The energy that Lennis Rodriguez she gives off on stage is only comparable to the brightness that radiates from her eyes when you have her face to face.
At just 28 years old, the singer, songwriter and producer Dominican-Spanish has already won a Platinum Disc with 'Cuckoo' (together with Juan Magan), and Three Gold Records for ‘You get out’, 'trukitos' Y Diablita Remix (along with Fabbio and Omar Montes).
Her latest EP, 'New paragraph', includes topics like 'Wanting is power' (together with Maikel Delacalle), 'Loop' (which leads the EP of her Pun and apart), 'Look me in the face' Y 'The X Song' (both with Chus Santana) and 'Even though I can not see you', with Omar Montes. A few days ago she surprised us with ‘Dominican Denbow’ , a song with Leo RD.
From Latin urban style to Afro-beat, through ballads, pop, and dembow: there is no rhythm that can resist it. And that's how she demonstrated it on the stage of Desalia, the event organized by Rum Barcelo that last June she celebrated her 15th anniversary in Punta Cana (Dominican Republic), becoming the most epic edition to date.
There, after a memorable night in which Lennis Rodriguez she left her skin and her soul before the public, we had the opportunity to talk with the artist her native country, music, dreams and paradisiacal beaches.
Punta Cana (Dominican Republic).
You came to Spain very young, do you have memories of your childhood in the Dominican Republic?
For me, it's very emotional and tender remember my childhood because it is very pure. She was a very low-income girl but with a very upright family, with very deep values of Dominicans from the countryside, from small towns. She was a crazy lady from the neighborhood, a free soul, I went through all the streets and my mother had to go looking for me to see where she was. When she found me, I was in the middle of some group, everyone clapping and me singing in the middle.
In Dominican Republic, I lived in a very humble neighborhood of the capital, The Alcarrizos, but i was born in flints, a border city with Haiti, in the south of the country. I remember absolutely everything, among other things, the fear with which I went to Spain: where will I go, what will happen...
How were the first years in Spain?
At first I was sad because I did not understand anything, my accent was very different, everything was weird. But as time went by I felt loved and my art was very well received. They told me: "Let's see how you sing, sing something!".
I lived in a neighborhood of Segovia where there was a lot gypsy population . I had many gypsy classmates at school and they were very supportive of my cante.
Lennis Rodriguez.
Did you always know that you wanted to dedicate yourself to this? How did you get into the world of music?
A lot of work had to be done. Let's say I've been preparing all my life without realizing why I have always studied music, I have sung and I have had many experiences that have to do with music, but I had never recorded. I don't believe in chance, but I think that at that moment, I was prepared for that to happen. And the opportunity came with a phrase: "do you record?". And I answered: “I have never recorded”. And they told me “come, I'll record you”. I recorded my first song and it became very popular right from the start.
Looking back, did you think you were going to get this far?
Yes. Ever since I was little I always wanted to be a star. I see myself as a legend, as a thing that does not die.
What references did you have in your beginnings?
I have them all tattooed –he says pointing to his arm–: Tina Turner, Amy Winehouse, Fefita La Grande and me. I'm also named after my mom. It's like my "woman power" arm. When I sing I need the strength of all of them.
I also like them a lot Sia, Rihanna and Beyonce.
The sunrise in these parts is another level
Would you define yourself as a spiritual person?
Much. I believe in vibrations and also in God. I think that God is always close to us and we should not put a label on God, but on our relationship with God, and each person has a different and unique relationship. My relationship with God is my religion.
How do you balance your professional and personal life?
It is about putting everything in its place and giving one hundred percent in each of them. When I'm a mom, I do nothing but be a mom. Thus, when it is my turn to leave, I have sated as much as possible of that possibility. A mother has to make her daughter happy, but she also has to ensure a future even more so if she is a single mother. At first I felt guilty for the times I was absent, but then she told me: "I am guaranteeing him the life he deserves and I am being happy because I also deserve it."
Thank God I have my mother, Estela, and my sister also helps me a lot. my family is a matriarchy. Well, there is a boy, my sister's son. We are very united and we make strength among all, to that everyone has their 100%. When I am with my mother, I give 100% as a daughter, when I am with my sisters, I give 100% as a sister. And then I go six days out there.
Do you try to pass on to your daughter those values that were instilled in you as a child?
Yes. At 200%. My daughter Valeria is a copy of me. So much so that she even scares me, she is an "I" educated by me.
The wonder of discovering a destination on your own, far from the marked circuits
Would you like him to dedicate himself to music?
I would like to but she has to do what she wants. She likes art but I think she's going to go more towards painted art than singing. She has a voice, but I think that what she has stolen her time with her mother is not so funny. But well, she is seven years old, she will grow and discover what she wants. This July she gets to know the Dominican Republic for the first time.
How would you define the Dominican Republic to someone who has never been?
The Paradise. This place is blessed, it has something that makes you have courage when you leave here, you leave with another start before the world. I think it has a lot to do the self-improvement of its people. You see them “en joseo”, a word we use to refer to something like “daily struggle”. And you get a little bit of that. When you come from another country, you come with the comforts that it allows you and when you arrive here, you see how they, despite not having all those things, go and eat the world. When you leave here, you do it with the same desire to eat the world.
What I would say to someone who is going to visit República for the first time is: “You are going to go rulay”, that is, “You are going to leave with a lot of strength, with a lot of start”. You say to yourself: "How am I going to complain that I have a bus, subway, health, security, work...?"
What places in the Dominican Republic would you recommend?
I love the south of the country. It is paradise and is very little known and visited by tourists. There is security, there is no violence, they are humble people, when you pass through their door they call you and offer you water. The beaches are incredible. There is a place in the south called paradise, and it is! There is my town, Pedernales; Bahía de las Águilas, the most beautiful beach in the world; Catalina Island... It may be because I'm from there, but I love the south.
Let's talk about gastronomy, what are your favorite dishes?
The typical dishes of this country are incredible. I like it the flag (rice, beans and stewed meat), the stilt (which is similar to cooked but more tropical), the mangu (the mashed plantain, which is eaten with onions and things on top) and of course, juices, my favorite is passion fruit.
What is your favorite place (or places) in Spain?
I'm lovin 'it Cadiz. Okay, Andalusia whole. and the islands Canary Islands ! And I also met a place that I have added to the list of my spiritual places: Roses, in the Costa Brava. That has something special, like Santiago de Compostela, it is magical.
Santo Domingo Dominican Republic.
You like to travel? Any place in particular that you would always return to?
Miami. I just wrote a song that will be out soon and it goes like this: “Barcelona, to Miami, from Venezuela to Cali, a stopover in Mali or on a beach in Cádiz”. They are places that I really like.
What destinations do you have on your bucket list?
I want to go to Hawaii. It's an obsession. And I would also like to know Namibia, Morocco Y Egypt.
Looking back, what would you say to the Lennis of the past?
Don't let anyone make you think you can't, because you can. And from here I tell you that you can see all the way and it was worth it. So when you wake up and think you don't know what you're made for, what your mission is in this world, trust what your heart tells you, and the clue is that it makes you happy. Analyze well what fills you and that is the future.
What fills you is what will make you a millionaire and I give that advice to any young person who says “I don't know what to study, I don't know what to do”. Do you want to know what it is? Start listing the things that really make you happy, some of them have an aspect that has to do with what you want to study. If it makes you happy, it will give you wealth, and not only financially.
This is what I tell my daughter: you should do what makes you happy.
La Calita beach, in Puerto de Santa María.
When you write songs, what inspires you? what do you want to convey to people?
Are a lot of things. Lennis Rodríguez's philosophy could be summed up as "Do not let yourself down, do not allow the oppression of any type of element, neither people nor fears, nor psychological nor physical, do not allow anything to sink you. You have to be a warrior and believe in yourself. My philosophy tells people: “I want to give you happiness, I want to give you a shoulder to lean on. If you want to cry, cry here; if you want to dance, dance here”. I was born to be with people, my philosophy is "company".
And I'm an activist: I say what perhaps many people mean. What I don't want to allow, I release in a song. I am an activist with my people. As soon as they tell me what they want me to say, I quickly write a song. As soon as I get what they want to tell me, I care about them and put it into my music. I am one of my people, I am their voice.
How do you feel before going on stage?
I never stop being nervous. For me, every show is the first. I have the same nerves from the first day. Now it's almost worse, I get desperate because I want to get out now. And when I come out, after the first few seconds, it's like people tell you "Everything is fine Lennis, we are your people." Then I go crazy.
Lennis Rodriguez in Punta Cana.
what are you doing this summer?
I have a confirmed tour that will go through Mexico, Germany, Spain... I go to many Spanish festivals this summer: Pure Latino, Riverland Fest, Sunsetland, Arenal Sound... With my people!
You have done collaborations with top-level international artists, someone with whom you would like to sing and with whom you haven't yet?
A lots of! I greatly admire Archangel, Bad Bunny, Romeo, Juan Luis Guerra!...
One of your songs is called 'Colores', what color do you see life?
Of many colors. Each thing has a color and each person likes a color. Colors are freedom like the LGTBIQ+ flag. Each person likes to be of a color and is the clear example that each person has a way of seeing the world. Like when you put on red glasses and you see everything red. There are people who see everything green, everything red... and people who see the world in many colors. But between black and white there are a thousand grays and you have to know how to respect others.
Sometimes we are selfish and want to change the world because we don't like it. Move away, if a person does not fulfill the things that you like, he chooses another. We're free.
Any future projects you can share?
Right now I'm finishing a job, which is not an EP or an album or anything closed at the moment, but it is a concept and it's called 'Metamorph'. It is where some strong and spicy dembows are going to come out now. She is a very rebellious Lennis, get ready!
And then I'm at songwriting camp with a bunch of creatives. I have a David Marley as a producer, Brian Angelis and my producer Victor. We are producing what comes after and it will be like a merger, it is a compilation of what I've learned so far put to music. You are going to freak out!