learned that you have to take care of your heart: in every relationship. You always have to be mindful of what you are feeling as you try to make others feel. I have needed to learn how to dedicate myself to myself and my own well-being. This upcoming album is a fuller realization of those lessons that I have long been trying to learn. Something about writing them down makes them feel more powerful and conscious to you. So, in a way, this upcoming album is like a clearer theory and a more concise presentation of all that I have learned. Although, there are times when I write songs with messages that I tell myself, “I hope I listen to myself this time!” (she laughs)

Diandra: I totally feel you about putting others before yourself. 

Rozalen: (laughing) Ugh! I try so hard to say no. I even tell myself, beforehand, I am going to say NO! Then, I end up saying yes. 

Diandra: Oh no! I totally know the feeling, but you still don’t see personal progress, especially in your music?

Rozalen: I think when I do my music I connect so much with my spirit. It is so therapeutic, and it makes me feel quicker and lighter. It is as if I grow wings after a song. I feel like I leave my baggage behind, and I have found I laugh and cry as I make my songs. Then, when you perform those songs in front of others, you feel that transfer of energy, and you feel like, suddenly, you have even more tools of inspiration. Like, you have to write more and get clearer to feel that energy transfer even more. It is all so multiplied by sharing your soul with other souls.
Rozalén – La Que Baila para Ti (Versión Náutico, Lengua de Signos)

Diandra: What is a song that made you cry and laugh in your upcoming album? 

Rozalen: There is a Cumbia that will come out soon that is SUPER FUN! It is also about saying no, and how it is okay to be single. It is a song that makes you want to dance and kind of say, “Let us marry ourselves, ladies!” Then, I have one where I sing to the refugee crisis. I have been to so many refugee camps, in the past, few years, and it is a theme that makes me lose faith in humanity because I cannot believe that there are those that believe they are above another person because they were not born into that person’s situation or country. 

Diandra: How does music help you keep faith then? 

Rozalen: I have studied a lot of psychology. You can’t act like the world is perfect or that life is just wonderful because it has a lot of injustice and people, usually, don’t behave well. So the question music poses is “Do we dance or not dance? Do we watch the destruction or create its counter?” We have to call out injustice, and we have to keep dancing. I think music can bring so much empathy; a song is the opportunity for someone to put on someone else’s shoes, and really think about how they would be if they were in another’s life. 

Diandra: What inspired Este Tren?

Rozalen: These last few months have been a lot. Suddenly, I was suffering from things that I had only ready about like, stress and anxiety. So I kept on thinking of “What if I could let all of that go? Drop it off!” So I imagined, what if I could take all that I love and just take it on a train to somewhere else. It is a song about not regretting and living your life to the fullest so that you can evolve into a fuller person. 
Rozalén – Amor Prohibido (Versión Náutico, Lengua de Signos)

Diandra: Where would you take your train to anywhere or anytime?

Rozalen: I would go back to my childhood. Lately, I have been dreaming so much about my childhood. I would love to go back to my hometown when I was a kid, and relive my summers there when my worries were hanging out with my cats, reading books, visiting my grandparents, and working the soil. It was such a freeing time. I used to spend so much time with the elders, but now I go back and, obviously, things have changed. People know my name and they stop me for autographs. I am no longer the hometown girl. 

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