Beret and Mr. Rain have appeared in the WECB studio to present their new collaboration, Superheros. It is a hymn that tells how couples are “superheroes” that they can save their lives with the help of each other.
The new single is the Spanish version of the Italian hit Supereroisong that came in third place at the Sanremo Festival. The song came third in the contest, so it was not chosen to represent Italy in 2023 in Eurovision (the one selected was Due Vite of Marco Mengoni). In addition, the singers tell us about their experiences with mental health, who they would collaborate with next and their opinion on the Benidorm Fest and the San Remo Song Festival.
Superhéroes is your new song, how has the reaction of the Spanish public been compared to the Italian one?
Mr Rain: Very good
Beret: Very good, yes, I think that in general, cool. My Spanish audience knew the original song and the truth is that they were super happy. And the small audience that I have in Italy, well they are incredible, they have been telling me for a long time that they want me to get together with them. Mr Rain. And the truth is how brutal.
Did you know each other before collaborating on this song?
Mr Rain: I already knew Beret from I’m sorry. And I have always thought that we had many things in common. We are very similar artists. He in Spain and I in Italy because of the topics we discussed in the songs.
Beret: Yes, yes, we knew each other musically and in person we had seen each other about two or three months ago and we have seen each other twice before we started.
It is a song with a strong message in which you talk about mental health. Why is it still necessary to talk about mental health in songs?
Beret: It is super necessary. I think that today, more than ever, it is a topic that I believe will help many people. I think that the person who listens to this song will be able to see themselves in our story. And I don’t know, I think that today it is very necessary because we live in a super fast world and sometimes we really feel very alone and we think that those things that are normal are not so normal. And we are here to make the song, to normalize it a little more.
We live in a super fast world and sometimes we really feel very alone and we think that those things that are normal are not so normal.
— Beret
How do you think society is progressing regarding this problem?
Beret: I think it’s progressing better than before. Yes, it is true that we have not yet managed to fully raise awareness among everyone. It seems to me that there is a large part of the population that does not believe in psychology or therapy, in mental health. It sounds like you’re talking about something they have to believe. In fact, I talk to people who literally respond by saying well, yes, I believe it. And it’s like, I don’t believe it, therapy is a science that really exists, it’s not something objective. I think there is still more to do, yes, but it is progressing well.
You recorded the video at the Torrejón de la Calzada Automation Museum and we see that videos are recorded there. We have seen that Chanel already recorded there and also Ozuna and Saiko. Has it been an inspiration for you?
Beret: Yes. Yes. It was a nice place. The video clip site, right?
Mr Rain: Yes. Yes Very nice
Beret: It was very pretty. Besides, I realized later, I arrived at the site thinking that we had discovered that site. And then I realized that it was the last one to arrive because I swear, I was making the video clip and I started watching a lot of similar video clips. But I think we both take that into account, that it is a broad place, that it is a place where we see a lot of introspection. I really think the song fits the place a lot, because the song really talks to yourself and it is such a big place where you can find yourself so alone. I think that also inspires that a little.
Mr Rain: Superheroes talks about depression, loneliness, the phases of depression and it is very beautiful for that reason.
Beret: Yes, I think it has that.
Superheroes talks about depression, loneliness, the phases of depression and it is very beautiful for that reason
— Mr Rain
Beret, your songs are an inspiration for thousands of people to overcome difficult times. What or who inspires you?
Beret: Good question. It really is very relative. I mean, I can listen to singer-songwriters from Drexler to Ricardo Arjona to Sabina. To the complete opposite, to trap, to rap, to SFDK, Violadores del Verso. I don’t have anyone who says that I listen to this and it inspires me, but I put on Spotify and I start listening little by little and I open the door to any artist. I’m not one to blind myself with one, the truth is. I find inspiration in anything.
Beret, you said this summer in an interview with WECB that you had been working a lot in Ibiza and in Miami that you have a lot of songs. When can we hear some of those? And can you say who you have worked with?
Beret: In Miami I’ve made more songs with an urban background, because I really think there’s a lot of producers there that I can bring that out with. To make pop and such is what I can say here in Spain I don’t have to go to Miami. But I will literally have 17 songs unreleased right now. In fact, the next one is one that I really love that I did in Ibiza. And I have collaborations, I have two collaborations with two Venezuelan artists, one quite well known there in Venezuela. I also have a song with a very well-known group in Colombia, which people will really like. I have everything right now. The truth is that the next song is going to be soon and it is going to be a single of mine, unique, individual, and I think a lot of people are going to like it.
How does an award change an artist’s career?
Beret: I think that how an award changes an emerging artist is not the same as how an award changes an artist who has been around for a while and has already lived his experience. I think that for an emerging artist it can make them stay in their comfort zone a little because they are unaware of thinking that “everything is already done”, but an artist who already has a career and knows a little bit of experience. He knows that the prize is precisely for not stagnating. In my case, an award makes me see that obviously everything is going well and that I am doing things the way I have to do them. But I think it is precisely a motivation to continue creating much more.
You are always very close, super friendly, with a sense of humor and that is valued, hasn’t fame changed you at all?
Beret: Of course, of course. The world of fame changes everyone, mostly because I don’t have the same privacy as before. I do not know. There are many things. I live my life exactly the same. If it is true that I am going with the alarm to say hey, now I am going to leave, for example to a party and I know that there are people who are there, who are going to recognize me. And also that what I say is going to have weight. But yes, my life has completely changed. I started when I was 17 and I had the most standard life in the world. I was studying high school and didn’t work at all. I mean, my life changed completely. Obviously I’ve changed, of course.
At first you praised genres like reggae, rap and dancehall, but over time you have done all kinds of genres.
Beret: That evolution has also been by choice. I have always been a rapper, I have been singing a lot of reggae, I loved it. And really it was also because I was literally bored with rap and reggae. I saw that my message, what I wanted to say, made more sense with a ballad and with a minimalist singer-songwriter song, with guitar, piano, than with rap or reggae. Yes, it’s true that today I like to make rap, make reggae. With my rapper colleagues, I improvise everything and from there a song that comes out reggae can come from, but I see that what I want to say makes more sense with the ballad.
Do you care a lot about streams?
Mr Rain: I don’t watch streams.
Beret: My mentality is that a good song doesn’t have to have a lot of streams. The streamings are achieved due to the circumstance of the present. That is to say, if now, for example, it is playing like this, it has many things to do with the streaming and none of it has to do with it being a good song. So, I’m not worried, because I’m worried that a song is of no use. I’m more worried that a song doesn’t have a purpose, that it doesn’t help someone, that it’s a dull song. They don’t need to help, there are songs that don’t help, they’re just cool and that’s it. But some don’t even do that. That worries me more, that he makes a song to make me go into the studio and make a song that I say, And what purpose does this have? That does worry me.
My mentality is that a good song doesn’t have to have a lot of streams.
— Beret
The music industry moves very fast and sometimes quantity is prioritized over quality, putting out, taking out, taking out. How does this work dynamic affect you and do you feel that pressure to prioritize quantity over quality?
Beret: I have gone a year without releasing songs. Six months without releasing songs. Seven months, eight months. The thing is, actually, I think my audience knows me. I mean, I’m not an artist who releases songs every two weeks. I just don’t know. I do five songs at home every day. The thing is that the ones I like take more time. So, well my audience understands that. They have known for nine years that I release songs when I have to release them, when I have it complete. So no, I’m not worried.
Mr Rain, what does it mean to you? Supereroi?
Mr Rain: I am very happy because Supereroi in Italy is like a manifesto to ask for help. I have written Supereroi to tell about a dark period in my life. It talks about superheroes who have the courage to show themselves for what they are, full of fear, of defects. I am very very happy.
You participated in the Sanremo festival. How was the experience?
Mr Rain: It has been the best point of my career.
Beret, would you show up at Benidorm Fest?
Beret: (Laughs) No, I won’t show up. I would attend Benidorm Fest if it changes, not the festival, it is super good, I think it is created in a very cool way and that really nice things happen there. But I think that from what I have seen for several years now, what is created on social networks is crazy. Crazy. I believe that few people end well. In other words, who doesn’t get criticized at the Benidorm Fest. It doesn’t make any kind of sense.
How has the experience of singing in Spanish been?
Mr Rain: It has been great because I am studying Spanish. I hope to take my music outside of Italy, here in Spain, in South America. I am very happy.
How are you seeing the Spanish scene? Has Beret introduced you to any artist here?
Mr Rain: I only know Beret
Beret: (laughs) I’m very jealous. To Álvaro, right? You know Álvaro de Luna
Mr Rain: Yes, to Zetazen too,
Is there anyone you want to collaborate with?
Mr Rain: I hope to collaborate with many artists
Would you collaborate with a Spanish artist again?
Mr Rain: Yes, I really like to sing in Spanish.
