ILe Cabra and Ivy Queen Released the Feminist Reggaeton Anthem We All Need Right Now
After a forced pandemic pause, iLe Cabra is back with her third studio album, Nacarile, and she is not alone. On this record, she joined forces with Latin music’s hottest musas: from Mon Laferte to Natalia Lafourcade to, yes, la diva, Ivy Queen.
The two Puerto Rican artists worked together on the song “Algo Bonito” which was born from Cabra’s frustration and anger about the many ways in which women are attacked and punished “whenever we want to seek justice, claim our rights or get our message across,” she told mitú on a zoom call from her studio, in Puerto Rico. “[The environment] feels so toxic and patriarchal these days that even us [women] going out on the street seems to be a problem.”
There is no doubt that Ivy Queen is a legend and a true trailblazer in the urban genre, which has historically been one of the most machista styles — at least lyrically and when it comes to women representation — in Latin music, and that’s precisely what made the Puerto Rican rapper the perfect +1 for this song.
“When I was a kid, she was my only referent as a woman in Reggaeton. There were other women in the genre, but they were not sending a clear message from a feminine point of view as she was.” Her message, Cabra explained, was that you too can perrear, you can do whatever you want and no one can make you do anything you don’t want to do. “She brought that and it was amazing, and this is why I think she brings such powerful energy to this song.”
Bringing in Ivy Queen for this song wasn’t her original idea, but her brother’s Gabriel.
“He suggested it and I thought it would be amazing, sure, but I never even dreamed she would be interested. And she was!” Cabra remembers about the first stages of this dream collaboration. “On the song is as if she was getting off her chest some of the frustration she must have felt on the early days of her career being a woman in this genre.”
The whole album is a politically and emotionally charged one, but deeply personal, intimate and rhythmically irresistible at the same time. The artist recalled feeling so lost during the pandemic that it made her ask herself new questions and come up with ideas to overcome problems or difficult times or at least start important conversations, as she does in Algo Bonito.
“There is an energy of anger in Algo Bonito, yes, but there’s also an energy that urges us [women] to get into action, to amplify the conversation, keep getting our message across and f** the rest.”
The artist hopes the song transmits to listeners all over the world this invitation to act and join the feminist movement. “I think together we can lift each other up and the plan is to knock down the patriarchy totally and forever. Even though it might seem something impossible or that is still very far in time, we have to persist.” You said it, sister.
“Nacarile” was out on Oct. 21st and available to listen on all streaming platforms. Go take a listen, and keep the conversation going, mujeres!
