SPEAKER_05 0:00

Hi everybody, it's me, Gloria Steph, and welcome to Let It Loose with Carlos Rob and West.

SPEAKER_09 0:07

Don't miss it. Hey everybody, welcome back to another episode of Let It Loose. My name is Rob. I'm Wes. I'm Carlos.

SPEAKER_01 0:15

And I'm Lauda.

SPEAKER_09 0:17

And today, on today's episode, we have somebody really cool, Claudia Lopez, will be joining us to talk all about her musical beginnings and what it was like to work with Gloria on the Raises album and as a background singer on the Raises promo tour. So that's very exciting.

SPEAKER_03 0:32

I'm so excited about this episode. I'm so excited to have her on. She's just you know, every time that we chat, you know, that we DM each other, she's just like this ball of sunshine. Oh so positive, and that kind of reflects in her new song Miangome. You know, you listen to the song and it's just like this feel good, um, upbeat, uplifting um song.

SPEAKER_01 0:59

Full of energy, I think.

SPEAKER_03 1:01

Full of energy. Yeah, we see that you know during the performances. We've seen her already perform um with Gloria quite a few times. Uh Dined Fe. You saw uh Laura, you saw her recently in Denadife when you went to see Emily, right?

SPEAKER_01 1:16

She was dancing all the time, but it was very fun.

SPEAKER_03 1:20

I love it, I love it. And there's so many other uh background vocalists that um that uh we would love to have on the show, you know, uh that have work that are essential to you know, um Miami Sound Machine and when they are touring, you know, there's Lisa, there's Robbie, um Eagle, you know, he's a big part of that world uh as well. He's not only a background vocalist, he's done many other things.

SPEAKER_10 1:51

It's fascinating.

SPEAKER_03 1:53

Absolutely. So before we get into it, um how about we we have a little history lesson?

SPEAKER_10 1:59

Alright, I got one for you. Are we I'm gonna stump you here maybe? Oh, here we're gonna find out. Here we go. Alright, so this week in Gloria History, um can you guys tell me what the second single was released internationally? Well, I can't say internationally, we're specifically Europe and the UK from Cusmoth Ways.

SPEAKER_03 2:26

Oh, from Cusworth Ways, ways. Okay. Okay, so I'm really bad when it comes to the order of singles.

SPEAKER_01 2:34

Get on your feet.

SPEAKER_03 2:35

No. No, internationally.

SPEAKER_10 2:41

Because which I won't for for whatever reason Europe and the UK didn't follow the United States and Japan. With the second single, which is interesting. And I that's one of the things I want to know. I wonder why. But what was the second single over there? I charted very well here. Okay, what was the second single? Oyamikanto. That's what I said. Rob said it. Rob said Oyamikanto. You did it? I did. Oh. I didn't hear so. You need to speak up.

SPEAKER_09 3:16

You need to listen better.

SPEAKER_10 3:18

I was right. So good, I'm proud of you, Rob. Awesome.

SPEAKER_09 3:22

I'm doing great.

SPEAKER_10 3:23

But um, I I wonder if it was intended to be released over here as the second single because there was a vinyl planned. Well, um, I'll get into the I'm not gonna bore you. All that matters was that I was right. There was a 12-inch of Oyimi Kanto that had an earlier catalog number and it was cancelled. So I wonder if you know they changed it up over here. But yeah, it charted very well, and it um it pretty much was a top 10 single in top 10 single in the majority of the uh you know, quite a few of the European countries.

SPEAKER_03 3:57

Really?

SPEAKER_10 3:57

It peaked at number 16 on the UK. Okay in the UK. Um countries like Ireland, it was number seven, Poland, it was number four. You know, suspect that.

SPEAKER_03 4:10

Do you think do you think that the um the version that everyone was hearing was the English version or the Spanish version?

SPEAKER_10 4:18

I would say it's probably it's the the English version over there. The English?

SPEAKER_09 4:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 4:21

Okay.

SPEAKER_09 4:22

I'm very I'm sorry, everybody. I zoned out because I was just basking in my win.

SPEAKER_10 4:28

I can give you way more. There could be several more countries where it charted, but yeah, I mean, pretty, you know, out of all the European.

SPEAKER_03 4:36

But right now, it's not about the charts, it's just about the fact that Rob that Rob got it.

SPEAKER_10 4:41

Yeah. And I I didn't hear him say it. My bad. With that said, we're just gonna cue the music, Rob.

SPEAKER_03 4:51

From the stage with Gloria Stefan to Tiny Desk, Denerife, Madrid, GMA, and beyond, our next guest has lent her incredible voice to some unforgettable performances. But she's much more than the voice behind the voice. She's a singer, songwriter, musician, producer, and musical director with a sound and career of her own. She's also stepping into an exciting new chapter with her latest single, Mirándome. Claudia Lopez, welcome to Let It Loose.

SPEAKER_06 5:20

Hi, thank you so much.

SPEAKER_03 5:22

Thank you for coming to the show.

SPEAKER_06 5:22

I'm so excited to be here. Thank you so much for inviting me to be on the show.

SPEAKER_03 5:27

Thank you for coming. Thank you for taking the time. I know that right now is a very busy time uh for you. Um, I've seen your little promo tour that's been happening, and you've been bouncing around all over um with your incredible new single that we're gonna talk about. You know, we you and I have already discussed how obsessed I am with the song. I am driving everyone absolutely bonkers.

SPEAKER_05 5:53

I love to hear it.

SPEAKER_03 5:54

Yeah, one thing that that I'll share just yesterday, um, I went for a hike out in the mountains, and um all of a sudden the song comes uh on, and it was just the precise moment where I was, and all of a sudden you get to the section where you're belting out. I mean, the the vocals on that the latter part of the song when you start belting it out. I had goosebumps because it was just listening to this angelic voice, just the setting that I was in. I had to text you right away, and it was funny because the text that I sent you didn't come go through until like an hour later, because I I was in the middle of you know the mountains and there was no service. And I was like, I had to let you know it was it's just so beautiful, and I'm so glad that you put that song out there.

SPEAKER_06 6:42

Thank you so much. I can't relate to the hiking in the mountains here in Miami, but but thank you so much. It's so funny that you say angelic voice gloria is always like whenever I sing or something, we're in a soundtrack, she's like, Where's that angelic voice coming from? She always touched the same thing. Yeah, that's so funny.

SPEAKER_03 6:59

That is awesome. I love that. I love it, and and you do, you do. I I remember the first time I heard it, I was like, Oh wow, I I like this song, but there's something so familiar about it, and it just reminds me not that not that the song is sonically the same as these other songs, but it just gives me the same feeling of like um remember that song that Diego Torres did, Color de Esperanza? That it just it's that feel good.

SPEAKER_06 7:25

That's what Miranda me feels like feel good, our roots, our latinismo. It's it's happy, it's about love, it's my favorite kind of inspirational, happy music, you know?

SPEAKER_03 7:37

Awesome, that's fantastic. Are you ready to let it loose? Because we have some questions for you.

SPEAKER_05 7:41

Yeah, I certainly am. I'm so excited.

SPEAKER_09 7:45

So, Claudia, speaking of inspiration, not just inspirational, like listening to your first album running out of time, and listening to Mirándome, you can really hear all sorts of different influences in your voice, in your music. Like you're influenced from so many different things from my perspective as a listener. What was music like growing up in your household? Because I also know that your family is pretty musical, right?

SPEAKER_06 8:07

Yeah, my father's a musician, my grandmother was a classical pianist. So I grew up with like I also was a musician my whole life. So I being a musician, you explore things that are interesting and intriguing to you as you are in your musical journey and growth. Every musician has their own story of how they got into the rabbit hole of a certain type of guitar. So I grew up with my dad, you know, playing uh boleros, and he was a composer too. So the first like five, six songs I learned on the guitar were his songs, right? So in my world, that was all music, was his music, right? And my dad is Cuban, um, you know, his parents are Cuban, so I grew up with Gloria Stefan, I grew up with Salsa, I grew up with the biggest, you know, but my dad was also a musician, so I also grew up with jazz, I grew up with uh Michael Jackson, so there were so many things that influenced me. But I am such a songwriter and singer, songwriter at heart, that words have always gotten to me. So I've always gravitated towards beautiful words. So, like it growing up, even if the music wasn't, you know, the most intricate to me, just a good poem, a good set of words. I was really into Beyoncé, some of her earlier stuff, Ella Fitzgerald. I just like have always loved beautiful words. It's been like a driving force behind my like music love for music.

SPEAKER_09 9:35

So was there like one moment that made you like hit for you that music is what you're gonna pursue professionally, or was it just like this is my life because it's always how it was?

SPEAKER_06 9:45

It was never a moment, it was never a question, it's never something I've thought about. It's just has always been.

SPEAKER_08 9:52

Wow, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 9:53

So I get asked this in interviews all the time. What was that that day that you I was like, I didn't have that day. I was born singing, I sang since I was in my crib, and I have always known I was gonna do music. Like it's not it wasn't a hmm, should I? No, just it was always what I was gonna do.

SPEAKER_08 10:12

Incredible.

SPEAKER_06 10:13

Like it I didn't even have this discussion with my parents ever. Never. Like when I it was just like I did music all throughout school, I was always composing, sharing my music with my parents, with the family, playing at our family. Everybody understood that I was gonna be a musician.

SPEAKER_09 10:31

It's in your blood, and you were nourished by all the sounds uh surrounding your family growing up, too. But then you went to uh the Berkeley College of Music, and what was that training like? And did that shape the vocalist or musician that you became like when you went to the recording studio, or how did that shape you growing up?

SPEAKER_06 10:50

It definitely shaped me because it made me learn something. So that was my first kind of um you know, organized music education to college something, and I like I said, I've always been una like a m de la calle, right? Like I learned on the street, I learned of experience, I played piano by ear, like my father, guitar by ear, things like that. And then when I went to Berkeley, it was like harmony class, an ear training class, and this class, and I I remember being very overwhelmed by that. Also, um, right out of high school, it's so different now. Kids are like training and submitting for colleges. I literally only applied to Berkeley. I was like, Where what should I do now? Oh, what's I looked up in like the school library. What is the uh the best music school? That one came out. I applied. I told my parents like one week before the audition, hey, I have to go to Boston. They're like, where are we getting the money for that? Who's gonna pay for your ticket to Boston? I was like 17. I was like, you're not sent, you know, and they're they paid a ticket for me and my brother, right? And my we flew to to Boston. My first time ever out of like the state, besides like going for Panama for like to Panama for like family stuff. I show up to the audition. My audition is at 3 p.m. I'm sitting there, and some and one of them comes out. Hey, do we have any volunteers? Because we had a cancellation. It's like 10 a.m. I was planning on like like warming up and doing my brother raises his hand and volunteers me.

SPEAKER_08 12:25

Oh man. I've not warmed up.

SPEAKER_06 12:27

I haven't even changed out of like the winter stuff. I had a cute outfit prepared. He just volunteers me. I was like, What is that?

SPEAKER_09 12:36

Okay, trial by fire.

SPEAKER_06 12:38

I walk into the room and I sing um, besoming. They freaking love it. And then they're like, and you know how you usually you wait for a response. They're like, Do you have any questions for us? And I was like, Yeah, what is Berkeley looking for? Like, what kind of singer? And they're like, What you just gave us. So I found out right then and there.

SPEAKER_08 12:58

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_06 12:59

Yeah. So I then I got a scholarship. I got like a 60% scholarship, and I just went, it's just never been a question. It's never been a question. So I've always just like gone with the flow, and the flow keeps leading me towards music. And when I was at Berkeley, again, it was a shock for me. Um, that kind of education, like boxed in, and it was hard. I was living off campus. I had to travel in disgusting snow every time I had to go anywhere. It was like I'm such a Miami girl, and I'm just like, why is it dirty? In the movies, it's white and like sparking, it's just dirt.

SPEAKER_10 13:39

That is funny.

SPEAKER_06 13:40

Why is snow not pictured as pure dirt in the movies? It's terrible. False advertisement. Absolutely. So I was really sad over there. Like I was not, I was not enjoying myself. So, but I learned a lot that I definitely like because I went just to study performance, and I realized I like the creation of music a lot more than just singing other people's songs. So I I learned something so important. I went for three semesters and then I I came back and I finished that UM. And um I realized, oh, I like to be way more of a part of the creation and the writing and the composition than just like being the lead singer of a band where I'm singing someone else's songs. So that was really important for me to learn, and I learned it so young. Yeah. And like between sorry for hating on snow.

SPEAKER_09 14:32

No, not at all. Between like learning on this like on like street savvy music-wise, and learning at Berkeley, like that teaches you how to be a chameleon in a lot of ways, and that's so evident in the first album that you have and this current one. So yeah.

SPEAKER_06 14:48

Yeah, thank you. Yeah, it definitely does. It I know a lot of just just school book guys, and they're and I know a lot of most people that the difference between them is a world, it's a world of difference. They're both talented in their own thing, and you almost can't plug a school guy and throw him in the street, he'll get baptized by fire, as they call it, right? Um, however, I find a lot of times you can take a street guy and throw him in a school thing, and he'll still make it because he's used to just making it, right? He's just a good thing. So I yeah, not always, right? Like these guys are incredible readers, they can read, they know all the whys of music where the musical, the la guy is like, I don't care about why. Let's just play, let's have a good time. You know, like it's so different, and I feel so blessed to be a part of both things because I understand the why, and I am like I feel so um good that I can just like hang sometimes with like the street guys, you know. So it's been it's been really a blessing to experience both things.

SPEAKER_01 15:55

That's awesome. That's very cool. And how did you first become connected with Gloria and Miami Summachin? And what do you remember about getting the call to perform with them for the first time?

SPEAKER_06 16:09

So so how I got hooked up with Gloria was really because of my relationship with Emilio. So it started off um uh a little bit like right when COVID started, I got called for a session by a friend. She's like, hey, who works who would work in the studio and record background vocals sometimes. She's like, hey, the usual girl at the studio that I'm very vague at this studio that I record in um is sick, like because he, you know, Emilio loves like gospel sounds, so she's like a beautiful gospel singer, but he also wanted someone who's like Latina and could speak Spanish, and their usual girl was like sick, so I was like, Yeah, I'm free, I'll go. So I'm driving there and I get to these doors with the moon, and I'm like, oh wait a minute. And I call I call my friend, I'm like, hey girl, are you in here? And she's like, Yeah, it's crescent moon. I was like, Emilio Studio, and she's like, I was like, okay. So I come in and like that, you know, I'm sitting there, I'm recording, and Emilio comes and sits on the couch, and I could swear that he was gonna hear my heartbeat through the microphone. I agree, I thought he was just sitting there like normal, and I don't know if you know, but in the booth, you can't hear what they're saying, and they're just all talking, and I'm like, what are they told they're saying? He's tells I can't say it was so it was so good, and he was like, click the inner comment. He's like, Oh, great job, baby! Amazing, come out, come listen. You know how he is, he's like super charming, and him and I clicked so good. Like that day, our like souls clicked, and like that's it. I was there from then on. Like, I was always like going into the studio to record. He called me right in. Uh, we started working on the demos for Gloria's album. He's like, I'm gonna write an album for Glory, it's gonna be amazing, and like that's worth that. Is it started to happen? Like, it was so cool that relationship, and because of that relationship, one day they had a show um to inaugurate the MSF, MSF, SMS, MS Cruise.

SPEAKER_03 18:20

Oh, the MSC, MSC, yeah, the MSC Cruiser, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 18:23

Okay, the MSC. And I just like casually get a call from from Jose Maldonado. He's like, hey, are you available on this day? And I was like, uh, yeah, what's up? And he's like, Oh, it's for you to um to sing with uh Gloria and the Miami sound machine. And I was like, excuse me? They have a long I was like, they have a long established band. What do you mean, right? Because like they have an established band for years, and then he's like, Yeah, um the girl that's usually the second to Lisa is not here, and um the only bad thing is that you're not gonna get to do a rehearsal. Do you think you could do it? And I was like, No way, rehearsal pressure right there, right? And what you don't understand the pressure is crazy because A, they didn't have any sort of like full concert recording for me to practice with at that time. Oh, it's my first gig with the Miami sound machine. So, like, I hop on a video call with Klay and he just like runs me through the sheet music because he's a UM guy, I'm a UM girl. He's like running me through the sheet music, but I'm hearing the recordings and there's like discrepancies, and I'm just like stressing. I meet with Lisa, we kind of go over the stuff. I locked in so hard. I went underneath the crust of the earth to find videos and audios and everything, and I went through the sheet music. I asked Clay, I have a list of texts from Clay clarify this. Clarify he had to I found mistakes in the sheet music that had been there 30 years and he didn't. Yes, he did. He was like texting, he was like, Did you know we've been doing this wrong for this? And I was like, if I'm here to be anything, it's to be annoying about the music. So I showed up to the gig, I showed up, and I felt good, I felt confident. I freaking nailed it. I'm not my flowers, I freaking nailed every single thing. Awesome!

SPEAKER_10 20:24

Oh my god, that's great.

SPEAKER_06 20:26

The band was coming up to me, they're like, How? We rehearsed four times for this gig. They were like, How did you do this with no rehearsal? And I was like, I spent a lot of time practicing. So, long story short, after that gig, um, I was at the studio with Emilio, we're working on raíces, and he was like, Hey, I heard you did amazing. I heard you killed it. He's like, and I was like, I told him, I was like, sí, pero you know, you know, that's not my gig. You know, I was only substituting. He's like, I'm the one that decides that. Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_03 21:05

It's funny, Claudia, because that kind of segues into our next question, which I think, Wes, that's you, right?

SPEAKER_10 21:11

Yeah. So now that you performed with Gloria on some of these incredible songs from Tenerife and Madrid, um, I believe you were in Chile as well, correct?

SPEAKER_08 21:21

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_10 21:22

To GMA's summer concert series and NPR's Tiny Desk. Was there a particular performance where you had that I can't believe I'm here doing this moment?

SPEAKER_06 21:33

Um definitely, definitely it happened in Vinha. Because Vinha is the biggest, right?

SPEAKER_10 21:44

The biggest I was there. I it was huge. Yes.

SPEAKER_06 21:48

It's huge, and I I definitely felt like overwhelmed in Vinha, but I think my very first show, I think, was in Venerife. With uh Gloria, it was the first huge show that we did. That one I remember like crying before starting because it was just that was the first one with like endless amounts of people that you could see, and and I couldn't believe that I was oh when Gloria was saying things into our in-ears, like beautiful things before starting, and she was just like, um, I love you guys so much, and this is gonna be a great show, whatever happens, happens. Like, she's like so cool like that. She's like, the show will go on, and I just couldn't believe that that it was me and that I was there. Like, I was totally emotional. And when when she started singing, um, get off me cool value, like that song was super emotional for me too. Like, I remember I was just a mess that show I was the whole beginning, but I was a mess that show by being here too, but that this one nothing like it.

SPEAKER_10 22:58

So, what does it actually take to be a background vocalist for someone like Gloria? How much preparation and musical precision goes into creating those harmonies while still making them feel natural on stage?

SPEAKER_06 23:11

Um, there's it's it's funny because our musical director is is a school guy as much as he is obviously a performer for so many years. Everything is written down. He writes every harmony down. So in the street, there's no such thing, right? Like if you go do coros for whatever, um, you know, Oscar and Leon, like there is no written harmonies. You go there and you're like tu la de arriva, you la de medio, you la de abajo and everybody goes like that's how it is, and that is super organic, and there's something beautiful to it, even with a lot of mistakes, obviously, that that you'll make in that. Um, for Gloria, it is very, very written out, we're very play is very meticulous about us singing the right things in the right style, accenting the right words. Um, but because of the people that are on stage, like all three of us, like Lisa and Robbie more are just total street guys. I studied at UN, but they are like bomba, right? So it brings to the to the stage, it brings to the music this kind of like live street thing while rehearsing and singing the right notes. So like we really blast each part so we memorize what harmony we each have to do, and we make sure that it's and Gloria has a crazy ear, like crazy good. So sometimes in the middle of rehearsal, she'll be like, uh, vocalist, sing that by yourselves, right? So we have to like get it right, she wants it right, you know.

SPEAKER_10 24:46

It's amazing, and and and to have her do that, you know, after so long, like she doesn't do it as often as she she used to, as you know, as we all know. But for her to pick up on that, still, I mean, we don't understand how that works. We're not musicians, but so that's that's that's interesting.

SPEAKER_06 25:01

There's no there's nothing that escapes her, like she could be like 40 people can be playing, and she'll be like, Stop, what is the trombone? The trombone sounds weird, and we'll all be like, What?

SPEAKER_09 25:12

And he was weird, he was being weird. Like she catches everything, yeah. It takes a lot of work for it to sound improvised, and it and it does, it sounds natural and organic. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_03 25:24

So, you know, Gloria does have a very distinctive voice uh and phrasing. Um, as a background vocalist, how do you learn to complement her voice without overpowering the qualities that make her sound uniquely Gloria?

SPEAKER_06 25:39

So Gloria's phrasing is quite is challenging because she's these songs live in the deepest part of her heart. She changes the phrasing, she has such interesting takes on the rhythms because she's been changing it up for 30 for 40 years, right? Like she does whatever she wants. So uh because I'm the middle harmony, it I usually double her stuff. Like when it's not like a full background vocal, it's usually me and her, like in a harmony, and it's you I have to be really looking at her mouth to see when she's gonna yeah, especially during rehearsals where she's looking at us, so when she turns around, um, you know, I need I need to have memorized kind of how she's phrased that in all the rehearsals, so I can sing my harmony, you know, right on time with it. Yeah, yeah, it's it's not easy, but but it's you know, it's part of the gig.

SPEAKER_03 26:36

That that's awesome. And you know, so we're we're talking about Gloria, but then at the same time, you've worked with Emily as well. You know, uh so what has it been like working with two generations of the Estefan family, and are there similarities or differences in the way that uh Gloria and Emily approach music?

SPEAKER_06 26:57

Uh they have like personality similarities in which like they are two extremely loving people. So like they are someone more, both of those those humans. Like Emily is so sweet, she's always looking out for the musicians, and that's very Gloria of her. Like, Gloria's always looking out for her. She's like, What about the musicians? Do they have water? Do they like that? Is I feel like I can see the similarities when I'm working with them. Musically, Emily. Um, you know, she's she has an incredible ear. She, you know, she's a she plays so many instruments, she's just an incredible musician. Their music is so different, and Emily really is like her own artist so differently than Gloria that I it's like it's I feel like it's a different world completely. Like there's really no overlap there, except who they are, you know, in their hearts. Like, otherwise, other than that, like Emily really is una musicasa, she does her own thing, she has her own vision, Gloria has her own vision. It's really and it's so funny when we're on tour with with Emily. Gloria is not Gloria, Gloria is mommy, like it's mama, and she's there like zooming in to Emily's face recording her. Like, that is like we are it's not she is not Gloria when she's when she's around Emily. It's really cool to see.

SPEAKER_10 28:21

That's really cool.

SPEAKER_01 28:23

And you were part of De Raices uh album, and how different is to experience supporting Gloria in the recording studio and versus performing live with her.

SPEAKER_06 28:37

Um, Gloria, it's just working in the studio with her taught me so much. She has done it so much, she's performed so much too, but she's just recorded so much that the whole process, she is just like a part of the whole process. She's a part of the recording, like when you're doing the background, she wants to be there. Like, she's really it's like a system for her, and she just gets in there and sings the thing, and she's like, take it one more time, and she does it again, and then she'll sit in the beam and be like, That one, I like this one. Like, she's just it is such a flow, like a workflow, and I learned so much, and then when you're mixing, she's like, No, that made my voice sound too wide, put this one on it. She just knows so much about the thing, and I was like, Wow, Gloria's a total producer, too, you know, it and like being part of the Raíces album was incredible, incredible for me. I had recorded on so many albums before that. Um, so many artists that Emilio has produced, but this one it was like taking a masterclass every time she was in there.

SPEAKER_03 29:46

Wow. Do you remember the first song that you heard from the album? It was Raices, it was Raises, really.

SPEAKER_06 29:53

Yeah, yeah, it was like a real late night. Like he Emilio calls me, he's like, Can you come in for uh to to record a demo vocal? And I was like, Okay. Um, and it was like late, it was like 9 p.m. or something, and I'm in there, and he's in there with like the engineer, and he has all the lyrics and the music is sounding, and he's like, Come in, and he you know, Emilio, the way that he recorded, like he'll start like singing things to you so you can start like singing it back into the microphone together, and we just like by it was by 11:30, it was done. Wow, like it was the song was done, and it was it's wordy, right? Pero niño dar sus primeros pasos. So it was hard to get that. He's like, No, you can do it, you can do it. Like, put it in faster. Like, he was he had the idea in his head, it was cool, it was cool to work with him on that song, and then like you know, like it really just all came together, and then I think you know, after that it was just about tweaking it, the instrumentation, it was, but that was the first one I remember, and it was a long time like that. It was clearly the single, you know.

SPEAKER_09 30:58

Totally, yeah. So it sounds like you learned a lot from Emilio, but also and Clay. But Miami Sound Machine is a big extended family of people, of which now you are a part of. So, like, what has it been like becoming a part of that extended family, and what lessons have you learned from other members in the in the band?

SPEAKER_06 31:20

Well, I learn something every single time I'm around those guys. It's it's just it's still like I'm on a cloud every time I walk in. They are they are all such incredible musicians. There's not one weak link in that band, right? So, like, and I'm also like the baby. I have this funny, this funny story one time. Glory was like talking to them, and she's like, Do you remember? And like, what was it in '88? No, no, no, was it in '88? And they're all like, yeah, that show we did in '88. They're like, and she's like, Claudia was probably a baby. I was like, I wasn't born.

SPEAKER_08 31:53

She's like, how dare you not have been born?

SPEAKER_05 31:59

I was like, I'm sorry. It was really funny. Um but I couldn't help it.

SPEAKER_06 32:05

I wasn't even a thought yet. Um, but but every time I I like, and they treat me with so much carinho and so much respect, and like they I just ugh, it's so amazing. I learned I didn't know that like players, horn players or like like sections, rhythm sections could lock in so tight. And honestly, being around people like like Teddy Millette. Oh my god, Teddy, like the he's so brilliant, so brilliant, his ears crazy, like it's just wow. I learned and I then I learned so much about their stories, right? Because we spend so much hours and hours together in trips and the buses and the everywhere waiting. So like we all talk so much, and I just it's a world. They have lived a whole world on top of what I lived, you know. As much as I feel like, oh my god, Gloria's such a imagine spending for the last 40 years with her on the stories they have together, the stories everyone has about Teddy. It's so funny.

SPEAKER_02 33:14

So do you have do you have a Teddy story?

SPEAKER_06 33:17

I the stories I have about Teddy are so many stories that people have told me about Teddy. Like, for example, there's this like funny story about and that Gloria will tell it too, about like um Teddy got a like a second degree burn because he ironed his shirt on top of his body.

SPEAKER_08 33:35

That's right.

SPEAKER_06 33:36

And then a couple of days later, he's like, I'm not gonna do that. So he tried steaming it. So then he steamed it on his body, and it was like Gloria's like, dude, take the shirt off.

SPEAKER_05 33:47

Like that was funny. That's just you know.

SPEAKER_01 33:51

Okay, so outside of performing with other artists, you are a singer, a songwriter, a producer, a musician, and has working with behind those artists influenced the way you approach your own music?

SPEAKER_06 34:05

Definitely. I think that um every time I do that, I work with an artist, I've learned that what makes an artist successful is like rarely how talented they are. It's really how driven they are and how tenacious they are. So, like, I have found, especially when I work with like really successful artists, what sets them apart is that they're workaholics, like they are always on the grind, on the thing, doing the thing. They're like rarely just sitting around doing nothing. Like, and that's what I've learned. Usually when I come back from a tour and I have seen Gloria waking up at five, going to do press, coming to the soundtrack, going into makeup, doing the gig, doing more press. Like, when I come out of that, I'm just like, oh my god, I'm a lazy bum. I need to do more. I always come out of there. Like, when we did the press tour for good morning America and and tiny desk, I was hallucinating of how tired I was. And Gloria was there singing and shaking her, like, you know, like, what like not como si nada, like a lifelong entrenamiento of that, and I was so tired that 4 a.m. wake up, 3 a.m. wake up killed us for good morning America. And then we traveled straight to DC, went into Tiny Test. We were tired, but Gloria was just there, like looking like a like a goddess, you know, saying and I'm just like, I don't work hard enough, you know. So I always, whenever I work with any artist, especially those artists that you can see that they're on their grind, I always come home like super inspired, and I like work a lot.

SPEAKER_03 35:46

That's awesome. Okay, can you believe at the time of this recording? It's uh yesterday was a year since that GMA performance.

SPEAKER_05 35:55

I can't believe it. It flew by.

SPEAKER_03 35:57

It's it's remember that guy dancing.

SPEAKER_05 36:00

Yeah, I remember that guy.

SPEAKER_02 36:04

Yeah, that I don't know who that guy was.

SPEAKER_06 36:07

That was the first time that I like met you that gig, I think. We're like that I saw that I really because I have heard, I had heard, heard, heard that you're all like you're always in Good Morning America. I have heard Gloria talks about she's like, I wonder if she's coming.

SPEAKER_08 36:21

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_02 36:26

We're gonna have to talk about this offline to see what what other things she says about me.

SPEAKER_05 36:31

No, no, she loves you. She loves you.

SPEAKER_02 36:33

That's that's funny.

SPEAKER_03 36:34

But let's let's talk about your debut album. So, running out of time uh was born out of losing your cousin, uh Jennifer, um, whom you considered your your sister. Um you said that Next Life, the song Next Life was the first song you wrote after losing her. Um how did writing that song and ultimately the album help you process that that grief um uh during that time?

SPEAKER_06 37:07

Um, so I always I always tell everybody that that is it's that event in my life losing her led me to live a different life, right? So like we all start off like living this plan A life, and I totally had to live a plan B life after this event. Doesn't mean that it's gonna be less of a beautiful life, it's just a completely different life that you have to live, and um because I've always been a songwriter and I have always processed through writing and music, um probably the two days after she died, I wrote that song. I it was like in in that exhaustion, because I hadn't slept in many days, in that exhaustion, I became a little bit obsessed with the thought that I could see her in my next life, you know, like that I would have another opportunity, and it's part of like I was really tired and I was just trying to bargain, which is one of these like stages of gr grief. I was bargaining, like, like, is there another way that we can be together again? Like, I remember doing that, and that song just kind of was born out of me. I was sitting on a piano and uh and I started thinking, like, I'll be looking for you in my next life. I hope that you look for me in your next life, and we had talked about it. Her and I, you know, we never like we never considered the possibility of her dying young. It didn't live in our mind. Um, but we certainly talked about like how we chose each other in this life. Like, oh my god, we must have been like like hermanas for all our lives, all the lives we've lived. We must have been like sisters because we really are like like hermanas, you know. And um yeah, that song was the first song that I wrote. It is very like heavy.

SPEAKER_03 39:08

It's it's I'll tell you that for me, the first time that I heard it, it it was so heart-wrenching, especially knowing, you know, like besides besides your experience, you know, we've all you know uh experienced or you know, most of us have experienced loss in our life. Yeah, and it was just the way, you know, the the words um like I said, heart-wrenching is the word that I that I could use because I'm listening to it and I'm like, oh, I can identify with with this. I'm so I and for those that haven't listened, you know, um uh heard this song or this album, I would say, you know, especially this song, it's just so beautiful what what you poured into, you know, uh and what you're beautiful. This gift that you gave your cousin who was like a sister.

SPEAKER_06 40:00

So um I was meticulous with the with I'm sorry, I was meticulous with the song order, and I put that one at the end because once you go through like the journey of like I'm okay, like the song right before it is woman. I'm not the same woman, and it's like so like oh I'm I'm different and I'm better and I'm bigger because you were in my life even for the amount of time, and then I put next life at the end because you're you feel good, and then you can hear this song and and take it take it with like you know more strength than you would if you did it in the beginning.

SPEAKER_09 40:34

But the markup I really like a songwriter is being able to take pain and turn it into purpose, and I think having that song on your album, as difficult as it may have been to write or record, or even still sing if you even sing it live, is for the people listening who can identify and don't have the songwriting ability to do those things. Like you are putting words to so many feelings that people can't say for themselves. For sure.

SPEAKER_06 40:59

Yeah, I have a hard time performing that song live. It's hard.

SPEAKER_09 41:02

Yeah, oh I can imagine.

SPEAKER_06 41:04

I get choked up, and I'm I'm very strong about it. I've spoken about this so much, and also the music of it has healed me, you know. I always tell people who lose someone, you're never going the pain never goes away. Except the air, yeah. It never goes away. You just learn to live around it, and you get really strong at living around it. And um, but I I perform the song usually at like um Relay for Life. You know, I'll sing it um like once a year, and and everyone is just like always sobbing. And it's hard for me to like even like sing it if others are.

SPEAKER_03 41:41

Yeah, I can imagine.

SPEAKER_06 41:42

Yeah, it's hard, but it's it's I it's a beautiful, it's a beautiful song, and and I love to I love to perform it, obviously.

SPEAKER_03 41:49

Well fast forward to fast forward to 2026. Now your latest single, Mirándome, which we already know. That's that's a fave right now. So it introduces another side of you as an artist. So what is the story behind the song and what does this new chapter of your career represent for you?

SPEAKER_06 42:08

So a lot of people are like, what inspired you to compose in Spanish? And I've always composed in Spanish. Like I have been writing in English and Spanish my whole life. Like, I have songs from when I was 10 years old that are in Spanish. It's never been an either or, it's how I'm feeling in the moment. I mean, are my feelings coming out in Spanish or in English? And that's how I'll compose. So Mirándome um was just I was feeling so like emotionada um by love in that moment, you know, and and I was like just writing, you know, doodling on the piano like I like I usually do, and and I was just thinking about when you like are laying down and like you open your eyes and first thing in the morning and that person's already looking at you, and like like and you wonder like how long were you looking at me or or um how ugly did I look when I was like drooling? Oh my god, you start to think like oh my god, and but like it's such a wonderful feeling, and I guess I had been like sitting on that feeling for a couple days, and I I just couldn't help it, and I started kind of like writing about it, and like as I was writing about it, I started to feel like the song is more than just being looked at, it's about looking within, mirando me, like me looking within, right? Um, quiero ser todos los días, la razón que tu sol sale. As much as I want that for someone else, I want to be the reason your son comes out. I wanna be the reason my own son comes out. Like we should be the reason, right? We should be our song, we should be our me can to melodia. Like, I wanna be that. For myself, I want to show up for myself and looking within and and seeing all the things that have made me who I am, who have made me who I am today, and accepting it, right? Like the good, the bad. So the song became something so much bigger than what it is. It was really just gonna be unbolerito, like uh um, you know, like a ballad. It's still uh um um quiero ser tu mondo and I said as I started singing and I started to feel like um un bailaso, like un bainato, and I was like, you know what? I'm gonna produce it's so funny because I was like in the studio and I was telling Emilio, Emilio, I just wrote this song. He's like, Yeah, is it good? I'm like, yeah, but it's for me.

unknown 44:41

It's for me.

SPEAKER_06 44:42

He's like, okay, like it was so like I was really like enthusiasmata with the song, and and it just poured out, and luckily, you know, I have um I my boyfriend is the most amazing arranger in the world, and in one minute, and palante.

SPEAKER_03 45:00

Oh and and for me, like I said, it it it kind of lives in that realm of songs like the Diego Torres one that I mentioned, songs like Cuando hay Amor uh by Gloria. It it has that that it has that feeling, and it just you listen to it and it brings you so much joy. And I'm so happy that you brought that joy. Uh you you you gifted us that joy because it it is a beautiful gift.

SPEAKER_01 45:29

I think we need to create t-shirts. That's it, that's it. Um put a Claudia in your life.

SPEAKER_10 45:37

Oh I haven't listened to that one yet, but it I will. But everything else I've listened to, it's it's so good. So I'm looking forward to listening to that one.

SPEAKER_06 45:46

Even if you're uh like not a Spanish speaker, this is what I've gotten from my non-Spanish speaking um fans and like um people who have been listening. They're just like you don't even like I don't understand the words, but I understand that it's a feel-good dancing, like it's like happy love song. And I was like, that's exactly what it is. That's a universal language right there. Feel good happy is a genre, you know.

SPEAKER_03 46:14

Yeah, absolutely. Um and and we have one last question before we get into the let it loose. So, Wes, you want to take it away?

SPEAKER_10 46:23

Yeah, you've spent a lot of time, you've spent a lot of time helping other artists sound their best, whether on stage or in the studio or through production. And Claudia Lopez is the artist at the center of the music. What do you want people to hear and understand about you? That's a good one.

SPEAKER_06 46:41

Um my my love for music is so much more, so much deeper than fame, right? So I think that if I've ever go on stage and I perform and it didn't make you feel some type of way, I'm not living my life like a mission and journey. Like it's to me, it's just my dream has always been to be able to make a living singing what I write. That simple. I don't care if I make a living and just you guys, you you four listen to what I like it has never been anything except like the the light that it brings into my soul to sing and write. That's all I ever want. Creation. Um, I have worked so many different types of jobs. I like creation of all types, whether you're creating as an artist and I'm helping you create, or I'm creating, or I get to create with a band, or create on a stage, like that. So if I get to do that, that's what I want to always bring to the stage. I want you to hear these words that I put music to. Like, that's it. That's what I want.

SPEAKER_03 48:03

I love it, and I hope that you continue creating. Um, is Meet on the Mint part of an album that's gonna be uh released?

SPEAKER_06 48:11

Yes, it sure is.

SPEAKER_03 48:12

It is can you talk about that?

SPEAKER_06 48:15

Yes, I can. So the album um is gonna come out uh early next year, probably January next year. Um, and the album is a just a gathering of genres, a gathering of music, of of all the Latino, all the cultures that make me who I am. I have a song or two that my father wrote that are is in the album. It is like people are like her breakthrough Latin album, and really what it is, it's like it's just all the music that I have felt identified with my whole life. So I'm putting it all together in an album. It's not gonna be a salsa album, it's just a tropical album, beautiful songs, sad songs, love songs, heartbreak songs, all of it. So I'm very excited.

SPEAKER_03 49:03

It's just a Claudia album. It's a Claudia album. It's very exciting. I can't wait for that, and I can't wait. Hopefully, there's an opportunity to see you perform these live.

SPEAKER_06 49:14

Yeah, so I'm working, yeah. I'm working on, you know, uh as soon as I release the album, I'm working on a little like uh album release concert. So all of that will be well.

SPEAKER_03 49:23

Wait, did you say that we're invited? Is that what you said? Of course.

SPEAKER_06 49:27

Of course you're invited. I'm working on it, so that's definitely something in the works already.

SPEAKER_03 49:32

I I love it, I love it. So we have reached the the point of our show where we are going to let it loose. So, but before you let it loose, Glauc, I have to let it loose. Um, and it's just something that I I wanted to share. Um, something that I need a habit of mind that I need to like break away from. So you mentioned how last year we were together in GMA. I did not get to actually meet you, and um, but you know, I've I've seen you. So my let it loose is last year I was in uh Madrid, and you and Robbie were at that Sony party after the the concert. And the whole time I was like, Do I go up to her?

SPEAKER_11 50:17

Do I go up to her? Do I not? Do I bother her? Do I not? Do I bother him? Do I not? And I'm like, Oh my god.

SPEAKER_05 50:27

Like Molaria.

SPEAKER_03 50:28

I'll sit there with Gloria, with Emilio, but I hate the you know, feeling like I'm bothering someone. So my let it loose is the next time we're in the same vicinity, just know that I'm attacking you with the huge, the biggest hug.

SPEAKER_05 50:42

Um we'll love it now.

SPEAKER_06 50:46

We're so like Robbie, especially, we're like so chill. We would have loved, loved it.

SPEAKER_02 50:51

But yeah, we were right next to each other, and I'm like, do I do I not? Oh no, I'm not gonna bother her.

SPEAKER_05 50:57

Oh my god, and that really let it loose. Did you tell Robbie already?

SPEAKER_02 51:04

He has no, I haven't told him yet.

SPEAKER_05 51:07

He's gonna be like, you're so silly.

SPEAKER_03 51:09

This is the photo from from that day.

SPEAKER_05 51:12

Oh my god, oh how cute. I remember. Oh my god.

SPEAKER_03 51:16

I know we were all there. We were right there. I'm telling you, I was standing right next to you, and I was like, I don't want to bother her.

SPEAKER_05 51:23

Oh my gosh, that's so funny. It should have totally come up to us. We were all like hanging out, it was fun.

SPEAKER_03 51:29

Oh, yeah. So it's your turn to let it loose now.

SPEAKER_06 51:34

Oh my let it loose. Okay, so my let it loose is that I hope and I would love for everybody to obviously um keep supporting uh independent artists and keep supporting people who are creating real music from their heart in a world where everything is so so made unorganically, right? Let's keep let's vamos apoyar los artistas de verdad, vamos apoyar a los Latinos, like let's let's keep growing this love and fueling the younger generations to love real art and real composition and real writing, real musicians, and keep supporting real musicians, not just me that I'm coming out with my first Latin album and my first you know breakthrough um Latin album. I just want to keep supporting Latinos and creators, and that's my let it loose. I just hope that you know that message gets out into the world.

SPEAKER_10 52:37

Yes, I love it. And we'll be supporting you because we'll be sharing your stuff, so please, I know I will. For sure. Yes, for sure.

SPEAKER_06 52:44

So much. Thank you.

SPEAKER_03 52:45

Absolutely. I have one request before we go.

SPEAKER_06 52:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 52:50

Can you sing us out?

SPEAKER_04 52:53

Of course I can.

SPEAKER_03 52:54

With a little chorus of Mirandome.

SPEAKER_04 53:21

Mirándome.

SPEAKER_10 53:24

Oh, you just made my day. I mean your voice is so beautiful.

SPEAKER_03 53:29

Thank you, thank you. Thank you for that. Thank you for that. Rob, do you want to go ahead and wrap us up?

SPEAKER_09 53:34

Yeah, if you want to keep up with Claudia all over social media, her Instagram is Claudia Lopez Sings. Uh, stay tuned for that album, hopefully coming out in January. Hopefully, Claudia can come back and promote it on our show a little bit later this season. If you like this episode, don't forget to rate, review, subscribe, give us five stars if you know how to do it. Email us at let it loosepod at gmail.com, and we will see you next week with another episode. Thanks, everybody. Hello, everybody.

SPEAKER_00 54:03

Thank you, Claudia. Thank you for listening to Let It Loose, a Gloria Estick fan podcast. Let It Loose was produced by Carlos, Rob, and Wes with graphic design by Lara. Thank you to Gloria for bringing us all together. Subscribe, rate, and share the love. And join us next week for a brand new episode.