"Is it called Yudeline or Yudelain, as if it were in English?" It's the first thing I ask Lara Fernández Castrelo (Los Caños de Meca, Cádiz, 2003), Judeline, a 23-year-old "girl from the south" who has achieved what no Spanish singer had achieved: being number 1 in Spotify's top 50.
I suspected that the correct way to pronounce it was the second option, because this stage name comes from his father's favorite song, Hey Jude, by the Beatles. And so it is. It is the second time that his father comes out: the first is when he arrives with a sleepy face and says that the day before he went to bed late because they had celebrated his birthday. The third, when I ask her what it means to her: "He taught me what I know about music, he took care of educating my ear since I was little. And he continues to be a fundamental support."
Once the first mystery has been cleared up, it is time to discover who Lara is, because she herself has declared that she feels that people do not know her yet. "A 23-year-old girl who is trying to do her job as best as possible," she says. And boy is he getting it. To the musical achievement for the song BbY WOW, his collaboration with Karol G and Rusowsky - he has just performed with him and with Tainy in New Jersey - we must add that he sings and plays a small role in The Black Ball, the Javis film that will represent Spain at the Oscars. This is how a star is built.
Who's up on stage, Lara or Judeline?
Judeline gets on. I transform and become a very different person. Judeline has a confidence and a way of doing things that Lara does not have. It's like a character I get into.
Your songs mix flamenco, trap, R&B, reggaeton, Arabic sounds... and you say that you like to experiment. Do you still have to do it with some type of music?
Yes, with many, what happens is that I don't understand music as styles or genres, I simply like to experiment with sounds, with the energy that beats me at the moment. And I am still in constant discovery.
In your songs you talk about heartbreak, melancholy, spirituality..., have you lived so much at 23 years old that you have so much to express?
I have lived, but not even 5% of what I want, I am very eager for experiences. Although I almost never write about what I have experienced, but rather about things that I imagine myself living. For example, if I write about love, I get more inspiration from people with whom nothing has happened than with those with whom something has happened.
Something in your life that has marked you deeply?
Moving from Caños de Meca to Madrid when I was 17 years old. I left there hungry to take on the world, to go places and meet people. I found a room on Instagram in Usera and I came.
You also talk about nostalgia.
If I am experiencing something very intensely or I am being very happy, like this year, I already feel the nostalgia that I will have. And also from my childhood, not so much from my adolescence, to which I would not return.
Do you have good childhood memories in Caños?
I'm doing the work of remembering only the good, because one stays in the drama a lot. But I think that growing up on the beach, in nature, is a privilege. Caños gave me a lot of peace, all the time in the sea.
What message do you want to convey to those of your generation? Because you are becoming a leader.
A leader by no means. What I can do with my art is make them connect with themselves and in turn feel connected to their sensitive side. But I don't think I have the responsibility to guide them ideologically or politically. Not with my music. I see myself more as a partner; and if they are younger, like an older sister.
How do you manage the success of being the first Spanish woman to reach No. 1 on Spotify?
I'm very happy because it was a strong achievement, but it's actually Karol's song. I would react very differently if the song had been written by me, obviously.
Do you detract from yourself?
No, I don't take it away, but it would be much more brutal if the song were mine. In Karol's I sing for 10 seconds...
How do you see the future, as dark as most young people?
We are more informed than before about the world's problems and misfortunes. It is much easier to notice inequalities. But I don't think that people are more depressed, but rather that more is known about mental health and perhaps before depression and anxiety were called something else.
Is there anything that particularly worries you?
Many things. Above all, we are not able to connect with each other. I am scared of division in general, that everything that happens divides more and more. Politics encourages individualism, there are many people who do not talk to others in their daily lives. This disconnection is going to affect everything, not having empathy.
Why have you achieved success and others have not?
It's a doubt I have, because there are so many talented people... The more I have understood how the industry works, the more difficult it seems to me that what happened to me happened to me. When I arrived in Madrid, everything seemed easy to me. People looked at me as if to say: "This girl is crazy." And I said: "I'm going to sing there." And he did it. It may also be that with my music I have something to contribute or say that had not yet been given. It has been an alignment of the stars, you have to manage the business, the art, the image, the communication..., it is like a company and everything has to fit together very well for the car to move.
Does it also take a little luck?
Yes. There is a lot of work behind it, but also luck. I think about how likely it was that a girl like that, from a family without resources, without contacts, would succeed. I have been at the exact moment where I needed to be, I have met the person I was supposed to meet. And I think I have a good intuition, because I have known which people to follow and which not to.
Judeline, who modeled for Willy Chavarría, likes fashion. "It's an art that I admire without understanding it," he says. And he is aware of the power of the image. As he speaks, he moves his hands. It is impossible not to be enchanted by her nails, very long, square, in two colors - pink and black - and decorated with diamonds. And don't notice his bushy eyebrows, combed upwards.
What do you seek to convey with your outfits on stage?
I'm looking more than anything for comfort and to feel young, for the colors to fit well with the dancers, a little volume in the hips, for the flask to fit well on the belt, for the heels to not be uncomfortable...
Are nails and eyebrows your hallmarks?
Well, I'm already taking off my nails a little, although it's not because they are uncomfortable. This morning I washed the dishes and nothing happened. Besides, you have to change, right? As for the eyebrows, when I was little I was laughed at for them and now I like them to be my hallmark.
Do you like to show your sexy side on stage?
Yes, I connect a lot with my sensuality, it amuses me. If I don't do it when I'm 23... When I'm older, maybe I'll live it in a different way.
What do you think about aesthetic touch-ups?
I'm afraid that there are faces as a reference, that people lose their personality. But with that in mind, if there's something that makes you self-conscious, I'm not against touch-ups. Another thing is that girls believe that those faces are attainable and maybe cost 20,000 euros...
What is Lara like in real life?
Very funny, I'm a bit of a clown. And quite detached, a disaster with the phone. Since I'm out there all day it's difficult to maintain friendships.
Do you like to party?
No. I liked it, I had a very boring adolescence and the only thing that could be done was that. It was a crazy time. And in the first two years in Madrid I went out a lot, but now it's the last thing I feel like, I spend all day working and I'm tired, always surrounded by people. The last thing I want is to go somewhere where there are even more people. I dream of going to my couch, being calm and falling asleep early. And hopefully next summer I'll have enough money to go on a boat for a week with my friends. That would be a dream.
In one song you say "take advantage now that I'm in my 20s." There are people who think that these lyrics are offensive to women.
It depends on how you see it. When I say that I mean a love of youth, of sexuality at 20. If a woman talks about her sexuality, they say she is objectifying herself, but if men talk in the same way they don't tell them that. It seems that women can't talk about sex.
Betting on freedom in all areas, including music.
Society and the industry are very hard on women artists. We always have to speak louder in the room because we are not heard the same as a man. And the merit..., at all times they are going to think that your song was written by a man or that a man produced it and maybe you spent a month working on it. You always think there is a man behind it.
Have you suffered it?
Yes a lot. I have gone with a colleague to certain places and they have congratulated him for my work and not me. Men don't know how to deal with women except to flirt. They cannot speak with them as equals. It's stupid.
Who has the final say in your career?
I rely a lot on the opinions of my team, but I always end up doing what I want. I have the last word.
What's next?
I'll be releasing a new song soon. It will be a little different, clearly there is an evolution.
What is your big dream?
Have a house surrounded by nature and travel the world, eat in very delicious places. Having the life I'm having for a long time would be a dream.
Is motherhood another?
Yes, but in 10 years. I want to be a mother one hundred percent.
What is money for you? You've mentioned it several times...
Yes, I'm getting to know him now. It's sad to think about the amount of freedoms and facilities it gives you.
An idol.
Rocío Jurado.
