After living a year that has marked a before and after in his career due to his Eurovision candidacy, David Martínez (Alcalá de Henares, 1985), artistically known as Rayden, is in one of his best moments. And it is that the peace of mind that comes from knowing that he has a loyal audience that accompanies him at every step has not subtracted one iota of his courage when it comes to reinventing himself in each song: “Each song is a new proposal and I applaud my audience because, when I throw something, they cross their fingers and say let’s see where I come from”. Thus, and to show why he is gaining more and more followers, this musician who began his career in 2002 will be part of the Negrita Music Festival in Santander this Saturday, but before that he had a few minutes to talk to elDiario.es and review his career and to the future: “I wouldn’t go back to orthodox rap, because there I would feel like I’m selling myself (…) Getting where I am has been a journey and a conviction.”
You have been in music for 20 years, how has this time been for you? Is he older or wiser?
Well, both because I have more gray hair [[ríe]]. I have the feeling that everything is happening very fast, luckily I’m lucky, I also say this because of my surroundings, that people don’t usually enjoy the good things, but take it for granted. They don’t feel it as a relief because they think they deserve it, but I am one of the people who do enjoy everything good that happens and celebrate it as such, and despite how fast everything is happening, it seems like it’s a blink of an eye. Well, look, even blinking is celebrated.
And what remains of the David who won the Red Bull Battle of the Roosters?
I think that my music served to know how to connect with the public and know how to take it later as front man. It served as a first contact to know how to handle the public in the best way.
I interviewed him two years ago and he told me that some of the love relationships he had lived through had not worked out because he compared them to what he feels on stage… Is growing up also about seeking tranquility more than roller coasters?
I think that growing up gives you a ticket to start getting on the rides you have inside of you. Stop looking outside and stop blaming outside what you might have to look for and analyze inside. That is also given by age and when you dare to look inside yourself, you may see things that you do not want to see and others that surprise you for the better. you laugh at dragon khan compared to what we have inside.
In that interview we also talked about how little he liked the Minister of Culture at the time, José Manuel Rodríguez Uribes. Do you think the same about Iceta?
I think it has had more to do with the fact that in the pandemic there was a moment of crisis at the cultural level because we asked for help and saw a negligent person as in the case of Uribes. The Ministry of Culture also has to go hand in hand with the Ministry of Tourism and the Ministry of Industry. These are difficult times because there is also a shortage of raw materials and even steel, which is causing festivals to get up with just enough, and trying to do the loaves and fishes trick. It is a difficult situation. But I think that when a Minister of Culture makes news it is bad, when he is noticed it is bad, it is better not to be seen because that means that perhaps he is doing something. Culture is an economic engine and comes hand in hand with tourism. There are many towns that, thanks to the celebration of festivals, become nerve centers for tourism and meeting points. That is undeniable, like all the jobs that are generated.
What do you think of reggaeton? Are you one of those who hates it?
You have to be very narcissistic to hate a style of music for the mere fact that it exists. I think something bad has to happen in one’s head to hate, not only in general a style of music but as a group. It recently happened with Coldplay, which filled more than 200,000 people in four dates and there are people who hate it, and wish them illnesses… I neither like them nor dislike them. There are artists that I don’t like and others that I do. Yesterday I was seeing a performance that Bad Bunny did with ‘Titi asked me’ in New York at the VMAs and I love it. And there are other proposals with which I do not connect so much but I think it has to do with affinities. That happens with all styles of music. Maybe with urban rock I connect more on a general level, but there are also things I don’t like and then there’s the Muse album, which just came out and I love it. But hey, we are in the age of identification with form and it seems that you need to say that you don’t like something to make you believe that your opinion matters.
Do you have any red lines in the music?
Well, for example, going back to orthodox rap, because there I would feel like I’m selling myself… It’s something I don’t feel anymore and that the lyrics don’t ask me for. Satisfying those from before ‘Si vas’ when I still had no musical knowledge or tools would be to sell myself because I would try to reach a niche that I don’t want to do and that I’m not born to do. Getting to where I am has been a path and a conviction… And I understand that there are many people who, when they start listening to you from a very early age, treasure the artists they like and the groups, and when they have other concerns and they grow and widen, there is a lot of young audience that falls by the wayside, gets angry and asks for the old thing to come back, when the old thing would be the death of the music and the reply.
Has it happened to you?
No. Each topic is a new proposal and I applaud my audience because, when I launch something, they cross their fingers and say let’s see where I come from. The next one I release, which will be in three weeks, is another twist and the next one will be another, and I love that because I find it very stimulating, and because then you listen to the records and as a conceptuality it has all the coherence and all the sense . So I like those pieces that seem totally isolated from the rest and then become part of a whole piece. But luckily for me, since I already have the usual public, they don’t ask me to go back to what I used to do, but rather it’s a “let’s see what he does now”.
A person with two fingers of forehead cannot be against the law of ‘only yes is yes’
No. I think there have to be many factors behind it. I love Eric and Arnau very much, but the situation is totally different. I feel more and more like I’m part of a band even though the name is Rayden. Every time I protect myself more in them and I give them more prominence. I feel that it is being something more choral and that allows me not to lose the essence and maybe because I have more and more musical concerns and connect and not try to consolidate anything, because I take risks and I do not feel that I lose the essence, but rather I maintain not giving anything In fact, I’m not satisfied, but even if I wear a piece of clothing in a video clip, I won’t wear the garment again. I have a problem with that. I always try to do different things and maybe that’s why I never lose the essence.
‘Caza de handkerchiefs’ has once again regained prominence with the approval of the ‘only yes is yes’ law. Why are there still so few men who openly position themselves in favor of this law?
I always like to say that real life is not Twitter because there it seems that everyone thinks they are a chatterbox and has to give their opinion. And a person with half a brain cannot be against this law. All of us who are deconstructing ourselves are going through a process at an internal level in which sometimes we commit the sin of championing a cause when really what we should do is be relegated to the back. There is a certain narcissism in wanting to lead causes, a narcissism that can be involuntary, of course. But I consider that those of us who question things are learning as we go and that is why perhaps these things are not admitted out loud so much, because you can fall into trying to get a profit or a claim from it.
He shuns the feeling of homeland, why? Can’t there be a healthy homeland?
It is difficult because there is a country in Spain made of papier-mâché. There is a flag that does not represent because it has been used for a series of things that do not support freedom. I see other countries like Argentina or Italy that are proud of their flag, but ours gives rashes. Around this, the sense of homeland subtracts freedoms because there is no empathy or cohesion, but rather there is a shared indivision. It is very difficult in Spain to defend the sense of homeland because speaking of it many aberrations have been committed. It is a shared indivision in which each wants to separate from the other and trample on their freedom. And that extends to all levels: you see that success here is suspect and it seems that when you have it, you have to justify yourself, and then someone from outside comes and it seems that they have all the credit, and we have a bit of the complex of ‘Welcome Mr Marshall’. There is a feeling of homeland with too much makeup…
Rap is not usually a very typical style to represent Spain in Eurovision. What called you to introduce yourself to the Benidorm Fest?
Well, there were several things. The first is that I love Italian music and the San Remo festival, which attracts more audiences in Italy than the Eurovision itself and whoever wins can choose whether to go to Eurovision. It is a contest that serves to get to know the entire showcase and musical spectrum of the best music that is made in Italy, and when I saw that Benidorm wanted to recover something similar for Spain to what San Remo was, I realized that I wanted to be. And here is related what I was telling you about the essence and where nobody dares, I feel like it. I didn’t know who I was going to share the contest with, I didn’t know if it would have better quality or worse, and I was lucky that it had a lot of quality and that credited us all. And that the public valued it and rewarded it because it has been one of the events of the year, and luckily [[ríe]]. Because it could also have been a circus of eccentricities, but no. I am very proud to have participated and grateful for all the new audiences that have shown up.
And what has it brought you?
New people are listening to me. The eurofan public is very strong and perhaps my name resonated with them, but it is an event that is seen by almost all of Spain, so many people have discovered me. Perhaps in other circumstances they would not have approached my music due to prejudice, but thanks to the festival could have been.
He claims vulnerability and speaks openly about his time in therapy. Isn’t the message “we should all go to the psychologist” a bit elitist?
Absolutely. I don’t think it is of much use for us public figures to tell people that they should go to a psychologist if there is no quality public health service or if they quickly take pills. We sin in that elitism of “as I can afford it from my watchtower, and I tell you to go to therapy.”
Can loving stability harm romantic lyrics?
The best songs live in waiting rooms, neither in cemeteries nor in the operating room. In the waiting rooms they talk about the ‘during’, the nuances and plain things that for the vast majority go unnoticed, but with which other people connect and can talk about it.
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