Sure.

When I joined the band, they only did Latin music, and when I joined, I brought the influence of dance music and pop and ballads.

We did our first two albums completely bilingual, half in English and half in Spanish.

So when Sony came to sign us, they wanted us to record all in Spanish.

But I told them, "Look, our albums are bilingual.

We in- fully intend one day to record in English.

We want the contractual right to be able to do so." And then we snuck "Dr.

How was Miami then as a city and as a hub for Latin America and its culture, and how's it changed?

Your husband.

Emilio, yes.

He was my boss at the time.

We weren't even dating.

When I joined the band, they only did Latin music.

And when I joined, I brought the influence of dance music and pop and ballads.

We did our first two albums completely bilingual, half in English and half in Spanish.

How was Miami then as a city and as a hub for Latin America and its culture? And how has it changed?

All of

the above.

All of the above.

Destiny, you know, I believe that you can change your destiny, but I do believe that there are certain things in life that you are meant to face.

And those things are going to appear, no matter how you may not want them to be there or yes.

So it touches on all those themes.

If I were only to write from my experience, it would be, you know, a lot less...

Yeah.

don't know.

I'd rather not get chewed by an animal.

No, but I like to do new things.

We went to a volcano.

Oh, on the last holiday I had, which was phenomenal, I played a concert in Tenerife in July, and then I had invited my kids.

They couldn't come, but my daughter-in-law and my grandson came, and it was very intimate.

And we went to this city in Spain, Cordoba, that has one of the most ancient cities, and we walked all the way down to what was the ancient water well that was the equivalent about 25 floors.

And I told you on the podcast, everyone.

Now talk about that song and how it made you go, wait, there's something more than just a song here.

absolutely you know a couple years ago emilio he he works with a million artists and he comes to me and he says babe i wrote this song i would love for you to be the one to sing it i go babe i'm writing this musical with emily we we've been working three years i go i can't divert because my brain is in that mode i have to do 18 new songs and he goes do you trust me i go absolutely he goes will you let me write more songs so that if you like them you could do this album like and i go If I do an album, I want it to be tropical and in Spanish.

So he played me the demo for Raíces, and I go, oh my gosh, this is just so special, so positive.

We need positive vibes out in the world, which is our job as musicians.

That is our mandate to entertain or make you forget or give you something positive to think about.

And then he brought me spectacular songs.

I only wrote one for my grandson, Sasha.

okay okay all right so who's whose idea was this

What do you think it is about it? I mean, there is just this infectious speed and rhythm to it that does kind of just make you want to get up and dance.

Well, I think, you know, when I wrote, the rhythm is going to get you, it's a fact.

You don't need to understand the language.

Percussion and rhythm makes people move and makes them dance, and there's a lot of elements in there.

At the time, they were using a lot of loops, but we used sounds that we recorded ourselves that were in no drum machine, so it stands apart from time.

Our drummer moved the little things to make it percussive and syncopated like Latin music.

So even though it's got that 2-4 dance beat, it's got all these other, like Miles Davis, for example, he loved the song because he could hear the intricacies of what we were doing and all the Afro-Cuban beats that were under it.

Tell us about what we can expect on stage, starting off in Atlanta.

(laughs)

So it's a nice balance.

But in the things that really matter, the priorities, family is first always.

We don't differ on business, politics, or music.

And both of us, music saved us.

He had a band in Cuba, a little band when he was eight years old.

When he and his father went to Spain when he left Cuba, he was eh, 11, 12 years old, and he told his parents, "We need to leave, or we're all gonna get stuck here." So he ended up going to Spain with his father.

(laughs)

(laughs)

And then, of course, he- he didn't tell my mom because it was very secret, but they were planning the Bay of Pigs thing already, and he left her a note, disappeared, went into training.

We ended up, I think it was in Guatemala that they were training, and then he came back the night before they went to Cuba and told her, "Here's a phone number of a doctor in case you need it for Glorita, and you're gonna be getting $150 a month from the... a check from the US government.

I can't tell you where I'm going or what I'm gonna do." So what I remember from that time, uh, my mom and I left Cuba on a Pan Am flight.

They only let us take one suitcase.

And I remember, I have... sometimes, those memories are more vivid because they- they're so traumatic.

I remember that, um, I fell in the airport and hit my head, and when we got to Miami, I was like crying incessantly.

Um, what was the moment like?