- 3 months ago
The new global Latin pop group sits down for a conversation on how they formed, and what’s coming next, presented by HYBE Latin America.
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MusicTranscript
00:00I saw my mother in the public and I was crying.
00:08I cried at the beginning, when I started crying in the first song.
00:13In the last song I was crying again.
00:16I was crying again.
00:20I was crying.
00:23It was a mixture of emotions.
00:26I'm very grateful to God, I'm grateful to life for the opportunity.
00:32And I'm grateful to my mother and my grandmother,
00:36who, as I said, have sacrificed a lot to be in the position I am.
00:50Good afternoon everyone.
00:52I hope everyone is doing great.
00:54I'm so excited for this panel.
00:57The building of Santos Bravos.
01:00This is Santos Bravos.
01:02The guys were just announced the band,
01:04Hybe's first ever Latin pop band,
01:07via Hybe Latin America.
01:09Welcome, Santos Bravos.
01:11Hello, very nice. Thank you very much.
01:13Great.
01:14So, si se pueden presentar.
01:16Obviamente también tenemos a Jaime y a Juan de Hybe Latin America.
01:21Y quienes obviamente estuvieron súper, súper involucrados en Santos Bravos.
01:28Si se pueden presentar, can you introduce yourself?
01:31Hola.
01:32Soy Drew Benegues.
01:33Soy de Estados Unidos.
01:34Tengo 25 años.
01:37Hola.
01:38Mi nombre es Gaby.
01:39Soy de Puerto Rico y tengo 20 años.
01:42Perra en la casa.
01:43Bueno, yo soy Jaime Escallón, presidente y general manager de True,
01:50que es el label que está lanzando Santos Bravos dentro de Hybe Latin America.
01:55Y quiero aclarar que acá solo tenemos una parte de Santos Bravos.
01:59Nos faltan tres Santos Bravos que literalmente están volando acá en este momento.
02:04Nos falta Alejandro, de Perú.
02:07Cáwe, de Brasil.
02:08Y Kenneth, de México.
02:10Y ya los podrá conocer mañana.
02:13Y yo soy Juan Serenas, el CEO de Hybe Latin America.
02:18Se escucha como que un eco.
02:20Entonces, si pueden como que acercarse el micrófono lo más que puedan, estaría perfecto.
02:24There's sort of like an echo, so when you speak, just close your mic really close to your mic.
02:31So, as I said, the band was just officially announced yesterday.
02:37They performed their first show yesterday at Auditorio Nacional in Mexico City
02:43in front of 10,000 people.
02:45That was their first experience as a new band.
02:48Drew, if you could tell me just sort of what was going through your mind when you stepped on that stage.
02:55Man, well, you know, when we first got to the stadium and we went up to our dressing room,
03:03there's nothing but iconic and legends that are up on the posters who have performed at Auditorio Nacional.
03:09And one of them being Christian Castro, who we also look up to.
03:15Just knowing that we're stepping on a stage that that person has performed on is a testimony to hard work.
03:24You know, we worked really, really hard this past six months to get to this point.
03:28And the feelings that were going through my mind was just, I think, being grateful and feeling blessed that, you know, God gave us a gift.
03:39And he allowed us to to be authentic and be ourselves.
03:44And there's no better feeling than having loving and supporting fans be there for you as well, because they're also part of our journey.
03:50As much as this is our journey ourselves, they're also part of it, you know, and I was feeling super grateful to have my family and friends, family and friends watching from the live.
04:00And man, that feeling was truly a dream come true.
04:04A dream come true.
04:05Y tú, Gaby, ¿cómo te sentiste?
04:07Me sentí increíble, una mezcla de emociones.
04:13Vi a mi mamá en el público y estaba llorando.
04:21Lloré al comienzo cuando en la primera canción empecé a llorar, en la última volví a llorar de nuevo.
04:29Estaba, estaba llorando y aplaudiendo.
04:36No, en verdad, una mezcla de emociones.
04:39Agradecido con Dios, agradecido con la vida por la oportunidad.
04:45Y agradecido con mi mamá y mi abuela, que como te dije se han sacrificado mucho para tenerme en la posición que estoy.
04:55These guys sound like pros, not, it's like they've been in the business forever.
05:02Jaime and Juan, I definitely want to talk to you about the importance of this project.
05:07As I said, this is HYBE's first ever Latin pop band via HYBE Latin America.
05:14This was, Santos Bravos was the making of a band, but it was also a docu-series that followed that journey.
05:21And that journey was, I think it was what, like 17 guys that started, and then ten, and then finally the five that made the band.
05:31But this journey was captured in this series, and throughout that training it was applying the K-pop methodology to the training, which is very rigorous.
05:40But also finding a balance to find that Latin essence, obviously the essence and the diversity that is Latin America as well.
05:52Jaime and Juan, can you just talk about the importance of Santos Bravos?
05:56Sure, so when Hive Latin America started, and at the beginning of last year, this was a project we all wanted to do, expand Bang's vision into a new territory, bring that K-pop methodology that you talk about, and using some of those teachings and innovation that comes with it, but adapting it to our region and being very respectful of where we come from.
06:24For us, it was a combination of culture, it's a combination of different methodologies that come together, and we wanted to show that there is amazing talent, obviously, that comes from our regions and we can essentially take over the world by being great storytellers, being rigorous in the way that we present our artists.
06:54But also being very respectful to where they come from. So it was a way to combine all those three elements, and you saw the result last night?
07:04No, and I want to add to it, so my background is in TV and film and documentary, and I was initially called to create a format, called create like a format that would eventually, you know, hand a band or, you know, launch a band.
07:22But as I learned more and more about Hype's methodology, I realized this cannot be a format. The focus needs to be on training. These guys trained for six months, you know, six days a week, ten, twelve hours a day.
07:38And they made a lot of sacrifices, including leaving their families, to get where they are. Not just our Santos Bravos, our five guys that are now the band that we're going to be, you know, rolling out.
07:50But also everyone that came. And they are all artists and all superstars. And we wanted to really focus on developing their talent, their abilities, and also to get to know them.
08:00So we actually traveled to their countries, we met their parents, because something that was, that is incredibly unique about this project is, we found the talent across different countries.
08:11So we had talent from Argentina, Colombia, Venezuela, Mexico, the US, Puerto Rico, Brazil. So it became this multilingual hub, where there was some Spanish, Portuguese, and English, and that just made us feel even more connected.
08:26And the most important aspect of this process has been the fans. We created a format, a type of storytelling, that lives across multiple platforms.
08:38YouTube, great partner, Spotify, VIX, you know, that lived on cable TV, that had these sesiones bravas, like these mini concerts where the fans could come, and we started building a fandom.
08:50And that is the reason why, when we decided to have our finale in the Auditorio Nacional, an iconic venue in Mexico, we put out a call, and in about two and a half hours, 10,000 tickets were gone.
09:06And those 10,000 people showed up yesterday to support the Santos Bravos. So it's been such an incredible journey for everyone, of course, for our guys.
09:16I mean, I wish we had footage of them, like six months ago, how they were. I'm like, it's incredible.
09:23But also for us, for the ones that were behind the training and development process, the creative process, and for the fans.
09:28And for the fans, it's so beautiful to create something that people want and that identifies. So these guys have a big responsibility with the fan base they've built.
09:36And we know, we know their talent and their passion for the music and the dance and everything they're doing will certainly, you know, reward those fans.
09:45So we're super excited about what's coming up, and very grateful for this unique opportunity that HYBE gave us. And that's why we're here.
09:52And just in case some of you, I mean, I'm sure everyone knows, but HYBE is behind, it's a K-pop label, it's based in Korea.
10:01It's behind the giants, like BTS, Cat's Eye, which I'm sure many of you are fans.
10:08So this is a big deal, that this is the first Latin pop band that they're launching.
10:13Well, definitely, I want to know your stories, but I do want to ask, what was your, you know, what went through your mind when HYBE said
10:21that they wanted to do this and immerse themselves in Latin as well?
10:27My first reaction was like, all right, let's do it. It was time. I think it was time for the model and the methodology
10:36and for HYBE to come into the region. Obviously we've all seen the explosion of Latin music, but it was time.
10:44It, I think it needed it as well. Our, our model is very unique. It's very different. It's very artist focused initially.
10:54And I think we, when we did it, we set out to prove that the methodology that band created works.
11:01It can work across genres. It's worked with Cat's Eye, it keeps working, but more importantly, that it can elevate
11:10or it can bring artists from across the region to the globe. So we were like, let's do this.
11:18Yeah, and I have to say that we have this balance where the K-pop, the HYBE's K-pop bands are like our cousins
11:25and we benefit from, from a lot of the great, you know, elements that they have, the visual element, the dance element, you know,
11:33the connection to the fan, but, but they're also always asking us like, but how is it in your region?
11:39So it's like such an interesting conversation where we are taking in all the, all of the good stuff,
11:44but we're also kind of having these creative licenses. And, and most of the licenses come from the guys.
11:49These guys worked really hard to get where they are. And we are so proud and, and, and, and excited to keep on working with them.
11:59And that's what really shaped what we did. Like it's, it's really a special, almost movement.
12:06And I mean, the testimony is these crazy fans coming and, you know, cheering for them, but, but it was really these guys.
12:13We found such great talent. So we just needed to kind of guide them, right?
12:18To, to take them along this journey that has only just begun for, of course, Drew and Gabby, but also for Kenneth and Alejandro Ancaue,
12:26who will be joining us. I promise they're on their way right now.
12:29Yes.
12:30I watched, I followed along. I watched the series. I was rooting for, I mean, I was rooting for all of you really,
12:37because they were all great boys. But I definitely want to know more about you.
12:42And I want our audience to know more about you both as well. Drew and Gabby, what does this opportunity mean to you
12:51to form Santos Bravos? And how has your life changed?
12:58Well, that's a great question. You know, I grew up as an athlete. So I grew up playing all your general sports that you can think of.
13:08And then I found dance around the age of 16. I've been dancing for about 10 years now. And I started getting to choreography around 18.
13:18Had the pleasure of choreographing for some artists, and then also backup dancing for some artists as well.
13:25And I also danced for BTS. I was in a couple of their music videos, which I had the pleasure of being a part of.
13:30And I'm grateful for that. You know, but I think around COVID, I took a turn and I kind of fell into a little hole mentally.
13:38And I kind of lost myself artist-wise, you know, and I kind of started giving up on the whole dream of maybe being something one day.
13:47You know, and I fell into retail. So I worked at a retail store for about seven months.
13:52And then I had a call from a casting director for Santos Bravos. And I think when I had gotten that call, I think it honestly truly changed my mindset.
14:04I was like, wait a minute. I think I have a chance now to maybe prove myself and give that little boy inside of me a chance to show him that I can make that dream come true.
14:17You know, and of course, my background, I'm from the US, but I was raised in Hispanic households.
14:25So I didn't get the chance and opportunity to learn Spanish from my parents because their parents didn't teach them.
14:30But I'm very fortunate enough to have this opportunity to come here because I've never felt disconnected to where I come from.
14:36And now being here and being able to learn Spanish and get back to my roots, that's all that matters to me.
14:41And I have amazing brothers by my side who have taught me so much and have been there for me.
14:47And honestly, this whole experience has changed my life for the better and I've never felt so happy.
14:54And this is just the beginning of my story.
14:59Pros.
15:01Pros.
15:02Pros.
15:03Pros.
15:04Pros.
15:05Pros.
15:06Pros.
15:07Pros.
15:08Pros.
15:09Pros.
15:10Pros.
15:11Pros.
15:12¿Y tú Gaby, qué significa esta oportunidad para ti de formar parte de una banda como Santos
15:13Bravos?
15:14Significa todo para mí.
15:15Eh...
15:16Yo voy a ser muy honesto contigo.
15:17Yo no era bueno en la escuela cuando yo era chiquito.
15:20And my mother was a very special person and she tried to always look for, ok, if Gaby is not good at school, why is it good? Ok, she put me in sports, ok, it's good in sports.
15:44Then she saw me dance at a talent show and she saw me move my waist, I don't know, I moved well and started to dance classes.
15:56And so, yes, I feel very fortunate to have my mother because she always focused on my virtues and not on my weaknesses.
16:08And, yes, I've always had a great passion for art, for sports, much more for art.
16:18I like to sing, I like to dance, I like to dance.
16:24I had the opportunity to participate in a series, too.
16:30I've never taken classes of acting classes, but I took it in a series, came the opportunity.
16:34And, yes, everything that has to do with art, I like.
16:40And I've never seen myself doing anything other than this.
16:44So, having the opportunity to do it every day and to improve it every day with them, it's crazy. I can't believe it.
16:56I want to add an anecdote from Gaby. Gaby came late. Gaby came late. He was the last one in.
17:06So, he came late because when we called him the first time, he didn't believe it.
17:11He called a casting agent, Gaby, I don't know.
17:15Yes.
17:16That was it. Let me explain.
17:19What happens is that, to me, me write, no, me write in a photo, a such Carrie.
17:29And I see that she writes and says, ah, I wrote in the DM, check out your DMs what I wrote.
17:35And I, Carrie, I go to her profile and I see that it's a casting agent.
17:42When we read that, ah, it's got to do a casting. It's got to do a casting, it's got to do.
17:48I didn't see anything at that moment.
17:49I said, well, what's that, what's that, what's that, what's coming,
17:50then that's what I'm going to get.
17:52So I came to the messages and he told me to audition, to be able to do an audition for a band that they were doing and all that.
18:08But at the moment, I didn't see it real, honestly.
18:14You didn't trust?
18:15No, I didn't trust. I said, I'm going to go there and they're going to kill me.
18:21Te lo juro, yo pensaba que me iban a secuestrar y como que no confié sinceramente en ese momento.
18:30Después pues muchas cosas pasaron en ese momento y vi la oportunidad como algo que no tenía nada que perder.
18:42Así que la cogí y lo hice y ahora estamos aquí.
18:47Y le insistimos, le insistimos y unos meses después hubo la oportunidad y lo pueden ver en la serie de audicionar.
18:57Gaby vino, lo hizo, incluso en su familia había gente que le decía, no sé.
19:01Él dijo, no, esto es lo que yo voy a hacer.
19:04Y decidió él, empacó su maleta, vino, audicionó en México y a las 12 horas le dijimos, te quedas.
19:12Y aquí está, llegó tarde, pero llegó hasta el final.
19:17Y eso es la razón por la que Gaby es un santo bravo.
19:21Y ese sacrificio que hizo Drew, esos obstáculos,
19:28todos los desafíos que se enfrentó y que me hicieron,
19:31me quedaron de amor con la música y la música y la música y la música.
19:35Pero luego, cuando llegué a la llamada, le dijo,
19:38oh, esto es mi shot.
19:40Tengo que trabajar hacia mí.
19:42Y siendo un danza, porque Drew era principalmente un danza,
19:46él trabajó como no hay mañana en sus voces.
19:49Y, you know, he escuchado su voz,
19:51he's got such a beautiful and amazing voice.
19:53And at the beginning, we would tell him like,
19:55Drew, we know, you know you're a good dancer,
19:58you're also a good singer, you just need to know it.
20:00And he did, and here they are.
20:02And when you meet the other three guys,
20:04Kenneth, Cauê, and Alejandro,
20:06you'll understand why they are the Santos Bravos.
20:09They are brothers.
20:11When they come together, they are so powerful, so amazing,
20:14and they will achieve so many things.
20:16They've already achieved, you know, an amazing,
20:19and you can watch it on YouTube,
20:21an amazing performance in front of 10,000 people,
20:24and it's only the beginning.
20:25So, I'm so proud and excited that these guys are with us at Hyde,
20:29you know, and the other three guys,
20:31and to share this with you, it's such a special moment.
20:33And I do have to say, they sound great together.
20:36You premiered your first, your debut single yesterday,
20:40Zero Por Ciento en el Auditorio Nacional.
20:44But I do want, we'll definitely get to listen to it,
20:47and watch the music video,
20:49and you'll see just how great performers these guys are,
20:53the five of them.
20:55But when I was watching the series,
20:58I saw just the importance of that training,
21:01and we know that that methodology works,
21:03obviously because we've seen it with BTS and Cat's Eye.
21:07There was a focus on physical,
21:10there was also an importance of mental health,
21:12which I love that aspect of the whole thing.
21:16If you both can just talk about that,
21:19and sort of that experience of implementing that training.
21:23Yeah, absolutely.
21:25You know, I mentioned it earlier that we are artists first,
21:29and artists focused.
21:30These are, you know, this group, these guys,
21:35are gonna invest years of their lives and their dreams into Hive,
21:39and they trust us with that.
21:40So we have to give them, or we feel a responsibility
21:44to give them all of the tools that they need,
21:47not only to be great performers,
21:49but to be great people, great professionals,
21:52to be able to step in a stage and talk to everyone here,
21:56but also make decisions and feel like they're empowered to do so.
22:01We also understand that the journey is hard.
22:03It brings challenges.
22:05It's difficult.
22:06They experienced it for six months and will continue,
22:09and so providing those resources is extremely important to us,
22:13because we believe that if investing in the artist,
22:17in them, as people, just will make them great performers
22:21and bring their stories to life and the music to life.
22:25And these were vocal coaches, some of the best in the world.
22:29Yeah.
22:30Uh, choreographers, again, some of the best around the globe.
22:33Um, Jaime, when I spoke to you for the story,
22:36which we have a story in the magazine about Santos Bravos
22:39and the making of, Jaime, you told me,
22:42mi vida me cambió. O sea, este proyecto me ha cambiado la vida.
22:47Can you expand a little bit about that?
22:49So, no, I've been telling stories all my life.
22:53That's how I've always seen myself.
22:56I've made, you know, hundreds of documentaries, features.
23:00I love directing actors.
23:01I've done formats around the world, Survivor, you know, the X Factor, etc.
23:05And that's why I ended up, um, kind of joining this project.
23:11Uh, but now I'm in the music industry.
23:14Now I work for HYBE.
23:16Now I tell stories with these guys, you know,
23:19through music and through performance.
23:21Uh, so that's...
23:22And the reason that I decided to kind of continue the path
23:27beyond this initial training, you know, audition show,
23:31was because I can absolutely see the power of the Santos Bravos,
23:37you know, the power that HYBE brings, you know,
23:40what we can do as Latinos, because this is a Pan Latino band.
23:44It has a member from each country.
23:47Guy from Puerto Rico, Drew from the U.S. with Mexican heritage,
23:51Kenneth from Mexico, Alejandro from Peru,
23:55and Cabo from Brazil.
23:56So, like, it's a truly Pan Latino brotherhood,
23:59because they really connected, regardless of where they come from.
24:02And so, why not join?
24:05Why not have, not just me, but an incredible team that I have,
24:08which is right now here, creative,
24:11and teams that are, like, booking concerts
24:13and thinking about, you know, how the next, you know,
24:16album cover is going to look.
24:17And so, we are all so invested,
24:20because these guys showed us what hard work
24:24and passion and being authentic.
24:26These are, it's, I, I, I, it's the 17 guys
24:31that came through the process are amazing people.
24:34And these five guys, yes, they're great artists,
24:36they're great talents, but they have so much to say
24:38and to share.
24:39They are such amazing people.
24:40So, that is, when I, when I was meeting,
24:42like, my life changed, it did change.
24:44And I actually literally have a different job
24:46that I had before I started this.
24:47So, yeah.
24:48If I can add to that, I think, not only changed his life,
24:52but the team's life.
24:53I think we saw it yesterday at the auditorium
24:57where our team all attended, and emotions poured out.
25:00And I think they changed all of our lives,
25:03and we're all extremely supportive, obviously, of them.
25:06but they, they've impacted our lives just as much as this experience
25:11has impacted theirs, I think.
25:13I want us to hear and see these guys in action,
25:17plus Kenneth, Alejandro, and Kawe.
25:20So, Joyce, if we can play the clip from Zero Por Ciento.
25:25Perfecto.
25:55I want to ask them, like, how was this filmed?
26:16Because there's, I mean, there's a short video on Billboard Latin
26:21about how this was produced, but, like, why don't you share with the audience
26:24for those that don't know, how was this video?
26:26There's only five guys in the final edit, but how was it filmed,
26:30and how, what did you feel when that was being, when that was happening?
26:33Yeah, so, so, for this visualizer, we, all ten of us, for the ten finalists,
26:39we all individually sang our parts and got recorded,
26:45and then also got paired up in different little groups of two, three,
26:49and then at the end, we did a dance break, obviously, you've seen,
26:52with maybe, like, nine different groups of five, and little did we know
26:56that one of those groups were actually gonna be the finalists at the end,
27:00and somehow, by the time we got to the final, we obviously got picked to perform.
27:07They already had the, they had the music video already edited in a way
27:12where they implemented all of us into the music video,
27:15and that's how it came to life, and it's, it's crazy how everything turned out,
27:20and it's, it's amazing, I don't know, production is, has a mind like no other.
27:26Yeah, it's great. We have just 30 seconds left, so I want, whoever wants to respond to this,
27:33what's next for Santos Bravos? What can we expect?
27:39I mean, what can I say? Look, the journey starts here,
27:43we have big ambitions for Santos Bravos, they, you will be seeing them,
27:48this is the first of many songs, content, music, and really bringing their stories even more to fans.
28:00You will see some of the K-pop stuff also come into play,
28:04but we're super excited about this project, obviously Santos Bravos,
28:08super excited about the guys, so big ambitions, big goals, and you'll see them a lot.
28:18And lots of great music, there's more music coming, so, we are writing 0%, please share,
28:24like we're so excited to share 0%, to share the Santos Bravos, you've got to meet them,
28:28and then there's more music coming, and a ton of super exciting things,
28:31because, you know, we have talent and we have a lot of creativity, so, yeah.
28:36Watch the series, it's actually really great, and you can watch their journey.
28:41Thank you HYBE Latin America for this panel. Felicidades Santos Bravos.
28:46Muchas gracias.
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