Raquel Sofía wanted to show who she really is by singing live

After two months of pre-production, five days of rehearsal, a whole day of editing, and a four-hour show, the Puerto Rican singer-songwriter Rachel Sofia delivers to the public what to date has been his most exciting and most difficult project at the same time.

After singing at weddings and bars; being the opening act for great artists, showgirl, record label artist and independent artist; live in Puerto Rico, Miami and Mexico; from falling in love with her and having her heart broken as well, as well as having composed hundreds of songs in various musical genres, she feels that she has lived countless lives.

Since before his first album “Te quiero los domingos”, which earned him a nomination for Latin Grammys in 2015 as Best New Artist, until now, it has been a lot. Look at the past, his experiences and, to this day, you feel another. Even when singing the same songs from the past, he feels that they have another flavor.

That is why he has called his most recent and fourth project “9 Vidas”, which he launched on May 26, and which includes 10 songs recorded entirely live, turning it into an audiovisual piece that intimately reflects his proposal, in which he included some of his biggest hits, such as “Let it go”, “I love you idiot” and “We have history”.

“I included six new songs and four of my old songs, which are fan favorites, but also songs that I wanted to sing live, because the point was to do something that would show what my ‘performance’ is like.‘. So I wanted to enjoy them live, apart from the fact that they have also been important in my career. It was also like a retrospect, that I have many lives and that I will continue living many more,” the independent artist told El Nuevo Día, who has been living in Mexico for five years, by telephone.

Raquel Sofía will be able to emulate what is her most recent work before the Puerto Rican public, when she performs, next August 19 at the Moneró Café Theater & Bar in Caguas at 8:00 at night, as part of a tour that he has named the same as his album, which will allow him an intimate, interactive and relaxed encounter with his audience, which will also give him space to improvise.

“I am excited about this meeting because in Puerto Rico I have sung many times. I have been almost the official opening act for the Choliseo, for various artists. I’ve been invited to sing a lot, I’ve sung in all the bars you can imagine all over the island, but never in a theater. So this super intimate space excites me a lot, a small theater, where I can do a show with a band, more calmly, where I can talk and say what the songs are about. It will be a more planned show, with invited artists and more extensive. I have already done it in Mexico, but this will be my first opportunity on the island, ”he highlighted.

As he expressed, singing in Puerto Rico will give him the opportunity to interpret songs that the Puerto Rican public knows, such as his duet with Victor Manuelle on the song “I didn’t want to fool you”, as well as the “cover” he did for the Banco Popular Special of the song “Espírito libre” by Ednita Nazario. Normally, these songs are not sung in Mexico, for which she is very excited, apart from the fact that she opens that space to the possibility of sharing the stage with some friends and colleagues.

The long-awaited recording

From Mexico City, in October 2022, she told and sang as she wanted, very much in her style, being honest when interpreting, likewise with the lyrics of her songs. Without extensive scaffolding, she launched herself to make a recording that she longed for, outside of a studio, with the warmth of a band and a select audience in a warm atmosphere.

“It was a super challenge, one of the most difficult things I’ve ever done because it’s an independent project and I think that’s one of the most special things about ‘9 Lives’. Here there is no label, here there is no HBO paying for the special. I mean, this was a friendly effort. I brought two members of my band who studied with me in Miami, the rest were people from here in Mexico and everything was asking for favors. Actually, what made the project so special is that it was a project of many friends. We wanted to do something gigantic, we achieved it and we carried it forward, without any gigantic structure behind it. So it is a superorganic and superpersonal project in which I learned a lot, made mistakes, cried, got sick, laughed, everything happened”shared about the roughly 40-minute visual piece.

Raquel Sofía pointed out that although many things are normally re-recorded on a live album, she left everything on this project, just as it was actually recorded. In the same way, she also takes the public into her process of creating and recording the album.

“Sometimes I get out of tune a little or sometimes I run out of breath. So I wanted to do that challenge because I wanted to show who I am live. The way I feel comfortable is on a stage and now, with the speed that music has to be released and how it has to sound, I had been recording records in a sterile studio for years, all by myself, locked in a little room. You understand me? How cool to feel a band again, that I went back to see musicians while I sing, ”explained the artist, who between songs makes comments or explains how they came to be.

The singer-songwriter mentions being an open book and her followers on the TikTok platform know that, where she usually talks about her life. “I’m not afraid to share my life because I feel like we all have similar and similar experiences, and we feel very alone anyway. I think that by sharing what happens to me and writing songs about it, those who listen to me feel accompanied.

His next presentation on the island will mark the beginning of his tour of several Latin American countries, ending in December 2023. Tickets for this evening are now available through the Ticketera platform.