Becky G Cries in Spanish and Sings in the Shower for NPR Tiny Desk Concert
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NPR’s Tiny Desk concert space is on Becky G‘s list for a potential new work office. When she stopped by the made her debut on the performance series, she noticed that it has everything she could possibly need: plenty of space and an audience captivated by her music and cheering on her every move. After opening her set with “Bailé Con Mi Ex” and “Mamiii,” she asked: “Is this the energy in the office all the time? This is such a vibe. Y’all making me wanna come work here or sum’n sum’n.”
And for the span of the 21-minute performance, the NPR office does become Becky G’s workplace, but she brought a bit of home to it, too. The first two songs on the setlist were pulled from her 2022 record Esquemas, but the third — “Cries in Spanish” — came from the newly-released regional record Esquinas.
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“This album is inspired by my roots and the music I’ve been listening to since I was a little girl, but also it has a touch of flow,” she wrote on Instagram when the project was first announced. “My desire is that it help you remember that it’s never too late to learn more about your roots,” she adds. “And yes, we can be from here AND from there.”
Performing “Cries in Spanish” live for the first time, Becky G invited Danny Lux to join her in bringing their collaboration to life. “Me and Danny officially met at Coachella, backstage and it was the cutest thing,” she recalled. “You reminded me so much of myself because I was there with all of my family, and you came with all of your family. I took a picture with his mom, and his cousin, and everybody. It was such a vibe and I was like, man, he’s so talented. I was so proud of him, to see him on that lineup.” Becky G also delved into the origin of the song’s title, which stemmed from a gif of a telenovela star she sent to Danny Lux when he agreed to hop on the record with her.
Closing out her set, Becky G took it back to the very beginning. Before she was a force within the Latin music space bringing her Mexican-American heritage to a star-studded Coachella performance or her first headlining North American tour, she was simply dancing in the mirror and singing in the shower. The singer la-da-di, la-da-da, la-da-da’d her way through her hit pop single “Shower,” but first reflected on how she made it this far.
“It’s crazy to think about what a wild journey this has been for me,” she said. “For those who don’t know, I am just an L.A. girl, born and raised in Inglewood, who is so proud of her Chicana roots. When I started in this thing, I did not know what I was getting myself into. It was all just a dream. But as you start pursuing it, and you start discovering these things about yourself, it’s such a beautiful adventure. One of the things that I take away most is just the connection that I have with my community.”
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