Danny Ocean gets on a tropical vibe for 'Babylon Club'
The album is a way to expand the world of Babylon beyond just the name or his fan club and his 'Babylon Girl' battle cry, which began when his hit 'Me Rehúso' launched the Venezuelan urban artist to global fame.
'We're called Babylon Club, and I think it's very much in honor of them,' he said of his fans in an interview ahead of this week's release of his album. 'And it's also like this utopian place on the beach where you arrive, that space in your life where you realize that not everything is work and that life is beautiful too, that you have to live it and that life is one.'
The inspiration of the beach, tropics and Caribbean comes from taking time to heal the soul, to be with your loved ones and leave obligations for a while.
The cover with Ocean in front of a palm leaf and blue water suits him very well with the song 'Crayola,' in which he creates a tropical vibe by diving fully into salsa.
'I'm from the Caribbean too. In the end I love merengue, I love Afro, I love everything that is tropi sounds,' he said.
Recruiting big stars for 'Babylon Club'Creating the sounds of 'Babylon Club' meant international teamups and a trip to Ocean's song vault.
For 'Priti,' the album's first single, he traveled to Panama to work with Sech in his native country.
'He received me with all the love in the world. We went out to get to know his country, we had a good time,' he said. 'Then we became very close friends, which is the nice thing about collaborating, that sometimes you go out meeting a colleague and leave as a friend of this person.'
Louis BPM, his guest on 'Sunshine,' is a fresh voice of urban music in Venezuela, originally from the Pinto Salinas neighborhood of Caracas.
'I had been listening to him for a while, and I liked it a lot. I really liked his voice, I really liked how he writes his reality,' said Ocean.
He said he feels the need to share more urban music created in Venezuela.
'It is very difficult to come from a place where there is no industry and where there is no education. It's difficult to go out and compete abroad, but that's where we are,' he said. 'We are all set to push our culture outside and make ourselves known.'
Mexico City was where Ocean and Kenia Os collaborated on 'AyMami,' a song he previously recorded but never released.
'I did 'AyMami' about eight years ago and suddenly last year I stumbled upon the demo again. I heard it, I said wow!' he said. 'She has a very good vibe... She works a lot and is doing something all the time, and that is a great plus in this industry.'
The beach inspired other songs, including the flamenco-ish 'Corazón,' which was born while Ocean was sitting with friends in Miami playing a guitar he likes. 'Arena,' about a crush at first sight on a Venezuelan beach, features Puerto Rican star Arcángel while 'Anoche', with the Spanish singer Aitana, also transport listeners to the shore.
Sending a message of 'strength and patience' to migrants
The album is accompanied by a short film, created with videos of five of his songs, which begins with 'Priti.' It features performances by Venezuelan María Gabriela de Faría and her husband Christian McGaffney and portrays people years after they have emigrated, when they are working hard.
'I'm like her little angel who appears in various circumstances and tells her to escape, she's going to the beach ... a beach that in the end is Babylon Club,' he said. 'I'm not saying stop working or anything like that, but get away, give yourself some time for yourself, you deserve it and remember that life is beautiful too.'
Ocean, 33, identifies with De Faría's character and believes that the same thing happens to many immigrants.
'At least I can talk about Venezuelans, that we are kind of trapped a little bit in work, work, work, work, that sometimes we forget a little about living life, you know?' he said.
Ocean will begin a tour in September that will take him to Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Chile, Argentina, Bolivia, Honduras, Guatemala, Costa Rica and Panama.
He immigrated to the United States almost a decade ago with the goal of fulfilling his dream in music.
In the face of changing immigration policies and raids, he expressed solidarity with migrants.
'I know it's a very, very sensitive issue. And I know that many of us are going through a very particular uncertainty right now, and it hurts, it hurts to see your people also go through this uncertainty,' he said. 'As a migrant, I can tell you that what happens is scary, you know? And the only thing I can say is to send strength and patience to the people.'
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It is something I would like to do just no idea of when or how … but I'll definitely keep you posted!" I never heard from him again. "I knew he wasn't going to do anything," my mom said when I revealed what had happened — or rather, what hadn't. "And I knew there was no reason to get my hopes up. This was a waste of everyone's time." She began sobbing as she said this. Her hurt was loudly palpitating through the telephone, and I began to feel hurt too, not for myself, but for the little girl in my mom who was still crying for her mother's love all these years later. I tried my best to comfort her, but nothing I said could stop the flow of tears. "It was a waste of time," she said again. My mom may have thought that the entire experience with Bernie was a "waste," however, something else happened in the aftermath — my mom began opening up about her childhood to me, and I began asking more questions. I asked her what happened immediately after Amanda went missing. 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"My grandma had a hard life, she was abandoned by her mom and forced to work as a kid to provide for her siblings," Bernie told me during our FaceTime call. "She was abused and assaulted by men she knew — it was very traumatic." My mom, of course, knew none of this growing up; but she inevitably inherited Amanda's generational trauma, and it made its way into my childhood too. But in learning more about my mom's abandonment, the trajectory of her life became clear to me. I understood the pain she endured her entire life. Even though it led to difficulties in my own upbringing, I felt more connected to her; and then I felt myself becoming more protective of her. Because of this trauma, my mom faced many personal struggles, including failed toxic relationships with men, especially with my father. But unlike Amanda, my mom never gave up on her family and never abandoned my two siblings and me. She tried her best to overcome the challenges and move forward, even if she made mistakes along the way. And my mom is still persevering now, even if it's without the love of a mother who left everything behind and never looked back. "Everything about Amanda hurts, but what will I do?" My mom told me recently. "[I] continue to move forward. It's all I can do." Get our Latinx Files newsletter for stories that capture the complexity of our communities. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. Solve the daily Crossword
