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This year 2024 has surprised us with great music releases. But also because some artists made their debuts this year. This is the case Bu Cuarón, who after a long planning finally presents us with his musical project and the truth is that we are very excited for the start of his solo career.
After starting his career on the right track by collaborating with the song “PSYCHO”. Music inspired by the film Roma, the album is based on Rome –the film by his father, the Mexican filmmaker Alfonso Cuarón–, which featured Billie Eilish, Beck, Patti Smith, DJ Shadow and many more, Bu is about to take his first big step into the music industry on his own.
We spoke with Bu Cuarón on Sopitas FM X Radio Chilango
On February 21st Bu Cuarón presented “Viceversa”, the first single from his debut EP, Come over if you drop dead, in which Emmanuel Lubezki himself took part (his father’s collaborator and three-time winner of the Oscar for Best Photography). As you’ll see, this new artist is serious about a project that’s going to hit her hard this year.
Of course, her new song and video captivated us and we couldn’t wait to talk to her. Therefore At Sopitas FM X Radio Chilango we had the opportunity to chat with Bu for a while (in his first official interview) who told us about his beginnings, his influences, the short material he will be releasing this year and much more… just like you read it.
Rosalía, Billie Eilish, Daft Punk, James Blake and Busse influences
Every artist enters the world of music thanks to the things they heard as a child. And of course Bu Cuarón is no exception to the rule, because in “Viceversa” we hear influences from Rosalía or Billie Eilish. However, There were other big names who also inspired her to compose her own songs..
“Other artists like Daft Punk inspired me a lot. Tyler, the Creator, James Blake pushed me so hard when I was eleven. Since I started writing a lot since I was eleven, I always produced in Garage Band and then switched to Logic when I was thirteen (…). I never knew how to explain what I wanted as a sound, nor did I produce my music because I was clear about what I wanted it to sound like. “So I continued and then finished the EP and other songs.”
A series of songs that represent the culmination of years of experimentation and searching for oneself as an artist
Definitely for Bu Cuaron, Come over if you drop dead It is the beginning of his career as a soloist, but also the end of a process of self-discovery as an artist. and experience the sounds that you think fit what you want to say through music. Around, He told us a little about the process of creating this EP, the importance of synthesizers in this material and why he decided to write lyrics in Spanish, English and Italian.
“I learned how to make these sounds as I made them. For example, I experimented a lot with arpeggiators, which is like a modality of how to insert synthesizers, sounds practically, and I fell in love with a super simple thing and used it a lot, so you can hear it a lot on the EP. But I also think it was all in nature… I grew up in Italy and London and have a lot of Mexican influence, I have my family there and I really want to go back (speaking of Mexico). And then it was inevitable that it would be an EP in three languages, but also in “I never know…” Often they ask me what genre it is and the truth is that I never know what to answer should. And like I tell my friends, ‘Boxes are for cereal,’ because I don’t know, I think genres help, but at the same time I don’t know, I didn’t know how to somehow fit it in.”
The album that changed Bu Cuarón’s life and his musical education
We’re sure there’s a band or artist that completely blew you away and, if you’re a musician, inspired you to play an instrument. And of course The same happened with Bu Cuarón, since the Beatles were a very great musical reference in his early years, although he received professional training in the subject to be able to compose his own songs.
“’Yellow Submarine’ by the Beatles, that changed my life. For Christmas my dad bought me Beatles CDs and I was the happiest in the world, it was the most incredible thing in the world. But I started playing the piano when I was four, and when I was little I always sang. And then when I was five… I played the violin for six years when I was five and then the piano when I was twelve. That’s what I did… I moved from London to Italy and attended the conservatory (…), which is practically equivalent to university level in music. So I studied music theory for seven years, the most boring thing in the world, I hated it. I hated it, I hated it, I hated it, but my mother pushed me into it, she pushed me into it, and the truth is that I’m very grateful that I did it because she gave me one provided a very solid foundation of music theory and knowledge of music in general. I also play the ukulele and stuff like that.”
The inspiration behind “Viceversa”
As we have already mentioned, “Viceversa” is Bu Cuarón’s first official music release. A song that mixes electronic sounds and vocal effects with this artist’s natural voice. However, This song was created as part of a school project and ended up being the first song he composed in Spanish.
“Conveniently, the song started when I was sixteen or seventeen years old. It was like I had to do a school project during COVID because I was taking this music production or music technology class. And I literally made this song for a school project. And I hadn’t finished it yet because I had to use a poem in English, and while I was working on it, I kind of got busy writing this song… and it was the first song I wrote in Spanish, and not because I said, “Oh, I want to do a song.” I never say, “OK, I want to do a song in this language,” and I loved it because it was so natural and it was my dream, always something in Spanish, it came out on its own. And then I finished it… and this is what I did many years ago.”
The “weight” of a famous surname
When Bu Cuarón presented himself as an artist, questions were raised about an alleged case of nepotism behind his music career. Well, many media outlets simply referred to her as “Alfonso Cuarón’s daughter,” and so much so He even considered leaving out his last name to avoid being part of this conversation..
However, Bu is much more than that, so much so that it acknowledges its origins -because it’s not his fault that he was born into an art-loving family- and because he knows that his work is more important than what others say.
“Look, if you look at the way we talk about it, it’s always a connection and a relationship with someone. And for me, when … I am a connotation and not the merits of my work, I sometimes notice that at the same time these comments are not directed at men and are always connotations aimed at women. And because I can work and do my stuff, they will always call me names and that’s something I can’t control. And what I can do is create something, and the greatest privilege has been having a family who introduced me to art, films, cultures and languages that opened my mind. Opening your mind is the most important thing.”
“And I also think it’s very important that there is a system that doesn’t work. In this world there is a system of many things, resources, performance capitalists that is not working and I want to do everything I can to change these things. But at the same time, I understand that people might think that I am a representative of these issues. But the truth is that I’m not in control and it’s not my fault that there’s a system that doesn’t work. With the literal name, every moment I think to myself, ‘Oh, I had to be called Bu and not Bu Cuarón.’ Oh, I don’t know what to do.’ And at the last moment I said: “That’s what I always called myself” (…) But it looks cooler, I don’t know. But yeah, I think I work, I do my stuff. My father didn’t write or produce the songs for me. Nobody paid anyone to do anything. I’ve tried, I do what I can to be independent and if someone wants to tell me something then that’s their problem and I don’t have time for that. And besides, if someone tells me something, that means I’m doing something right, right?”
