We were lucky to catch up with Chila Lynn recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Chila , thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.

I always wanted to come to the United States and bring my music here, for a Cuban girl to dream of being an international artist singing and writing spanish and english Pop/R&B/Latin songs is a distant fantasy because in my country there is no music industry capable of giving you visibility that you dream in my music genres, so it was difficult to take a path in which all the odds are against you but I never gave up and I am very grateful for everything I have achieved. I took the risk of leaving my country for Europe where I was first given the opportunity and I will be eternally grateful because there, specifically in Spain, they offered me to sign my first record contract at the age of 19 and thus I worked for Disney in the spanish version of ”The Princess and the frog” movie, I was the singing voice of Tiana (the lead character), after that I recorded my first album Real Woman full in English; an album where I had to gladly put my songs aside cause I had huge artists like Mrs Jill Scott, Pink, Nikka Costa, James Morrison and many more who wanted their songs to be on my first album. Since then I have not stopped, I have been on tour in various countries and years later I recorded my second album ”Amor y Miel” in Spanish and English where I was finally able to songwrite and also have songs of huge artists from the latin world like Pablo Milanes, Raul Torres, Jose Antonio Mendes, Pavel Nuñez and great duos with unique and international artists of Cuban music such as Omara Portuondo and Leoni Torres. Last year I was given the opportunity to finally come to the United States which was another important change and risk but I didn’t think twice, I released my first single in the United States last summer ”Unleash Mode” and all the the feedback that I have received so far has been more than positive, I am very grateful that I took this risk as well because even though I know I have a long road ahead of me it has been totally worth it. I am all for new beginnings and embracing all the opportunities life gives you.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I was 5 years old when I started studying music in my hometown, Havana, Cuba. I studied classical piano. As a child I heard Stevie Wonder for the first time and I knew that singing and playing the piano was my calling. I started singing along with the artists I loved in my room and learning from them; Stevie Wonder, Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston, Brian McKnight, Christina Aguilera, Alicia Keys. At the age of 13 I started writing my first songs and when I was signed for the first time at the age of 19 in Europe I couldn’t believe it. My music is a mixture of everything I am and what I am is a singer/musician, with strong Pop and Afro-American and also Latin influences in my music, I am a artist who sings and composes Pop/R&B and Latin together with my faithful friend the piano. If I had to choose a slogan for my work it would be “what you hear is what you get” because for me the truth in what I do is the most important thing. I make music and sing as it is born inside me and that’s definitely something I’m most proud of. I would describe my music as fresh, hot, honest, strong and directly from my spirit. I am an extremely communicative being, I also love to dance with all my heart and that is something that I am looking forward to add more in my music and my live performances, which by the way is my favorite part of my job, the touring and singing live and share music skin to skin is priceless. I’ve also been interviewed in Europe by incredible fashion magazines like Elle, Bazaar, Shangay, Vanity Fair where I had the opportunity to touch as a musical artist the fashion world and I loved it. Anything that is creative and unique I will love it. I am moving to LA in a couple of days and I can’t wait to have contact with not only music, also with all kinds of arts, even with acting I would dare, that is the kind of artist I am.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

I was in havana one season, one of those seasons of life that you feel kind of lost and you feel far from your goals…..so….. I decided to write a letter to an african goddess of the seas called Yemaya, which is also represented in the catholic religion in my country as The virgin of Regla. This virgin has a church by the sea placed in a neighborhood named as the virgin in front of havana bay. I put all my faith in my letter, I told the virgin about my struggles to be heard internationally and my dreams about meeting new countries, also about come to the Unites States one day and meet my musical heroes here and try my music. I went to that church, tossed the letter in a bottle and I threw it into the sea. After a couple of months my letter made it inside the bottle to the shores of florida. An american young couple found it in the shore, my letter was in spanish so they gave it to a friend that was a cuban owner of a cuban restaurant in Melbourne, who became a dear friend after. They called the press and in a blink of an eye I received calls from Florida Today who were the first ones to cover the story and when I arrived to the US i meet them, wonderful people. Also received calles from Fox and even New york daily wrote me through social media. They all wanted to know and share my story. My point is that my bottle taught me an important lesson about resilience. A shark could have eaten my bottle, it could have sunk or even broken, but it didn’t. She delivered my message, she clung to my faith and my dreams, she protected them. She remind me how important my resilience was and how important it will always be. She reminded me with her journey and her endurance about mine, and also about all the battles I had won up to that moment, for example I remembered that I had lovely piano teachers but there was one as a child who told me that my hands weren’t made to play the piano and I didn’t give up, I proved her wrong and I graduated with full marks. I didn’t gave up then and I will never ever give up.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

I believe that the most important memory people will have after we are gone is how we made them feel, so as an artist to have people who remember you and your message and your work with love, is the most rewarding aspect of what I do. The fact that my music will exist forever recorded in a record that someone keeps, or even if it is in a very small piece of social media for someone to enjoy it after I’m gone is extremely comforting. Also I consider an artist work as a very important social work, cause we can touch people and make their day just with a song. I’ve been inspired all my life by my favorite artists and even if it is just one person I can help through what i do the same way my fave artists did for me, I will be forever rewarded. A dad came to one of my concerts one night in Madrid and waited for me after the show to get an autograph for his daughter, who was a violinist; the violin is a very difficult instrument and she had lost the passion for it cause all of the sacrifice it takes, all of the time it requires to master, but then she heard my music and my story, and how in love I am with the piano despite all the hard work it took me, so she picked up the violin again. I gotta confess that was one of the best moments I’ve ever had in my life, that night I discovered that my work was helping people and I started to feel even more grateful for doing what I do.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://chilalynnofficial.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chila_lynn/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/chilalynnofficial/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chila-lynn-61a0a418a/?trk=public_profile_featured_profiles_mini-profile_title&originalSubdomain=es
• Twitter: https://mobile.twitter.com/chilalynn?
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkOVL9wBGTkMpaa8qPFj4gw
• Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5uod4Jxg7Q1YBtHtpS9M6D https://music.apple.com/us/artist/chila-lynn/349762942?l=es

Image Credits
Photographer: Marco Raza