Top Up & Coming Latina Artists

Latinitas interviewed a radio journalist to get his top music pics....

Paul Saucido and his Top 5 Latina Artists
by Marisa Cano

Journalist, producer, actor and TV host Paul Saucido started acting and dance classes when he was about 7 or 8, and began participating in theatre and musical theatre. In middle and high school, he and directed his own plays. He studied theater arts and Chicano studies in college, and went on to write for publications like the LA./OC weekly, Bam, and La Banda Elastica. He’s interviewed countless celebrities such as Paulina Rubio, has played numerous roles on television and in film, and is currently the host and producer of ME TV’s Sonido Boom Box.

But success didn’t just fall into his lap. Saucido had to learn many skills and be open to many ideas along the way. “You have to ask yourself, how can I make myself irreplaceable? If you are a writer, you have to learn to run blogs and do elementary HTML. You have to learn how to pick up a camera and learn the ins and outs of video. You need to learn how to use basic editing software on a computer. The more you learn, the more empowered and less indispensable you are.”

Saucido also had to learn to be open to criticism. “I like good criticism. It’s refreshing…If you are a young person, and you really want to get into this business, you have to be able to take the note [of criticism]. You have to listen to what they have to say—odds are they’ve done what you want to do and failed at it miserably. There is no point in failing if someone is showing you not to fail.”

Paul’s Top Five picks for Up and Coming Latina artists:
1.Pilar Diaz: She’s a great example of someone who uses many instruments. She mixes culture with modern experimental sounds.
2.Julieta Venegaa: She’s a little more mainstream. Musically, she’s coll and she sings songs that are poppy and melodic. Being “cute and shy” is her thing.
3.Jacqueline Santillan: She’s the lead singer of Wait.Think.Fat. She mainly does work in English, but her lyrics are brilliant, and her sound is very mellow/chill, but powerful.
4.Girl in a Coma: This band consists of two sisters and their childhood friend. They seem to have a good rock equation down. They sound great and their songs are very melodic. They just did their first song in Spanish and they are uncommon, in a good way.
5.Mala Rodriguez: This Spanish musician uses strong powerful words in her songs. She used to be into hard rock, but now she is a lot tamer. She’s hot, but not a commodity, and is not superficial.