There are artists who stand out for their unique aesthetic. The shaved head that lets a Nike logo grow on the head is the trademark that defines Soto Asa (Ceuta, 1993). “One summer when I didn’t have to work, a friend shaved my hair and I looked really cool. I kept it on and off depending on the jobs and the freedom to have a hairstyle like that. When I was able to make a living from music, I kept it as a trademark,” he explains in his tourist apartment when he had just arrived in Madrid.
His liking for the brand is evident in the song I liked your Naiwith more than 20 million plays on Spotify, alongside Yung Beef and to the rhythm of reggaeton. “But they should behave, eh! There are other brands that support the urban scene much more. I do it for free because I like it, but I put Nike in visuals, in music videos… I don’t know, they should give me some socks at least, right?”
He is passing through Madrid on his way to Mexico. A few weeks ago he performed at the WiZink Center in front of more than 5,000 people and with the launch of his third album, Album 9promises a new tour. The Ceutí has been in urban music since 2016, before the explosion and hegemony of these genres. He makes trap, reggaeton and “electronic music with voice”, as he defines it. Everything from the underground. From working as a baker, selling nail polish or mobile phones, he has become one of the most recognized artists on the Spanish urban scene. He has a million monthly listeners on Spotify and several songs with more than 25 million plays. He has played at Primavera Sound, Arenal Sound and Riverland, where he will return this summer. “But if I have to go back to selling nail polish, I will. I am very proud of where I come from and I am not ashamed.”
Soto Asa does not like exposure, interviews or being recognized too much. The urgency to go unnoticed is demonstrated in Gibraltar: “I left the city where no one can see me,” he sings. Despite wanting to remain incognito, his fans devour each of the artist’s releases, something that can be seen in his concerts full of pogos and chants in unison to each of his songs. His nostalgia for PlayStation 2 or Nintendo 64 video games (he has an EP titled that) and his neo-quinqui aesthetic are probably responsible for the return to the aesthetics of the 2000s.
He started self-producing at home with his computer. It was skater. He hates posturing: “I hate to tire through social media and posting every time I upload a song.” But he admits that being an independent artist and without “billboards in the centre of Madrid or big promotions”, that’s what he has to do. “I don’t like the fact that people become who they are not on the internet. It’s a cruel world. There are people who say things on the networks that they would never say on the street.”
Soto ignores Spotify lists as much as possible and exemplifies this with one of his latest songs, Shameshit: “I knew I wasn’t going to get into any chartbut I love that song. I know that a reggaeton can work better, but I can’t lose my authenticity, otherwise I end up being a copy of a copy.” He also doesn’t trust the music business in streaming“It’s a closed box. When the Internet was born, television and radio seemed outdated because they forced you to listen to what others said. We were the generation that raised its voice to say ‘we are free’. And what the hell, you’re not free, you have an algorithm that puts it in your face: listen to this. What they recommend to you this month is very similar to the previous one and it will be the same the next.”
Soto admits that he tries to lead an orderly life… during the day. “I go to the gym, I eat well… But night comes and I behave badly towards myself. That’s when I can improve. That’s why I stand between good and evil, but trying harder to be good.” He who gives kindness receives the same, say the laws of karma. “But it’s not a magical concept. If you treat me well, I’ll do the same to you. It’s a determined consequence of specific acts. It’s not something that operates externally and randomly in our lives.”
The search for improvement comes from his adolescence, through a teacher at high school. “I was obsessed with Western philosophers like Ortega y Gasset, Nietzsche or Plato. The classics, go on. However, I realized that instead of living life, I spent my time analyzing it.” He liked philosophy so much that he did homework for his friends in exchange for technical drawing. At that time, his teacher José Luis arrived with Buddhism. “He is one of the most influential people in my life. He taught me a way of thinking in which I could enjoy life allowing myself to be more incoherent. For this reason, I am not only attracted by the aesthetics of the Asian, but by its way of thinking.” “I don’t want to be crazy, that Nietzsche or Plato are more seen than The Godfatherbut I think I became obsessed with philosophy from a very young age. Now I am like a Christian who does not go to church, but I am a Buddhist,” he defines himself.
Soto Asa’s sound mixes the bases with filters like autotune, from which comes an almost robotic, sad, dark voice. He admits to being influenced by Yung Lean and the sadboys from the beginnings of trap in 2013. “But like a sad boy who always looks for the positive side.” Love abounds in his themes. “I like to camouflage it. In I’m back to the girl People think I’m talking about a girl and a toxic relationship, when I’m really talking about going back to a drug dealing point,” he reveals.
There are artists who praise drug use in their lyrics. He doesn’t. “Sometimes, without looking for it, it can seem like you’re promoting it if you talk about it, but I don’t like at all to incite people to consume something that in the long term can go wrong if you don’t have strong self-control.” That’s why he advocates talking about drugs in a less explicit way. Is the message he transmits important to Soto Asa? “We are not educators, but if you stop to think about it, whether you like it or not, you influence. That’s why it’s important that kids leave school and home with a good education; that they know how to differentiate between good and evil. The education of children cannot fall on rappers, it would be a disaster!”
“Tell her I love her but I want her to love me too,” he sings in Jugador 9. Although it seems like a simple message, there are fans who have tattooed those twelve words that demand the reciprocity of love. “People have made a lot of progress in relationships, especially in gender equality. We are more mature, but we have not yet reached the perfect point.” There is another factor that draws attention in Soto Asa’s aesthetics: he has two identical gold rings, one on each hand. He is married to himself. “All relationships fade away even if eternity is sold to us. My last relationship encouraged me to marry myself. I was going to have the wedding and the bachelor party, but the pandemic screwed up the plan. I wear the rings to remind me of that.” He has lost faith in love. “I don’t believe that human beings are made to live with one person forever.”
Where he does find love is at concerts. He still can’t believe that fans come to thank him for his music. “I get more emotional than they do,” he confesses. But the carousel of emotions sometimes makes him burn out. “It’s not a bad life, what can I say? But sometimes I’d like to be able to get away for periods. It’s strange to go to a place you’ve never been to in your life and have people know you.” And where would he retire? “In Tibet. Although it’s very cold.”
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