[@latanya_alberto] on New EP, Redefining ‘Home’, Intentionality and Healing

WORDS AND INTERVIEW BY ABIGAIL ANI

Latanya Alberto is slowly but surely establishing herself as a creative force delivering stories of real depth through her music. There’s a rare, magnetic quality about how the young Amsterdam-based multidisciplinary artist combines soft, but powerfully poetic vocals with production that experiments with genres such as soul and jazz to express her perspective on the world. With her two COLORS performances amassing almost 1 million views and supporting John Legend on her agenda, Latanya Alberto is undoubtedly one to watch. 

Following the release of her new EP ‘HOME’, GUAP hopped on a zoom call with Latanya. Read more below.

You’ve just dropped your new EP ‘HOME’, how does it feel to finally be able to share it with everyone?

Honestly, it feels so different from any previous release. I feel like, in the beginning, I wasn’t meant to experience the project as heavily as I feel it right now. It’s really strange.

But I think that what I say on the project and how it reflects on my life now is really accurate. So, I’m so excited to have it out in the world and I’m just trying to make people understand it in several ways and to make them feel it with me.

I also think it’s different from the other ones because when I write something, I’m always looking ahead during the release phase, so I’m already in another space in my mind. But now, I feel like I’m still in the same space in my head, so it’s a beautiful thing.

How do you appreciate the moment if you’re usually thinking about the future?

That’s so difficult. I think even when you’re reminding yourself to live in the moment and appreciate things, it’s still hard to actually do it. But I’ve been practising standing still more often and seeing all that I have accomplished and all that I’m doing now. 

And I feel like with ‘HOME’, I really wanted to incorporate the element of live music because when I’m rehearsing with my band or when I’m performing live, that is one of the only moments that I really feel like I’m in the moment. So I wanted to keep that reminder there for me so that I could relive it.

It all moves so fast. I think that we’re so driven to work on the next thing and work towards our goals and sometimes you don’t even realise that you’ve already accomplished a lot of the things on your list because you’re so focused on the future. In the end, I think the journey is the most beautiful thing, not the finish line.

In three words, how would you introduce ‘HOME’ to someone who hasn’t heard it or your sound yet?

Versatile, poetic and rooted.

In the film ‘Home’ that accompanies the EP, you recite a short poem. Can you share a little bit about how you wrote it and what it means?

I feel like the poem is the anthem of the project. I wanted to create the definition of ‘home’ in several ways and for it to not just have the meaning of the house we live in. 

I feel like my body is the centre of what I consider ‘home’. All the things that I’ve been taught, trigger me, have made me into this person and influence the way that I make decisions now and the way my mind works, I carry that in my body. Even though the physical sense of the body is something different, the way that I carry all these things are in my mind, my body and the way that I feel it. 

So, I think that, in essence, the EP is about control and keeping control over your own decisions and the way that you want to design your ‘home’, your world, your mind. The society that we live in now is really focused on other people trying to gain control over your body, over your mind, over your decisions, over the way that you’re living, over the way you’ve designed things in your life.

I wanted to play with the poem in the sense that it was directed at one person, someone who’s violating your space and your body and your life, acting like he was at ‘home’ in a relationship type of way, in my case. But if you look at it from a distance, it represents how the world or the way we live is this enemy or villain when it’s taking control over things that you should have control over. 

The concept of ‘home’ as a state of mind is the main message that you want to convey with this project. How did you come to this realisation? Can you elaborate on what this means to you?

I’ve always felt at home in the way my mind works and the way I analyse things. I’ve felt really comfortable in analysing stuff, doing research and really being in control over how I educate myself and how I reflect on things around me. It’s kind of combined with the fact that I’ve always felt so close to things that were in the mind, but on the other hand, I also really didn’t feel at home in spaces I’ve lived in. So since it is something that lives in my mind, but is still affected by the physical things that affect me, I was like: “How can I describe the sense of home for me best?”

Also, when I was thinking of ‘home’ as a state of mind and what I wanted it to be, it actually started with a conversation about how my family in Suriname and Curacao have a sense of identity and attachment to the heritage and culture. I would say that I feel at home in that as well, but when I come back to the Netherlands and I’m a part of this society and culture, you kind of feel like you’re in-between because you’re not really Dutch and you’re not born and raised in Suriname or Curacao. So I was just wondering what that switch does to you and how my attachment and my sense of ‘home’ in regards to the motherland is different from my grandma’s, for example. 

I’ve read that you “religiously” live by the line: “Always make sure the words you say have substance, let them be rich with intention and make change, even if it is in thought”. This sounds like you’ve given yourself a huge responsibility. How has it challenged you as an individual and an artist? And how do you navigate this?

It’s so challenging. I often wonder if other people experience this in the same way because I feel so responsible for a lot of the subjects I talk about, but also when I’m writing about them and thinking about them, it really hurts me. It’s an individual thing, even though it’s something that affects a lot of people. And I think that the responsibility allows me to access that space where I’m able to go deep, stay authentic and really say what I feel from the core, not just because everyone’s talking about it or it’s a hype thing. But it’s a sacrifice at the same time because I try to encourage others to have the conversations and to build with me, but it is also that you can’t really take a day off from. 

It’s a sacrifice, but it’s a beautiful thing. And it’s not because I feel like I have to, but just because I feel like it’s the right thing for me to do.

Now let’s get into some of the tracks on the EP. How do you set the tone of the project with the intro ‘Take Care of You’?

I feel like the intro is an affirmation for everything that’s going to be next on the EP and everything that’s going to be present in life. Just a reminder of the things that are important and the control which remains in your own hands as long as you do remember that you do have that. 

I just wanted to start off right before the EP goes into the separate subjects in a deep way.

You’ve always had an interest in creating art and expressing yourself through your hair, and as you sing ‘Take Care of You’ in the film, your long braids are wrapped around you like a halterneck top. What was the creative thought process behind how you styled your hair?

I really love being involved in the visual production. From the beginning when I’m thinking of the concepts, until the very end when we’re colour-grading and doing the final edit, everything is so important for the message and I’m really involved in everything.

It’s funny because I always feel like the hair is the most important thing and everyone’s like “You need to make it work” or “No, we don’t have the time”, I’m like “No, the hair’s got to be right, the hair tells the story”. 

It takes a long time, but for me, it starts there and it’s beautiful to see how people somehow see or feel that there’s a story being told through the hair. In the beginning of the film, when it’s wrapped around me, it’s like an affirmation, it’s a safety net, it’s something that is supposed to reassure you. And with the hair wrapped around me, I honestly feel like it was just holding, uplifting me, giving me a sense of safety. 

Your love of poetry clearly runs through the EP and I know that your poetic influences include Maya Angelou and Toni Morrison. Were there particular works by them or other writers that inspired you as you were creating ‘HOME’?

I don’t think that there were any particular poems or writings of theirs that directly influenced ‘HOME’. It’s just like my musical influences and how they affect me. It’s like a sponge: you take it all in and then when you’re expressing, it just comes out in some kind of form which you’re not really certain of how it came to be. 

But what inspired me the most about them is the way they wrote, the topics, the responsibility in the way that they carried the stories and also their emotional way for convincing the reader of their words. And I think that force and that way of approaching the words and the poems is something that definitely shines through ‘HOME’, especially with the poem that we just talk about.

On the EP’s third track ‘Being Loved’, you talk about love and ask a lot of questions about things that can influence it. “Would the love you have for me / Would it survive your therapy? / On how to be loved” are a few lines that highlight how thought-provoking your writing can be. Can you go a bit deeper into the process behind the song and its significance?

I think I started with the pre-hook. That’s where I ask the questions: “Is it from back-in-the-day analysis / Is it the rules of the media?”

I think that as a society we are so focused on the ‘correct’ way to love and finding the ‘correct’ way according to the media or things that we’ve been taught. But in my experience, it’s more about finding the things that the other person considers love with them and the other way around too. But the reason why I called it ‘Being Loved’ is because we often know how we could want to give love, but receiving love may even be more difficult when you don’t really know how to. I think that there’s a lot of miscommunication in that area where there are a lot of wrong examples of how things should be. Things always seem so beautiful and perfect and as though there’s only one way to do it. So, when I wrote that pre-hook, I felt like this is exactly what I wanted to say about it.

I also wanted it to just remain a question because I don’t know as well. I think the idea was just to make people think about where do the things they consider to be love come from or how do their actions reflect the things that they see around them. I guess it’s still one big question mark and it will remain that way until you find the right way to communicate and to make your own definition for it.

You’ve said that you don’t want to be limited by the boundaries of a single genre. So, if you were to make a genre-blending playlist that encapsulates you as an artist, who would be on it and why? 

Cleo Sol, Kokoroko, Dwele, D’Angelo, Gretchen Parlato, Kendrick Lamar. 

I think that in the different styles there are elements that really go well together and in my music it also feels like that. Some things seem really far apart, but they can really work well when you put them together in the right way.

You’ve said that you “burn for the concept of developing a healthy soul”. So, how does your music contribute to your growth and healing?

I think that the way I write stuff is really from my subconscious. A lot of the time, I don’t really understand it when I write it and then months later when I hear or read it back, I’m like, “Oh, this is what I meant”. So I really rely on my gut feeling. I think it’s a very unique way of making myself aware of these things I hadn’t thought about or hadn’t thought about it that way. So, it feels like it’s new to me when I realise what it’s about.

I think that it’s really healthy for me to be able to figure out what things mean over time just so I don’t get overwhelmed and it comes to me at the right moment. For example, with ‘Duality’, I wrote it about a year ago and I just realised what it was about the night before the EP showcase [last month]. I was already so invested in it and I did a lot of things to support the narrative, but it was so from my gut and so natural. I really didn’t think about it, I just did it. But, the night before the showcase, I realised what it was about and [the song] has gotten a whole new emotional weight. 

It just adds to my healing at the weirdest times. I’m still working on figuring out how it helps my healing, but it’s an interesting process.

The project ends on an uplifting note with ‘Miss Chance’. For instance, you ask “Are rainy days my liberation lane?” and say that “It don’t always hurt us to lose”. It sounds like you’re trying to reframe negative experiences in order to move forward. When was the last time you had to do this?

There was a show that I was supposed to do and it was scheduled in the middle of Covid. I really wanted to do it, but I couldn’t because of the circumstances and the timing. It still was a decision and I said no. But then it was moved and I would have been able to do it, but the line-up was already full and I was so, so sad because it really was something that I wanted to do. But I trusted it enough for it to become something beautiful eventually. I just train myself to believe that things work out for the best eventually and things will come along the way that will surprise you.

Was there anything in particular that inspired this song?

I honestly think that it was a collection of experiences. When I wrote it, I was in a place where I felt like things are just not going the way I want.

I always know what to do, but sometimes I start doubting because I want the other thing. But my gut feeling always tells me what’s right. So in that moment, I felt like a lot of things weren’t going the way that I wanted in my head, but in my heart I knew that it was the right decision. This was in love, but also in more business stuff.

I was just thinking about what this gut feeling and these decisions really meant and how I was able to recover from it so quickly and just know in my mind that things were going to be fine. I wanted to show both perspectives on ‘Miss Chance’. It really feels you’re on the bottom of the list when you say no to something or something doesn’t work the way you wanted it to, but eventually it will liberate you.

You’ve previously said that D’angelo inspires you to “do better and be freer” in your art. So, if you could play him one or two tracks from ‘HOME’ and hear his perspective, which would it be and why?

I would say ‘Duality’ because of how it mixes different genres. It’s a little bit more electronic, but still feels very light. The narrative of ‘Duality’ feels very represented in the music. For example, the melodies on the guitar. There’s one part that goes *Latanya sings a guitar melody* and I feel like it just speaks to you, it just says something and I feel like that is worthy of a conversation with D’angelo.

I would say ‘Sunrise’ because it has a lot of different styles in it, there is jazz, there’s a bit of bachata in it, you have so many different switches.  I think it really represents me and what I’m going for and the things that I want to do in my music. So I would really want to hear his perspective on the song and blending genres and just being free.

So, what’s the next stage of growth for Latanya Alberto? Where do you want to be or go?

Well, I feel like I have so many ideas and I’ve so many things that I want to do and I always envision them, but I just want to gain the resources to actually do them and really take things to another level. So, on a mental level, I think that I’m already somewhere in the future. So, the growth would be in how we are going to make these things happen and who we’re going to work with, all the practical stuff. But it’s going to work out.