Cuban duo Gente de Zona (Alexander Delgado and Randy Malcom) play two princes to Becky G’s modern-day Latina Cinderella in their new single “Muchacha” (Girl).
The track and video, which both premiered Thursday (April 23), are a departure from Gente De Zona’s more tropical fare of late, incorporating a Cuban clave rhythm with Becky G’s raps as she transforms from car mechanic to princess (after praying to la virgen y los santos), clad in a slinky blue dress with sneakers. “She’s an empowered Cinderella for 2020,” Malcom laughs to Billboard’s First Stream+ (watch the full exclusive interview with Gente De Zona and Becky G below). “We want women to identify with this song. It empowers women. It gives them strength — more than they already have.”
“I love the notion of Becky as a mechanic,” adds Delgado. “I think it’s the first time she gets her hands greasy and looks under the hood of a car.”
Not so fast, Becky G tells Billboard. “Fun fact: I grew up basically on a little junkyard,” she says. “I was always in the garage, playing with things. Actually, on set I had to school a couple of people because they were giving me tools to do certain things and I said, ‘That doesn’t really make sense.’”
Becky G’s first-ever collab with Gente de Zona came about when the duo were looking for music for their new album. A song camp organized by Sony Music Latin netted “Muchacha,” which Gente de Zona infused with their trademark Cuban sound and vocals.
“The way the song incorporates the word ‘muchacha’ is very special,” says Delgado. “Muchacha, Mu-Cha-Cha’ is actually a Cuban clave a Cuban rhythmic pattern]. So we really identified with that. You can do a clave in a thousand ways, but it’s hard to do it with a word.”
Sony also loved the song and suggested they send it to Becky G for a possible collab. Becky G loved it right back.
“I was so excited! The only real issues we encountered was time,” she says. “‘When can Becky get into the studio to record her part? We want to go, go, go.’ So I think I turned it around so quickly. I rushed to the studio.”
Gente de Zona are acutely aware of the fact that “Muchacha” is being released in the midst of a quarantine. “All we want is to send everybody a little bit of happiness into their homes and think of something different for the three minutes the song lasts,” Malcom says.
Watch Billboard‘s First Stream+ interview below:
And watch the full “Muchacha” video here:
