UNITED STATES – We finally made it, team oikotimes is the first website to host a video interview with an ASC participant. The honour of opening our Skype sessions has been given to the US Virgin Islands and their representative, Cruz Rock.
Immediately to awkwardness between us through the Atlantic, gone and Cruz proved to be the buddy to chat with. We discussed how everything started with music entering his life from the family side of his dad, how his older sister inspired him as a singer and musician, how hard was for a Caribbean guy to enter the main US market and achieve many things while studying in college as his mother wanted.
We also discussed Eurovision, which he loves and follows. Spanish entrant Chanel impresses him as he noticed her rehearsals. We are not surprised as the Spanish entry “SLOMO” is definitely a song that will slay in the entire Caribbean area.
But he also has a favourite for the first quarterfinal, which took place a few hours after our Skype session. Through the Los Angeles connection, Toa Toa singer revealed to us that he definitely supports his brother from Puerto Rico (and for those who may be wondering, just think of Greece and Cyprus and you will understand why).
About his music, Cruz is talking about the diversity in the USA which is not exactly explained to the world, about how music should redefine us and get us out of the darkness of sadness and war and he actually gave us a sneak peek singing acapella of his bidding entry, for which he is now allowed to say anything, not even in which show he will perform.
EXTRA INFO
Rock’s said he was always multi-talented, being involved in the visual arts, namely drawing and painting, and also sports. At one point he wanted to go to the NBA.
He said his family on the Trini side are all engineers, electricians and chemists and they were pushing him to be an engineer and get a job in oil like his grandfather.
Nevertheless, he went to school to be an engineer and studied industrial design at the Columbus College Art and Design in Columbus, Ohio, and at art school, he met a lot of multi-talented people like himself.
In 2019 he was nominated for Best New International Artist in the Luna Latin Music Awards which took place in Colombia after creating a string of Latin hits that put him on tour in South America and the Dominican Republic. The South American tour included Colombia, Panama, Ecuador and Peru. Rock said the audiences are used to Latin music but hearing someone from the Caribbean doing Latin music was intriguing to them.
In 2020 Rock released his song Be Mine, which is a collaboration with Jamaican dancehall icon Beenie Man. He recalled that during his South American tour he realised they listened to a lot of old-school dancehall music.
an oikotimes original text
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