Beto Cuevas

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From Rock Pop, to joyful and melancholic music; to metaphoric and straightforward lyrics, this artist comes back with his new production. Beto Cuevas presents his first solo album as Singer, Composer, Musician and Producer: “Miedo Escénico”, to be released on September 30th.

Beto Cuevas, former lead singer of the Chilean band La Ley, released his new single “Vuelvo” internationally on August 11th.

The color palette on the cover of “Miedo Escénico” is a reflection of the songs included in the album: from violet to green, from red to white; bright tones emerging powerful over an intense dark background. These contrasts reflect the mood of the songs: stories between the lines; borrowed anecdotes, experiential passages, adapted and nostalgic tales.

“The cover is like a graphical reflection of what is inside of me. People can see themselves reflected in my songs, and that is a way to share a lively experience of those stories”, comments Cuevas.

The artist, who took the time to compose, produce, sing and play instruments in his new songs, also got involved in the visual concept, as he is a Graphic Designer himself. He wanted to present this album as a “cover letter” of himself, showing in his songs a deep contrast of emotions and thoughts, a detailed work that took three years of his life.

His work presents songs such as “El Cínico”, “Háblame”¨, “Un Minuto de Silencio” and “Vuelvo”, the latter being the first promotional single, serviced to radio in early August.

The tales that craft the album are human, light, simple, strong, heavy, intense or passionate, and that is what they are for this 41 old songwriter: tales. They have nothing autobiographical, just some personal notes.

“The duty of an artist is to observe, and doing so, you find stories and tales, and how they come to me is how I show them”. He doesn’t say anything about his personal life, his relationship with his partner or his family. That is separate from his career and he doesn’t have to make it public.

Luis Alberto Cuevas Olmedo was born in Santiago de Chile. He was the lead singer of the band La Ley for 15 years. He travelled Latin America, Europe and the US with his fellow musicians Mauricio Clavería and Pedro Frugone. He achieved great success with La Ley and reached his climax with songs such as “El Duelo”, “Aquí”, “Fuera de Mí” and “Cielo Market”, among others.

Before deciding to split with La Ley more than 3 years ago, he had already realized that his artistic life had fallen into a comfort zone from which he needed a change and a breath of new experiences. “It was like suicide, an anticipated death, because passion had become routine.” “Everything was part of a natural process. I finished a stage with La Ley and I needed to do my own things. It was very healthy what we did, and we did it in a very coherent way. We concluded La Ley’s stage with the album “Libertad”, and then it came the “Best Hits”… that’s how we closed the chapter”, he explains.

Even though “Miedo Escénico” was already expected two years ago, without that title of course, Beto wasn’t in any hurry or in the need to be in a spotlight. He gave himself some time and space to gather thoughts that were then transported to musical notes, verses, and ideas, so he finally finished it this year.

He says that he was influenced by the feeling of detachment, by the quest for a life far away from routine, and by the feeling of a missing goal and challenge that some times puzzled him. “I had forgotten about the daily life, because I was encapsulated in a schematic job. I came closer to my family and friends… I feel that I was re-introduced to a society that worked in a different way than that which I knew before I joined the band. My songs came from all this process and these are the songs that I’m ready to show now.”

Beto worked as the producer of “Miedo Escenico”, and in the last stage of the project he added Aureo Baqueiro to his team. He also worked with Steve Tushar who was the artist in charge of audio design and final polishing of the whole project.

Cuevas wrote all the songs, orchestrated them and supervised the recording sessions, which took place in his studio in Los Angeles, “Black Elbow”. The final mix was done in The Complex.

“Calling the album “Miedo Escénico” is kind of an irony about the moment in which the artist is filled with an atrocious feeling of uncertainty before jumping on stage, which is the feeling that keeps me alive, but in exchange of what is around. Before recording the album there wasn’t any feeling of doubt or uncertainty, everything was marked by the irony of saying the opposite to miedo escénico: here I am and don’t move because I’ll be right back”, says the songwriter, who appears in the cover of the album like a modern James Bond, with his face half lit and a dandy hat. The song “Miedo Escénico” was named like that because, for Cuevas, it is like a metaphor about love and the consequences of this feeling. “It is a solid reflection about where loving can take you, it makes you feel which is the easiest, but then, you face the threat and violence of a separation”, he states.

“I’m talking about the sensation that arises when you try to achieve a goal without thinking about life around you, when many times you pass by the place where you started without notice, until to hit a wall, return to what you were, and you see from the outside what you have become.”

Like this, the singer goes on describing his songs: warm, explosive. In “Un Minuto de Silencio”, there is a famous phrase that refers to mourning and to the time requested for a 60 seconds remembrance of the person that is no longer here, dug in his richly varied mood.

He takes the chance to jump in a slippery surface to leave the comfort zone and do self questioning and criticism. Because he says that what’s most valuable is how we feed the spirit and not the body.

“it’s easy to say what we want and where we want to go. It is necessary, occasionally, to reflect on how materialistic we humans can be. We spend our lives thinking about getting things, being owners, having power and wealth… and where is everything else? I ask myself if it is worth it to make good use of things, because we have an expiration date, but we never admit it. I do believe that there are times in life when we need to start over and look for that which really fills us”

Like this, in each fragment of the phrases that he uses to describe that which is his real passion right now, his album, the Chilean shows happiness and enthusiasm. He combines this with vehemence and brilliance. He likes to talk about his music, and to get involved with everything related to it.

He goes through the rest of the songs and calls them by their full name. One of them is “Háblame”, in which he affirms to be giving hidden messages about what he thinks about living with a partner. “The name of the song says it all”

He also describes “Are you Sorry?” a song that is structured in the most classic bases of the kind of alternative rock that he likes. He dedicates this song to whom will be his future “ex”. “She’s future because nothing lasts forever. It’s fun to do it this way because we swore eternal love to each other, but I can guarantee that love is not always the same, it can change.”

His song “El Cínico” is part of his personal taste about the thoughts when one of the many human cycles finishes or starts again. “I put myself in the role of a laid-back guy who questions everything. In Christmas or New Year’s in which I tell myself that I have to be having a good time, even when depression can’t be more evident.”

“Miedo Escénico” gave Beto Cuevas the opportunity to make analogies about some personal aspects of his daily life that haven’t been told very often, like dancing. That is why, in this composition, which is deep and personal, he gave himself the opportunity to turn to the action of his two left feet when he tries to dance. He doesn’t have great dancing skills, but between body improvisation and choreography, he can do something. Yes, something like cumbanchero, almost reggaeton-like, with the most pure instincts of rockability, that gave him the idea of what he wanted: something upbeat.

“I have never felt that Im good at dancing, so I haven’t done it, but with this I decided to do it. With a couple of tequilas I took out the rocker that we all have inside, and I became Elvis for a moment. Well, I even danced cumbia… it’s a response to what is established, to what we don’t like and we don’t change. I danced and I got inspired to write this song.”

Beto Cuevas states that he is sure and aware that when he performs or puts a song in an album, they turn into the public domain, because people get in its groove and adopt them, steal them, borrow them permanently, or use them and trash them. But in the end, they fully posses them even for short periods of time.

Aware of this, he presents in a not so formal, acoustic version, “No Me Queda Nada”, one of the most inspiring ballads of his new melodic style. – “If you think you have everything and that the quest has finished, you are forgetting about what is essential”, he affirms in such a natural way that is almost frightening. He is convinced of what he is saying, and when you re-read it, you will realize the reason. “The way we treat nature has put us in an awkward position, because technology advances and humans think they grow. But in reality, we are going backwards in every sense. We gain something, we lose something. That is the law of life, so if we have everything, we wouldn’t have a reason to keep on living.”

Then, there are the relationships of permanent conflict, which are not necessarily bad, but are romantically dangerous. The couples that kill themselves with words and then heal each other with kisses and caresses. However, they come back with their own wounds. “Algo”

“It would be needed to define ourselves as something, and define that something that we all have and give, that hooks us and pushes us to hit something. There is something is your face, your kisses, your caresses, something that I can’t give up… there is this recognition before other people that trouble us… the unexplainable something, that something… is algo”

“Tu y Yo” is described by Beto as the deepest and most intimate things of a couple, and “La Historia que Nunca Vamos a Contar” is a poetic exercise with lots of antagonism in a two people relationship.

Almost at the end of the album there is a tale in which he strips a couple more reflections and he portraits his perception about what means to carry unnecessary baggage, expired reasoning, overloaded feelings and heavy thoughts: “Mi Unica Verdad”.

“There are so many crucifixes that we keep on carrying for many reasons, and we make life so heavy that we should think about getting rid of some for the simple purpose of living ligther.”

Beto closes “Miedo Escénico” with “Mañana”, a melancholic creation in which he opens to the possibility that missing someone is not a sign of weakness but a sign of humanism. That we can forgive, we can still love, that there can be more relationships without the fear of starting over, or to fail again so you can stand back up.

That’s how Beto Cuevas’ “Miedo Escénico” is, which will be for sale on September 23rd.

That is how his stage fear is, and he is willing to share it and lightenup with you.