Speaker 1: This is, he said, ayad ho with Eric Winter and
Speaker 1: Rodlin Fantas.
Speaker 2: Hello, Hello, everybody, Welcome to another episode of he said, jib,
Speaker 2: how are you.
Speaker 1: I'm doing good.
Speaker 3: I'm doing good. We have an exciting guest today. I'm
Speaker 3: very pumped. A friend of yours, actually a legend.
Speaker 4: It's amazing. I am so happy.
Speaker 2: Guys, we have the one and only Gloria is Stephan
Speaker 2: I've been a fan, I'm a colleague, I'm a friend,
Speaker 2: a lover. I think she is such a solid human being,
Speaker 2: as well as her husband Emilio.
Speaker 4: I adore.
Speaker 2: The whole family is just next level and incredibly talented
Speaker 2: and what a what a testament of success and discipline
Speaker 2: and working hard to accomplish dreams.
Speaker 4: They own Miami, the music industries.
Speaker 3: People who have revolutionized in industry. Yes, I'm so excited.
Speaker 3: She They're lovely people and good people, good people, Gloria.
Speaker 3: I'm with us, So let's bring her in.
Speaker 2: So Gloria, oh my goodness, let me tell you something.
Speaker 2: You are And I'm not kidding, You're going to tell
Speaker 2: you this. You're one of my idols, one of the
Speaker 2: people that I study your career, your personal life, and
Speaker 2: I just go Oh my god.
Speaker 3: She's not a stocker.
Speaker 2: It's not a stock a stalker. You know, I love
Speaker 2: you and you know it serve. You serve as an
Speaker 2: inspiration for.
Speaker 4: People like us.
Speaker 2: You know, we've been doing this for a long time
Speaker 2: as well. We've been together for a long time. It's
Speaker 2: going to be twenty years now, and you just seeing
Speaker 2: you thrive and still doing it hard and with passion
Speaker 2: and doing so well while maintaining a fabulous, beautiful personal life.
Speaker 4: It's thank you, Thank you for that.
Speaker 1: Thank you.
Speaker 5: And Dido, by the way, I'm a huge fan, as
Speaker 5: I've told you, and twenty years there is nothing to
Speaker 5: sneeze at.
Speaker 1: That's phenomenal.
Speaker 3: Thank you.
Speaker 1: So we feel blessed. I mean, you know, I don't.
Speaker 1: I'm not out there all the time.
Speaker 5: I really have the luxury of picking my projects. Sometimes
Speaker 5: it all converges, just like when it rains, it pours.
Speaker 5: But unless I'm really excited about a project, I'm not
Speaker 5: going to go into the studio unless I have something
Speaker 5: to say or want to share something in the last
Speaker 5: original song I did was during COVID that I did
Speaker 5: Kwandoy a Moore that was on the Brazil three five
Speaker 5: album All the other ones were like Brazilian versions of
Speaker 5: my hits, but that was an original tune. I thought
Speaker 5: that it was an important message to get out there.
Speaker 1: And likewise, now with it, I he says. I wasn't
Speaker 1: planning it.
Speaker 5: I was working for the last three years with my
Speaker 5: daughter on the musical that's an original musical that I'm
Speaker 5: super excited about. And Emilio comes to me with a
Speaker 5: song like a couple of years ago, and he goes,
Speaker 5: babe ata consiln you know, I really I wrote it
Speaker 5: supposedly for this artist that I'm doing this album, but
Speaker 5: this song has to be for you, and I go, way,
Speaker 5: but I'm not doing an album.
Speaker 1: Let me hear it.
Speaker 5: I go, oh my god, this song is like off
Speaker 5: the charts. And I said, well, look, I can't divert
Speaker 5: because I have to focus on one thing. He does
Speaker 5: fifty things at once. He's got add and he's.
Speaker 1: Good at all.
Speaker 5: But I said, if if you wait, he goes, do
Speaker 5: you trust me? I go, of course, I trust you. He goes,
Speaker 5: would you let me write this album for you? I
Speaker 5: go go to it.
Speaker 3: Wow, that's what I was kind of going to ask you.
Speaker 3: I was going to ask you about that because to me,
Speaker 3: you're you and Amelia. It's like you set the bar
Speaker 3: for working couples that work together, build together, make magic together.
Speaker 3: And I was curious in a situation like that, And
Speaker 3: it sounds like in this he came to you with
Speaker 3: this idea and said, hey, what do you think? Throughout
Speaker 3: the years, has it always been sort of a back
Speaker 3: and forth? Sometimes you're the one that going to him saying, hey,
Speaker 3: I have an idea, I want to do this. Or
Speaker 3: is he more on you or you more on him?
Speaker 3: Or is it just it comes together, you know, harmoniously
Speaker 3: where it's just I don't know. Every time it just
Speaker 3: happens organically, you know, in this sense.
Speaker 1: It does, it doesn't. It's a mutual thing.
Speaker 5: Like Yeah, for example, when we did, he came started
Speaker 5: feeding me all these songs and they were phenomenal. It's
Speaker 5: like a really autobiographical our love story. I did write
Speaker 5: one song for my grandson, but I didn't I hadn't
Speaker 5: written it for this album. I had written it in
Speaker 5: English a while back because I missed him and he
Speaker 5: had just been with me and he left and it
Speaker 5: all poured out, and then I told him I want
Speaker 5: to write it in Spanish to include on this album
Speaker 5: and do this really.
Speaker 1: Old Cuban rhythm with it.
Speaker 5: And then when when we were going to do the videos,
Speaker 5: I directed both videos and I told him I have
Speaker 5: this idea that I want to do. What do you
Speaker 5: think of this? And he goes, good luck of you
Speaker 5: can get that done. I wanted to shoot it at
Speaker 5: the place where my mother and I lived when we
Speaker 5: first got to Miami.
Speaker 4: Wow, And it looked.
Speaker 1: Exactly the same. And he said, are you sure you're
Speaker 1: going to be I go, I'm going to get it done.
Speaker 1: You watch.
Speaker 5: So he was very supportive of that, but at the
Speaker 5: beginning it was going, I don't think you're going to
Speaker 5: be able to pull it off.
Speaker 1: A go just watch me, just watch.
Speaker 4: Me, watch me.
Speaker 1: Wow.
Speaker 2: So this is the celebration of fifty years in the industry,
Speaker 2: which is unbelievable, and other accolades that you have gotten
Speaker 2: throughout the year. Would you say that rasis because it
Speaker 2: came like that. You know, it was spontaneous, it was organic.
Speaker 2: You were at a place that you were not even
Speaker 2: thinking about an album, and then it clicked and it
Speaker 2: all made sense. Do you think this one would be?
Speaker 2: And I know they're all special, they're all like delivering babies.
Speaker 2: You know, every time you do a project, especially an album,
Speaker 2: is that you're delivering your next child. But do you
Speaker 2: think this one is going to be the one that,
Speaker 2: whether you continue doing more or not, this one would
Speaker 2: be full circle for you guys.
Speaker 1: It's absolutely full circle.
Speaker 5: And by the way, Emilia didn't even realize that it
Speaker 5: was my fiftieth year. When it comes to me with
Speaker 5: this idea and we're finally doing the album, and I go, babe,
Speaker 5: do you realize I joined your band in nineteen seventy five.
Speaker 5: This is my fiftieth year doing this. He goes, no,
Speaker 5: it can't be. I go do the math Wow with
Speaker 5: her fiftieth year. And then that's when you start thinking
Speaker 5: about it. It wasn't like I thought, oh, let's do
Speaker 5: this extravaganza for my fiftieth year. No, it just turned
Speaker 5: out that everything kind of clicked. I have the musical,
Speaker 5: I have the movie coming out in September, Gabby's Dollhouse,
Speaker 5: and it just all in this one year happened and it.
Speaker 1: Will be It's full circle.
Speaker 5: I told him when he brought the song, I go,
Speaker 5: you know what, if I do another album, I want
Speaker 5: it all to be tropical and I wanted.
Speaker 1: To be in Spanish and this is the world.
Speaker 5: I got a taste of it Doingclorail, which we won
Speaker 5: a Grammy for, and she won her first Grammy. O
Speaker 5: Wo a song by Celia Cruz, who I loved and
Speaker 5: adored and was my idol and my like just like
Speaker 5: that North Star in so many ways.
Speaker 1: Her relationship with Pedro. You know, she was on stage
Speaker 1: and she was aged list up there.
Speaker 5: She was the most humble and professional and warm human being.
Speaker 5: I'd get notes from her on every special occasion it was,
Speaker 5: and I saw it as a sign when Sheila text
Speaker 5: me in the middle of the night, Sister, I want
Speaker 5: you to join me. I'm doing a Sunsa jazz album
Speaker 5: and I want to do Bemba Golora and Mimi Suka
Speaker 5: and you and me and I go, Bemba Golora, I go.
Speaker 1: I'm there. You know, she's been there for me so much.
Speaker 4: She's beautiful.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 2: I was listening to Raise as the single and it's
Speaker 2: such a positive, uplifting the message. You know, the lyrics
Speaker 2: are just just beautiful, and I was I've been listening
Speaker 2: to it over and over. I love the musicality. I
Speaker 2: think the arrangement is incredible, the production, the lyrics, your performance.
Speaker 4: I love it.
Speaker 2: And it's interesting because it mixes like two worlds. It's
Speaker 2: like musically it has like this, all these different components
Speaker 2: and I'm listening to it and I'm thinking this song
Speaker 2: will become like an Them marc Antonia. Besides musically, it's
Speaker 2: it's incredible. It's a it's a very specific positive message.
Speaker 2: And this one you know, but not what I say.
Speaker 2: I guess, I guess, Brad, which is so true. And
Speaker 2: sometimely nowadays you know that I think the whole world
Speaker 2: is in this massive spiritual, spiritual search of what makes.
Speaker 4: Sense to them and you.
Speaker 2: I will have to translate it to you because you
Speaker 2: you would understand that. But it is beautifully written, Eric,
Speaker 2: and it's just the one thing that you if you,
Speaker 2: if you would listen to every single morning, it will
Speaker 2: reset your mind and your day.
Speaker 5: We wanted to remind people because you know, we forget
Speaker 5: about the simple things that are just so beautiful. You know,
Speaker 5: sometimes there's so much anxiety and depression going on. That's
Speaker 5: why the one line where it says, look to the sky,
Speaker 5: open up your heart, you know, because the stars are
Speaker 5: always gonna shine every night. They're gonna be there, you know,
Speaker 5: and let the light light your path. It's like they're
Speaker 5: simple truths, and you know what simple truths done in
Speaker 5: a beautiful way Like Emilio's got this special thing because
Speaker 5: he's very succinct in his thoughts. And that's not that
Speaker 5: it's not something that hasn't been heard before. You know,
Speaker 5: you reap what you saw, but in the way that
Speaker 5: he made it. Musically, my fan they go, I wanted
Speaker 5: to cry, but I wanted to dance. Y brying and
Speaker 5: dancing at the same time.
Speaker 4: But his joy isn't magical, it's joyful.
Speaker 3: How was it doing the video with the whole family?
Speaker 3: I understand was the first time, right the entire family
Speaker 3: had been together on screen doing something so meaningful like that.
Speaker 3: Was that just to me? I can't imagine. It means
Speaker 3: everything when you see your whole life and career come together.
Speaker 1: In one well.
Speaker 5: My family is actually in both videos in a certain way.
Speaker 5: In first video of Races, I wanted to go to
Speaker 5: some place that's like the most deeply rooted place in
Speaker 5: Miami Fairchalk Garden. It's been there for over one hundred years.
Speaker 5: It's got trees from both Cuba from here. I'm a virgo.
Speaker 5: I need nature. I'm happiest there. So I was kind
Speaker 5: of mirroring life as a journey. I'm barefoot in the video.
Speaker 5: The fashion was just about being a part. The green
Speaker 5: dress and the brown dress. It's just supposed to mirror
Speaker 5: like we are a part of everything, of the all,
Speaker 5: and we're all connected.
Speaker 1: And then I have my family through the years, all.
Speaker 5: These old videos, some pictures that I brought to life
Speaker 5: because I wanted also to touch the fact that we're
Speaker 5: in twenty twenty five. So I used AI to bring
Speaker 5: to life a picture of my mom and dad in
Speaker 5: Cuba where they literally waved me on to my journey.
Speaker 5: And when that came to life, it was like I
Speaker 5: was reclemped. I was going, oh my god. It really
Speaker 5: affected me. And there's little things like that. I brought
Speaker 5: to life. A picture of my grandmother holding my son.
Speaker 1: She smiles.
Speaker 5: A picture of Emilio and me both just like a
Speaker 5: cowboy and a cowgirl, him in Cuba, me here, and
Speaker 5: they hug in the they cross the frames and hug.
Speaker 5: So we were trying to do it in a very
Speaker 5: slight way, because you know, you gotta be careful with
Speaker 5: that kind of thing, but it's about.
Speaker 1: That journey, so they're all in there.
Speaker 5: And then at the end it's a photo album where
Speaker 5: all the pictures are falling on it from everybody from
Speaker 5: our great grandparents down to the last one, which is
Speaker 5: my grandson Sasha. In Lavesina video, where we shot at
Speaker 5: the place where I first lived with my mom, I
Speaker 5: played three characters. There's Lavesina sitting in the launchair. I
Speaker 5: have a picture of my mother sitting in a launchair
Speaker 5: in front of that apartment with me in her lap,
Speaker 5: so I do one scene from there. Then there's another
Speaker 5: one where I recreate a picture of my mother that
Speaker 5: she shot for my dad when he was in jail
Speaker 5: in Cuba, a bay of pigs, political prisoner in one
Speaker 5: of those apartments.
Speaker 1: So that's the church lady. I call her more my mom.
Speaker 5: And then at the end, we literally built a stage
Speaker 5: in the middle of the two apartments and it's my
Speaker 5: image now. So it's a place where I started, it's
Speaker 5: where I am now, and then my whole but now
Speaker 5: with my entire family revisiting this place where we started
Speaker 5: our lives. Here these little apartments that were like the
Speaker 5: size of a closet.
Speaker 1: And it was very emotional.
Speaker 5: I was very I had all kinds of memories all day,
Speaker 5: good ones, bad ones. But it was important because looking
Speaker 5: back on fifty years and that was sixty five years
Speaker 5: ago when I was living in that place, to have
Speaker 5: it be exactly the same and soon they're going to
Speaker 5: tear it down, so we kind of saved it for posterity.
Speaker 5: And it was really special to have my family there,
Speaker 5: to have my son say yes, because he never does anything.
Speaker 1: It's like a hermit.
Speaker 5: And when I told him the concept, he really dug
Speaker 5: it because he's in film and all that.
Speaker 1: So he said, okay, Mom, I'll do it. I'll be
Speaker 1: there for you. So how beautiful Vin our grandson.
Speaker 2: Yeah, when the kids of your kids and the grand
Speaker 2: kids of your kids, you know this generational treasure that
Speaker 2: they're going to have, you know, so they can look
Speaker 2: back and said, this is the video that grandma did.
Speaker 4: Ah amazing.
Speaker 5: And to have them there all day it was beautiful.
Speaker 5: I think that's the longest they've ever sat in one
Speaker 5: place because since they were at the end of the
Speaker 5: shot and then we had close ups, but they had
Speaker 5: to be there for a few hours and the stories
Speaker 5: from you know, them talking about their dad in shooting
Speaker 5: this thing, like you would tell them, okay, nobody, nobody
Speaker 5: look into the camera and the minute the camera would pass, why.
Speaker 1: You wouldn't look. They have made so much fun of him.
Speaker 4: Oh my god, Oh my god. I love it.
Speaker 2: Let's now transition Gloria to the acting because I know
Speaker 2: you have this movie coming out. You voiced one of
Speaker 2: the characters in September.
Speaker 1: Now it's live action as well.
Speaker 4: It's like, okay, I didn't know that.
Speaker 2: Okay, beautiful, And I know you've been acting for a while.
Speaker 2: You know, you've been doing it for many, many, many years,
Speaker 2: but you're coming and out. You know, like you said,
Speaker 2: you have the luxury to pick what resonates with you,
Speaker 2: and that's what you do.
Speaker 4: But how important is acting to you? Is it as
Speaker 4: important as singing?
Speaker 2: Or was just a byproduct of because you became Glory
Speaker 2: staff and now people call you like how important.
Speaker 4: It is to you?
Speaker 5: Well, first of all, I have nothing but respect for actors,
Speaker 5: and early on in my career, I'm a musician.
Speaker 1: I'm a singer.
Speaker 5: That is my soul, right, But when we started having
Speaker 5: to do videos, because at the beginning, we could record.
Speaker 5: You know, we did our albums. There was no videos.
Speaker 5: The worst the biggest thing you did was going on
Speaker 5: a TV show and performing. But now, all of a sudden,
Speaker 5: here comes the eighties, eighties.
Speaker 1: And now, oh no, you're not done.
Speaker 5: When you do the album, you have to do a
Speaker 5: frigging mini movie. So I really enjoyed that part of it,
Speaker 5: but I knew I was in no way ready. And
Speaker 5: when we were really climbing, they approached me to do
Speaker 5: the role that Julia Roberts ended up doing.
Speaker 1: A Mystic Pizza. Okay, so they wanted me.
Speaker 5: I didn't have to audition, but I knew I wasn't ready.
Speaker 5: I knew I wasn't ready.
Speaker 1: I knew that the acting, I knew what it takes,
Speaker 1: and I wanted time to prepare.
Speaker 5: I didn't want to divert from the music because I go,
Speaker 5: if I fail at the movies, it's going to screw up.
Speaker 1: You know, everything kind of washes over your career. So
Speaker 1: I thought there'll be.
Speaker 5: Other opportunities if it's meant to be. So I didn't
Speaker 5: do it, and I started whenever I could. I started,
Speaker 5: you know, I got an acting coach, I started actually
Speaker 5: working on it before I ever did anything, because I
Speaker 5: have nothing but respect for acting.
Speaker 1: You know, it's you have to.
Speaker 5: Let go of your ego, and then for somebody like me,
Speaker 5: it's a double whemming because you have to make them
Speaker 5: forget it's you. Of course, early you know you're not
Speaker 5: coming as a blank slate. But I love it. But
Speaker 5: I got a lot of things offered through the years
Speaker 5: that I turned down because it wasn't going to advance
Speaker 5: me as an actor. He was going to portray my
Speaker 5: culture in the typical, stereotypical way that we tend to
Speaker 5: get treated, and I thought, no, I don't want to
Speaker 5: contribute to that. So when Andy called me for Father
Speaker 5: of the Bride, well, he texted me and is inimitable way,
Speaker 5: Oh yeah, the way I'm on that on script And
Speaker 5: I go, okay, what.
Speaker 1: Is it?
Speaker 5: He goes, you'll see and he goes the director wants
Speaker 5: to zoom with you. Because this was during COVID, he
Speaker 5: wants to zoom with you on Tuesday. Go he wants
Speaker 5: me to audition. He goes, no, no, he wants you
Speaker 5: for the role. I want you for the role. It's
Speaker 5: you or nobody.
Speaker 1: I go, oh. And then when I get it and
Speaker 1: It's Father the Bride. I go, oh, so good, are
Speaker 1: you going to such a classic? How are you gonna?
Speaker 5: But the script was fun, it was good, yes, and
Speaker 5: I thought, oh wow, I get a chance to play
Speaker 5: with my friends. And it was during COVID, so we
Speaker 5: were in a hard bubble wow doing that thing.
Speaker 4: I enjoyed it so much. I loved it. I loved
Speaker 4: you guys. I really enjoyed it.
Speaker 1: Thank you. I enjoyed doing it, you know.
Speaker 2: And that's the best part when you get to a job,
Speaker 2: you know, there is basically you you have like a
Speaker 2: second family for a couple of months, you know, and
Speaker 2: you have to make the most out of it. And
Speaker 2: when you love the people that you work with, is
Speaker 2: it makes a huge difference, a huge different.
Speaker 5: Fun because it's fun for you, It's not gonna be
Speaker 5: fun for the people watching you.
Speaker 3: It's all about heart.
Speaker 2: And talk to us a little bit about this one
Speaker 2: you have coming, Gabby's Dollhouse.
Speaker 5: It's I wasn't as aware because my kids were already grown.
Speaker 5: But there's been a very, very successful children's series called
Speaker 5: Gabby's Dollhouse. They've had like nine seasons and little kids
Speaker 5: little they go crazy with It's this young girl that
Speaker 5: she talks.
Speaker 1: She breaks the fourth wall.
Speaker 5: She talks to her audience, and she has this magical
Speaker 5: dollhouse and these cat eers that when she presses it
Speaker 5: and does this little song, she becomes an animated character
Speaker 5: and is in the dollhouse playing with these little cats.
Speaker 5: They have one it's kind of like a Sinatra cat.
Speaker 5: They have Kki, like they each have their own little personality.
Speaker 5: So they were bringing this to the big screen and
Speaker 5: it's the original Gabby. I play her grandma who built
Speaker 5: her this dollhouse. So my house in the movie is insane.
Speaker 5: It looks like a copy of the dollhouse. And I
Speaker 5: got to drive a a seventies VW van that's decked
Speaker 5: out also like a cat because I'm like a super
Speaker 5: fun bohemian grandma that built her this thing and now
Speaker 5: wants to do something else with her. And then we
Speaker 5: end up I end up having to go into the
Speaker 5: dollhouse to help save her get out from the thing,
Speaker 5: and it's really fun.
Speaker 1: It was. It was a blast. I love shooting A two.
Speaker 5: Day Leila was amazing and Christen Wigg is in it,
Speaker 5: one of one of my favorites.
Speaker 2: She's amazing well, that's gonna be fun. I can't wait
Speaker 2: to take the kids to see that. They're gonna love it.
Speaker 2: Dealing is gonna go gaga. He's gonna love it.
Speaker 1: It's gonna be fun.
Speaker 4: Basura.
Speaker 2: I know this is probably an incredible because you're collaborating
Speaker 2: with Emily and doing music together.
Speaker 1: Controversial name, but that's what we wanted. Okay. These literally
Speaker 1: in a nutshell.
Speaker 5: These kids live and work from their families one of
Speaker 5: the largest landfills in Asuncion, Paraguay, Okay.
Speaker 1: Years ago.
Speaker 5: They're the number four soy producers in the world, and
Speaker 5: a lot of people got pushed out of their family
Speaker 5: farms for sord production.
Speaker 1: The people they could found homes in the city.
Speaker 5: The people they couldn't had to find a place to live,
Speaker 5: and they created these bangneros which are around the city.
Speaker 5: This vannetros called Katua, and what used to be a
Speaker 5: beautiful lake years and years ago has now become one
Speaker 5: of the largest mountains of trash in the Southern Hemisphere.
Speaker 1: They live from the trash because.
Speaker 5: They salvage things and they fix them and resell them.
Speaker 5: But this engineer, an environmental engineer, went into the area
Speaker 5: to try to help that part of it. He couldn't,
Speaker 5: so he was a musician and he brought his violin
Speaker 5: and he started giving violin lessons to the kids in
Speaker 5: like a school. Eventually they made built the school out
Speaker 5: of trash. They have three hundred students now. They've played
Speaker 5: for the Queen. But they made the instruments out of
Speaker 5: the trash because they had floods, ash storms, all these
Speaker 5: crazy things that would destroy instruments. And it's the story
Speaker 5: of how they came together and how they started the
Speaker 5: idea of making the instruments out of trash. And that's
Speaker 5: what we've done, and we've written like Emily and I.
Speaker 5: Alex Lackimore is the music supervisor. He's been amazing to
Speaker 5: work with. Michael Greif directing. He's a star on Broadway.
Speaker 5: Karen Zakadias amazing playwright, and and Ken Sernilia, who did
Speaker 5: Hadestown is the drama turg and we've been working together
Speaker 5: for these last three years. The story and the music
Speaker 5: came together, so it wasn't like they gave me.
Speaker 1: A book right for this, no splashing it out from
Speaker 1: day one.
Speaker 5: The creative team and we're so excited, but you know,
Speaker 5: there was some reticence to allow us to call it basuda.
Speaker 1: Because of what it is.
Speaker 5: But it's the truth about finding hope and beauty in
Speaker 5: one of the most dire situations. And it makes you
Speaker 5: think about what we consider trash, how we make so
Speaker 5: much trash, you know, things we throw away.
Speaker 1: That continue to be attached to us.
Speaker 5: And and how they turned this situation into something beautiful
Speaker 5: and creative through music, through the arts, and that that's
Speaker 5: that story to me is like so important.
Speaker 2: To that incredible Musically, you think, it's like a lot
Speaker 2: of infusion of many many things.
Speaker 5: I did a deep dive into Paraguayan rhythms, so we
Speaker 5: have I want to be very culturally like thoughtful when
Speaker 5: we present them because but Paraguay music is not salsa.
Speaker 4: What is it.
Speaker 1: Paraguay and music is uh.
Speaker 5: They have a lot of German ancestry in Paraguay, so
Speaker 5: they have these rhythms, the polkaya which comes from the
Speaker 5: Polkas that came from Europe and were in the area,
Speaker 5: you know, decades ago. They love classical music. They every
Speaker 5: New Year's they listened to the symphony at midnight, so
Speaker 5: they loved classical music. The Paraguayan music, you have guaranya,
Speaker 5: you have the polka Paraguaya and it's it's usually in
Speaker 5: three I mean, kind of like a waltz, very uptempo,
Speaker 5: so it was really exciting for us to create around it.
Speaker 5: Now we're gonna use that, but we also have fusion.
Speaker 5: Emily brings in all these other brazil We use Brazilian
Speaker 5: rhythms because the trash comes from Brazil. We use a
Speaker 5: little bit of rock element because the stuff that they
Speaker 5: would find in the trash was old cassettes and things,
Speaker 5: so they were Metallica fans. They played with Metallica at
Speaker 5: one point. So we want to really express with the
Speaker 5: orchestra is about and place, but in original songs that
Speaker 5: also exalt their Paraguayan traditions.
Speaker 1: But it's been such a joy, it's.
Speaker 4: Going to be epic. What do you think is going
Speaker 4: to be?
Speaker 2: Like it's in development right now, like like Broadway shows
Speaker 2: like this that you start from zero is a full
Speaker 2: full package. How many years and what do you think
Speaker 2: is going to open?
Speaker 1: We're on May thirtieth of twenty six.
Speaker 5: We open in the Alliance Theater and then lex.
Speaker 1: Yo exactly a year from now. Okay, you're already selling tickets.
Speaker 5: My fans have already bought tickets to the show, so
Speaker 5: we start there and then hopefully by twenty seven we
Speaker 5: will be on Broadway.
Speaker 4: Wow beautiful.
Speaker 1: We're thrilled.
Speaker 4: And then Eric wants to mention something very important.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, let's talk about your trip to La.
Speaker 1: Oh the which one the one coming in for conga?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 1: Yeah, what an honor.
Speaker 5: I mean, this song is still giving. I see it everywhere,
Speaker 5: heard everywhere. I've seen it from anywhere from South Park
Speaker 5: to the Chipmunks movies that my grandson thought he was
Speaker 5: surprising me. He made me sit down when he was little,
Speaker 5: goes to to watch this and he plays me the
Speaker 5: chip hats doing conga.
Speaker 3: Oh my god.
Speaker 5: You know it's it's really a joy and a privilege
Speaker 5: to be in any kind of hall of fame. So
Speaker 5: for the Grammy Hall of Fame, that song, it's it's
Speaker 5: the gift that keeps on giving. And it's still I
Speaker 5: hear it everywhere. It still sounds like its own thing.
Speaker 2: And he's like forty years years Wow, you.
Speaker 4: Know, I'm gonna tell you a story. Grewer. You didn't.
Speaker 2: You don't know this, No nobody knows this. When I
Speaker 2: left for the RICO, I moved to New York. I
Speaker 2: was there for three years. I was in a soap
Speaker 2: as a world turns right. But of course a dream
Speaker 2: is I want to move to Hollywood. I want to
Speaker 2: go to LA and I want to do movies and
Speaker 2: all that. Anyways, I'm under contract with the soap. I'm
Speaker 2: come to LA to do a national commercial for Always.
Speaker 2: They I booked this national commercial and while I'm here
Speaker 2: in LA for the first time, they didn't know anything
Speaker 2: about Los Angeles. There was there were casting Fame La,
Speaker 2: the remake of Fame. I ended up getting it, but
Speaker 2: everybody had to be a triple threat. Every cast member,
Speaker 2: it was seven of us, had to dance, sing, and act.
Speaker 4: I auditioned.
Speaker 2: I remember they flew me three times, acting portion of
Speaker 2: the audition, then singing portion, then dancing portion. I ended
Speaker 2: up getting it, left left New York, came to LA,
Speaker 2: and then never left LA. Anyways, I'm telling you this
Speaker 2: because I remember when my my singing audition that they
Speaker 2: flew me with all the producers at Sony, at this
Speaker 2: recording studio. This song assigned was Conga. I was like,
Speaker 2: but you don't they because I've been such a fan forever.
Speaker 2: I remember going, oh, how the heck, I'm gonna pull
Speaker 2: this off. Oh my god, this is Gloria Conga Okay.
Speaker 2: But then I was like, no, ros this is a sign.
Speaker 2: She's going to carry you through me is Cloria. You're
Speaker 2: going to get This is Gloria.
Speaker 4: This is a gift for you. It is not crazy.
Speaker 2: And I ended up getting it, and that's how my
Speaker 2: prime time acting career started.
Speaker 5: That means so much to me because they have been
Speaker 5: a small part of your process.
Speaker 1: Song's not easy to sing.
Speaker 5: I mean when I approached it, I'm a band girl.
Speaker 5: You know, I'm the girl in the band. So I
Speaker 5: feel very much about that. I'm part of everything, and
Speaker 5: I love percussion, so when I sang it, I sang
Speaker 5: it as if I was a percussive instrument. And when
Speaker 5: I did the three part harmony, it was my homage
Speaker 5: to the Andrew Sisters, which I loved and as a
Speaker 5: little kid, had the records because we moved into this
Speaker 5: house that was furnished and had collection of seventy eight's.
Speaker 5: Imagine how old this was, and there was the Andrew Sisters,
Speaker 5: and then we threw in James Brown. That's great, all
Speaker 5: the elements of my musical life fusing together, and you
Speaker 5: know it's not easy to sing.
Speaker 2: It's not it's not I was, I was petrified, but
Speaker 2: I was like, no, it's glory.
Speaker 4: You're gonna carry me through. She's gonna carry me through.
Speaker 4: And you did so I appreciate it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, thank you Dream, Yeah, incredible Dream.
Speaker 3: Yes, you're thank you for you know, being hanging with us,
Speaker 3: talking to us about so much of your past, your present,
Speaker 3: everything going on. And your album will be is out,
Speaker 3: you know it'll be out. When this out, you'll be
Speaker 3: going and we wish you all the best and we'll
Speaker 3: look forward to seeing you hopefully soon in person.
Speaker 1: Amazing doing all the best, continued success.
Speaker 5: I love to see you know, married couple doing things
Speaker 5: together and having it work great and you know that's
Speaker 5: not always easy.
Speaker 1: I'm sure you.
Speaker 4: Know, of course.
Speaker 3: Well you you two are an inspiration. So we appreciate you.
Speaker 3: Lots of love to the whole family.
Speaker 4: Thank you. My mom be out there, leave.
Speaker 1: The egos in at the door.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, we love you and I'm tell you back, Mama,
Speaker 2: thank you.
Speaker 4: Thank you.
Speaker 3: Bye bye.
Speaker 4: H She's so she's incredible.
Speaker 3: It's so incredible. They both thought. The whole family. It's
Speaker 3: just uh, I mean you've I didn't know them until you,
Speaker 3: until I, you know, met you, but you know, since
Speaker 3: we've been together, I know I was always a fan,
Speaker 3: uh and since we've been together, you just switched. It
Speaker 3: speaks so highly of them, and to finally meet them,
Speaker 3: it was like, oh my god, this is exactly how
Speaker 3: you described.
Speaker 2: I've known them for so long, you know, through thick
Speaker 2: and thin, and they've always been so supportive and loving
Speaker 2: and just like like your parents. You know, every time
Speaker 2: I see them, we hug, and it's I feel there's
Speaker 2: a comfort level because they're just amazing.
Speaker 3: It's so unique though that people I don't know, people
Speaker 3: fully understand like to to meet or know stars, talents
Speaker 3: at that height, at that level, who have revolutionized industries,
Speaker 3: changed the game, and they're so humble and down to
Speaker 3: earth and just incredible humans. So it's it's a breath
Speaker 3: of fresh air. And like I said, inspiration. You know,
Speaker 3: any married couple working together I find success. I know.
Speaker 4: So now you know it's possible.
Speaker 2: You know you have you have, like she said, the
Speaker 2: North Star, you know you have them, knowing that you
Speaker 2: know they they worked it out in very very extremely circumstances.
Speaker 2: They come from Cuba and the oppression and they left
Speaker 2: the country and they started this band when they were kids.
Speaker 2: And there's a lot of baggage, you know, and a
Speaker 2: lot of generational trauma because of where they come from
Speaker 2: and to be able to succeed and do it together
Speaker 2: hand by hand.
Speaker 4: And you have never ever heard.
Speaker 2: Anything anything negative, no scand out, nothing about the Steffan,
Speaker 2: which is incredible. You know that she's like a billboard
Speaker 2: history maker, guys, and we're going to leave you with this.
Speaker 2: She's among Latin female artists, Gloria stands alone as the
Speaker 2: only one to charge Billboard hits across five consecutive decades,
Speaker 2: spanning multiple formats including the Hot one hundred, Latin Song's,
Speaker 2: tropical sands, adult contemporary.
Speaker 4: I mean, she is a powerhouse. Absolutely very privileged to
Speaker 4: have her.
Speaker 3: Absolutely, thank you so much, Gloria. We love you and
Speaker 3: love you next time. I love you. Thanks for listening.
Speaker 3: Don't forget to write us a review and tell us
Speaker 3: what you think.
Speaker 2: If you want to follow us on Instagram, check us
Speaker 2: out at he said.
Speaker 4: Ajab or sens An email.
Speaker 2: Eric and Ross at iHeartRadio dot com.
Speaker 4: He said.
Speaker 2: Ajab is part of iHeartRadio's Mike would do that podcast network.
Speaker 3: See you next time.
Speaker 2: Bye,