More than a thematic work, it is an introspection towards the singer's true identity, a subtle work created from true love forl art.
We recently witnessed the successful launch of Henrylong lasting material Jesse Baez where the inevitable question was: What's next for him? In this interview, He shares with us his process of artistic and personal transformation, a moment of exploration and introspection that has allowed him to reconfigure his approach to music and life. This change led him, for the first time in his career, to assume the role of producer, which translates into a work that goes beyond the conventional.
Henrywhose title is the acronym for “High Earner Not Rich Yet”is a manifesto of his vision of success. Through his 10 songs, the artist shares with us a reflection on his role in the industry and his position as a solid artist who escapes stereotypes and always remains in search of genuine authenticity, a slow path that places emphasis on creative exploration.
This time Jesse Baez invites us to introspection and genuine knowledge in life. To create a better experience in this reading, I invite you to play Henry while you know the depths of its creation.
The ascendancy within his world open only to singing has become a little different, now entering as producer of the album in its entirety and showing a mix of intense rhythms never before heard from the hand of the performer such as soul, folk, funk and a bit of indie rock and rap.
I perceive it as a natural progress or I think it is what had to happen. When I started producing I felt like I couldn't make a song alone, I always needed help or if I had a YouTube video and I needed to make the beat; I thought that for someone who is considered a musician or singer, he couldn't make a song. “I felt a little useless.”
“That was about four or five years ago and from then on, I made producing a little more serious; I consider that it was a natural progression and it was in response a little to the challenges that I encountered when it came to wanting to make music,” the singer first revealed.
Emigrating from his native Guatemala and settling in Mexico City was a change on a cultural, musical and social level. An experience that led him to discover music in a more real and conceptual environment.
“There they say that context determines existence, 'one is where one lives'. I already liked music a lot and until one is in an environment where that is everyday life, it is difficult to activate oneself. So here one sees to thousands of people who do this all day, every day; there is like an industry that supports this every day, all day, so it makes you formalize your dream a little faster, it makes you see that things can happen. and materialize because you're seeing agents do it all the time.
Changing my environment gave me more fuel because it helped me see people who were in a place geographically the same as me, and were doing things at a much higher level than what I wanted to do. In Guatemala I didn't have that example.”
During the creation of the album he remained active on the stages of different artists that have an important weight in his development as a musician, where he undoubtedly marked his growth and personal recognition.
“The association often serves third parties because it helps you validate what you may already have in mind about someone, so share that with them. Alvaro Diazwith Fagwith the Latin Mafiait has helped me at the point in my career where many people now find out that I am in a song, or there are already those who tell me 'I saw you for the first time in the Audience of Alvaro'. What I like is that there is a similarity in the ways of seeing music, so in the case of the three of them, I know them. Latin not long ago, but Alvaro already Fag “I've known them for a long time and their vision of music is very similar.”
If they are going to associate me with someone, I like it to be with people who have a vision of art that is similar to mine and they do have it,” added Jesse.
The album maintains an authentic and non-stereotypical search. Throughout his career, Jesse Baez has shown that it does not try to comply with any stereotype and shares a different essence in Henrywhere with the passing of the tracks A simple, but important complement is demonstrated within the combination of genres. This decision remains a natural aspect.
“It was something that was not being thought about, the main filter is to feel that I really like it, even if it is another type of drums or maybe another genre, people will understand that it is still part of me or similar where what comes together It's me. There are songs that can be from different genres but there are ways in which the songs are similar if we use common instruments, similar ways of recording vocals or there are ways of coming together.”
“I have faith that people will understand that the set of songs on my albums, even though they are not exactly the same in genre, are a true reflection of how I see music.”
The introspection within the songs is found in the dream elements that are transmitted, it has always been characteristic of the singer and for those of us who have had the opportunity to immerse ourselves in the world of Henrythere is a secret that complements this essence, not so much as an artist, but an internal philosophy.
“I'm not so much about looking elsewhere for inspiration, but more about observing people who may not do things like me, but rather the way they see life is the key. I'm a fan of people who have a clear vision and they lean into it, from there they say 'Whoever wants to lean into this vision, join me, and those who don't, thank you'; musically I don't know if I could point to an individual who says 'Wow, I love it', but of course every day I am a fan of “People who know what they want and are on the path, may be at the beginning but they have a vision and a reason for being there.”
“People driven by their dreams is what I like to see most every day.”
The authorship of the lyrics, for the most part, is in charge of the singer where the depths and delicacies were born in the studio, accompanied by loneliness and love for music.
I co-wrote some with Yoshi, and then the rap one I co-wrote with Jeff, who is a friend from Guatemala, but most of them in the topline of the melody was my own. “I did everything at the same time, when I say I'm going to make a song, sometimes I make it about something I probably already had before, or sometimes I start from scratch.”
“I usually start from scratch and as I get on the computer, I start to get a little inspired. I don't know who said this, but 'Inspiration is like fishing and you have to sit down and fish', because you're not going to catch a fish if you're not sitting in the water. So I put myself there on the computer and most of the time nothing very valuable comes out, literally after an hour I delete it, and if there are things that I save I start working on it.”
“Little by little the inspiration comes, just like magic. I hardly like to compose on the instrumental, there is almost nothing that I have composed in melody and that I have put in another song because I like to compose on the rhythm , so if I composed something with the rhythm, this melody almost never fits that well into another one.”
If there are cases, phrases or words that I have taken from one place to another, but generally I compose from the bottom up. Let's say that if I like something above, it has to fit with what's below.”
A bit of this new era is shown in its most experimental process and set in the personal and introspective aspect of this stage.
“I understood that that was my way of making music, because I don't want to stress myself out making it; if the idea doesn't come to me easily or quickly, ideas don't come out. That's why I like to make music at home and alone, many times I have gone to sessions and I saw that they were insisting on working on a song that no one liked.”
A lot of this is trial and error, I came to that conclusion and that's why I like to create alone and from the bottom up.”
Within musicalization we can find a refuge, where materiality most of the time is superfluous, and wanting to force making a song will never be an option.
“Obviously it's hard for me to go to the gym or get up early, but when it comes to creating, it's not going to be hard for me. I believe in magic, that's why I feel and have perceived that many things that don't cost me any more give me happiness, so In art I'm not going to get frustrated or stuck.
Making a song I will never get frustrated, but now what happens to me is that technically and in production there are things that I can't understand but I call a friend and he explains to me.”
With the launch of Henry, Jesse Baez There is great learning within the structure and the work that was involved in doing it, both in production and in the fluidity of the sentimental with the concentration and seriousness of the work.
“I came to that conclusion with the album, it wasn't like that three years ago. It's a new way of seeing music and it's because now I know a little more and I can apply some things that on the last album I didn't even know how.”
What builds this work is broken down according to the music and everything it shares with each other, whether it is the inspiration of the videos released with the theme of the series The Officeor in the musical and visual structure of this era “High Earner Not Rich Yet” brings to show.
The heart is the music, the video is the hair or the eyes, the cover; “The music is the essence but everything that complements it only tells the story of the character and there are many ways to enter.”
“If you saw the cover and maybe you like the photo, it's already a way to get to my music, or maybe you watch a video and you like it The Office It's another way to enter. Or you hear a song somewhere playlist and from there you like my music. The way in which I listened to music or in which I learned about many things was through the artists that I liked because they shared things parallel to their music, from there I learned about fashion for music, the same with some words in English that I didn't know.”
The heart is the lyrics and the music, everything else is what complements it,” Jesse concluded the interview.
Once again we understand why Jesse Baez has become one of the artists in our top daily, with Henry It only reaffirms the love that it shares with the love of music and now with its creation from scratch.
