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Speaker 1: Hey, Latino USA listener, here's a show from our archives.

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Speaker 1: Enjoy from Futro Media and PRX. It's Latino Usa by

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Speaker 1: Mariano Posa Today. Guyina Castillo a rising pop singer and

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Speaker 1: songwriter from Chicago who's known for experimental tunes. For decades,

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Speaker 1: the Chicago music scene has been a breeding ground for

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Speaker 1: prominent artists creating diverse sounds. It's the birthplace of house music,

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Speaker 1: and it has a thriving indie hip hop scene. One

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Speaker 1: of the city's up and coming artists is Guina Castillo.

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Speaker 1: She's a twenty three year old singer songwriter who crosses

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Speaker 1: genres and creates dreamy soundscapes with her soft voice, lazy sound,

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Speaker 1: and her identity is a huge part of the music

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Speaker 1: she creates. Guina is a Venezuelan and gua im all

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Speaker 1: in descent, and she celebrates those who often struggle with

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Speaker 1: their identity like she did growing up. In this edition

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Speaker 1: of How I Made It, Guina tells us about what

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Speaker 1: it was like growing up as part of a small

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Speaker 1: immigrant family, her love for Chicago's vibrant music scene, and

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Speaker 1: the inspiration behind her latest album, Next to the Sun.

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Speaker 2: My Songs and My Music.

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Speaker 3: I feel like they're the one thing that no one

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Speaker 3: can take from me, like whether the government or whatever

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Speaker 3: is messed up and they want to see me fail,

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Speaker 3: or someone wants to see me fail, or someone doesn't

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Speaker 3: like that I even exist in the world. Like the

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Speaker 3: one thing to me that I feel I can't be

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Speaker 3: taken away as my music and my art and what

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Speaker 3: I create, because it's like no one else can make

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Speaker 3: what I make because I'm me. The album's name is

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Speaker 3: called Next to the Sun, the symbolism that when you're confused,

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Speaker 3: especially me, sometimes in your identity or in your life,

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Speaker 3: standing next to the sun, it's like the illumination, but

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Speaker 3: it's also the pain of it.

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Speaker 2: I say in a lyric, it's the burn.

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Speaker 3: And the lesson when something hurts. It's also what you

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Speaker 3: need to learn. And so Next to the Sun is

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Speaker 3: kind of the culmination of all of that visual violenty.

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Speaker 2: House.

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Speaker 3: So House is the first song on the project. It

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Speaker 3: kind of sets the tone and the intention for it.

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Speaker 3: House was written maybe when I was sixteen, and I

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Speaker 3: wrote it with my high school band.

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Speaker 2: At the time, we.

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Speaker 3: Were like starting to play shows and stuff and I

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Speaker 3: was just writing a lot and it It has existed

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Speaker 3: for so long, But it probably wasn't until like the

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Speaker 3: last couple of years that I didn't feel comfortable singing it,

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Speaker 3: because I did start singing it before I recorded it.

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Speaker 3: And it's probably some of my most poetic writing as

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Speaker 3: well too. I feel like you can take the lyrics

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Speaker 3: and put it on a piece of paper and it

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Speaker 3: would still be as like relevant or strong.

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Speaker 2: But House is basically a song about immigration.

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Speaker 3: It almost feels like a sometimes it feels like a

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Speaker 3: prayer for me, or like a it feels like a

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Speaker 3: kid who's just questioning everything. And sometimes, like when you're

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Speaker 3: a first generation kid and you're talking about immigration, it

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Speaker 3: can be sensitive. It can be sensitive for many reasons.

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Speaker 3: It could be sensitive because your parents are undocumented. It

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Speaker 3: could be sensitive because you're just scared to talk about

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Speaker 3: it in general, because you're like, I don't know when

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Speaker 3: no one else is talking about this. This was before

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Speaker 3: Trump was even president and before the government was functioning

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Speaker 3: the way that it is right now.

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Speaker 2: You is you all this?

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Speaker 3: You're so proud, You stay so happy, keep them all

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Speaker 3: us ow you like to keep this place so emty.

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Speaker 3: Look how these brown hands cook all your meals. When

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Speaker 3: I talk about the brown hands, cooking the meal. I

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Speaker 3: think about my mom, my mom helping other families out

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Speaker 3: or cooking for other people, or when I talk about

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Speaker 3: home and a house in music, it's like I am

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Speaker 3: so welcoming to anyone in my house. And I get

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Speaker 3: that from my parents. C My mom is from Venezuela.

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Speaker 3: My mom came to the US to be a nanny

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Speaker 3: and cook. My dad was from Guatemala. I just recently

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Speaker 3: was like, Dad, how did you come? He was like,

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Speaker 3: it was so simple. He was very dad answer. He

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Speaker 3: was like, I just had a friend who knew how

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Speaker 3: to cross the border, and we just walked through.

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Speaker 2: I know everyone says.

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Speaker 3: That their mom cooks amazing food, but like, my mom

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Speaker 3: cooks amazing food, and she makes ade bas in this

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Speaker 3: thing called bonde harmon the Gano's, but she knows how

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Speaker 3: to cook a bunch of stuff. She and my dad

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Speaker 3: they threw a bunch of parties all the time. I

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Speaker 3: remember being like five and they would party till they

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Speaker 3: were till five am or something, and it would be

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Speaker 3: soal some music, and I remember being young and hating

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Speaker 3: it because it just sounded the same and felt annoying

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Speaker 3: to me. But now that I reflect, I wish that

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Speaker 3: I was like a younger kid who didn't think it

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Speaker 3: was annoying because it was like the only source of culture.

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Speaker 3: But even then, for my parents, you know, like they

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Speaker 3: didn't have any immediate family, So how do you tap

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Speaker 3: into your own culture when you've left all your family behind.

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Speaker 3: My mom would be cooking, they would be playing music, dancing,

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Speaker 3: and that was their way of staying connected, you know,

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Speaker 3: because we don't have an extended family, and in Chicago

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Speaker 3: in particular, it's not like there's a huge community of

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Speaker 3: Venezuelans and Guatemalans, you know, and that's like also what

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Speaker 3: a random mix of cultures that came together to make

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Speaker 3: you know, me and my brother. So I didn't grow

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Speaker 3: up around cousins or extended family. It was just literally

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Speaker 3: the four of us. I wish that I had more

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Speaker 3: people to tap into, to just like be near and

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Speaker 3: understand myself a little bit more. I think when you're

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Speaker 3: around family, you get to understand your identity more. And

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Speaker 3: being older and not being able to have seen those

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Speaker 3: people is very like confusing to your identity or you

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Speaker 3: get scared that if you do see them one day

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Speaker 3: that you might not be able to relate or that

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Speaker 3: you won't feel like family, you know, So it's scary.

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Speaker 3: Once we moved to Irving Park, my next door neighbor

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Speaker 3: was this girl named Paige and she's still my best friend.

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Speaker 3: We met when we were nine and we both were

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Speaker 3: learning and growing up in a very diverse city. So

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Speaker 3: we ended up doing a lot of things together, like

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Speaker 3: would start listening and tapping into a bunch of music

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Speaker 3: all the time together and both ended up being in

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Speaker 3: this performance group called the Happiness Club, and we both

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Speaker 3: started around the same time. And the Happiness Club changed

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Speaker 3: my life.

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Speaker 2: They're eighteen Chicago students who are changing the game. They

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Speaker 2: are making it positive in Chicago. Please make some noise.

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Speaker 3: By their happiness. I started in the Happiness Club when

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Speaker 3: I was nine, and I aged out of the group

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Speaker 3: when I was about nineteen. You got to get out

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Speaker 3: of change, shut up things you do, so get out

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Speaker 3: of seat, get on your seat.

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Speaker 1: It's so make it.

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Speaker 3: And the Happiness Club is basically a nonprofit group in Chicago,

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Speaker 3: and kids make up their own dances, make up their

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Speaker 3: own songs, and so you build a whole show together

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Speaker 3: and then you just get to perform it for a year.

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Speaker 3: So I did that for a very long time, and

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Speaker 3: I started out as a dancer and then became a

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Speaker 3: singer in the group. And then when I was transitioning

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Speaker 3: out kind of just like a songwriter, Happiness Club became

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Speaker 3: the thing that opened my eyes to the world and

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Speaker 3: exposed me to the lives of other kids. And so

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Speaker 3: you start to explore things. You you know you're growing,

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Speaker 3: you want to see the world. You get out there

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Speaker 3: with your friends, you go to different neighborhoods, you go

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Speaker 3: see shows. It's really crazy because I remember being like

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Speaker 3: sixteen and going to see like No Name, Sydney Live

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Speaker 3: Shot Sound Mad Sound, mat Sound, After School Matters, Like

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Speaker 3: I'm needing a sniper right now.

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Speaker 2: You can look at a park.

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Speaker 3: And saba, oh yes, I you should drive.

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Speaker 2: In this moment of mine, Nama Canna.

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Speaker 3: And this fan called the omis so fast being like,

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Speaker 3: oh my gosh, I hope I can be that good

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Speaker 3: one day.

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Speaker 2: And it's just crazy.

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Speaker 3: It's like it was all very specific time period in

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Speaker 3: Chicago where everyone was amazed by all these kids who

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Speaker 3: are like eighteen, and you were just like, oh my gosh, like,

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Speaker 3: how can I become as good as them? I feel

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Speaker 3: like my life sums up to like being a Chicago kid.

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Speaker 2: Hold them up.

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Speaker 3: It's like soul rock, nerdy songwriting, because I feel like

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Speaker 3: everything that people in Chicago create has a certain intention,

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Speaker 3: Like we don't have an industry here. We're not La

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Speaker 3: or New York, so we're just kind of creating because

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Speaker 3: we have to and because we love to. We all

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Speaker 3: come from being inspired from seeing each other play. We

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Speaker 3: all come from sometimes the same youth organization or sometimes

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Speaker 3: it's the same neighborhood or the same school, and it

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Speaker 3: translates in a certain way. And I think that my

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Speaker 3: music translates the same too. I think my family likes

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Speaker 3: the music I make. I think they like the shows

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Speaker 3: a lot. All the influence of all the music and

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Speaker 3: the parties that they throw I see in my music.

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Speaker 3: It's becoming a part of it. Me doing my take

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Speaker 3: on a salsa song and being like this bass sounds

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Speaker 3: like salce.

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Speaker 2: Of music, scammy.

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Speaker 3: When you take it out of the song, it sounds

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Speaker 3: like something that my parents would have listened to. So

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Speaker 3: and and super unintentionally too, It's like it's just what

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Speaker 3: I end up writing.

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Speaker 1: It's true, It's true.

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Speaker 2: Scotcher people.

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Speaker 1: Scammy.

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Speaker 3: You have to take someone as a whole person, and

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Speaker 3: I feel that way about myself on stage two. Whenever

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Speaker 3: I'm on stage, I'm very prominent about being like I'm

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Speaker 3: a first generation Latina. If you are here to support me,

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Speaker 3: you have to support me as my full self. I'm

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Speaker 3: not just here for your entertainment. Like the things I

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Speaker 3: write about, they're real. The things that I write about

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Speaker 3: are me, and you can't detach it with you.

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Speaker 2: Through so many you see them.

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Speaker 1: The words of Kaina Castillo, known simply as Kaina, but no.

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Speaker 2: Mean full my true. It can't be. That's great. Great.

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Speaker 1: This episode was produced by Amandel Cantra and edited by

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Speaker 1: Fernando Camrena with help from Gianae Jamoca. It was mixed

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Speaker 1: by Stephanie Lebou. The Latino USA team includes Andrellobes Cruzsalo

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Speaker 1: Marta Martinez, Mike Sargent, Victoria Strada, Patricia Sulvaran, Julieta Martinelli,

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Speaker 1: Gini Montalgo, Alejandra Salasar, Rinaldo, Leanos Junior, and Julia Roja,

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Speaker 1: with help from Raoul Perez. Our editorial director is Julio

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Speaker 1: Ricardo Varella. Our assistant senior engineer is Julia Caruso. Our

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Speaker 1: associate engineers our gabriel Le Bayez and JJ Carubin. Our

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Speaker 1: digital editor is Luis Luna. Our fellows are Elisa Veena,

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Speaker 1: Monica Morales and Andrew Vignalis. Our theme music was composed

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Speaker 1: by Sega Rubinos. If you like the music you heard

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Speaker 1: on this episode, stop by dot USA dot org and

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Speaker 1: check out our weekly Spotify playlist. I'm your host and

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Speaker 1: executive producer Maria Noojosa. Join us again on our next episode,

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Speaker 1: and in the meantime, I'll see you on all of

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Speaker 1: our social media. Hi los veo jao.

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Speaker 4: Latino USA is made possible in part by the Ford Foundation,

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Speaker 4: working with visionaries on the front lines of social change worldwide,

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Speaker 4: the John D. And Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and the

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Speaker 4: wind Coat Foundation.

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Speaker 3: I'm trying to go over my mom's house and eat

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Speaker 3: her cooking, like right now.

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Speaker 2: Yeah,