Q&A: María Becerra, from YouTuber to the Latin Grammys
NEW YORK ( AP) — Before she became one of the most popular Argentine singers of the last year, María Becerra was a YouTuber whose funny videos, in which she appeared bathing her cat and even shaving her face with foam, generated millions of views. But her true passion was music, not comedy, and now she is nominated for the Latin Grammy for best new artist.
“I was such a character,” she says about her teenage years producing her own videos. “And I was always like that, inventing plays or scripts in my head that I wanted the world to see ... I was always very involved in everything related to art. I did a lot of theater but I was also very involved in self-management. I liked being very independent when doing my stuff”.
That’s something that stuck with her as an emerging Latin urban singer: Becerra does not have a record label, only distribution. Still, in the last few months she appeared in Argentina’s Spotify Top 10 with collaborations like “Wow Wow” with Becky G, “Antes de Ti” with Rusherking, “Mal Acostumbrao” with Mau and Ricky and the international hit “Qué Más Pues?” with J Balvin.
Mostly a reggaeton singer-songwriter, although she has also performed R&B and bachata, in 2019 she debuted with the single “222” and two years later released the EP “Animal, Part 1”, which was followed this year by her first full album, “Animal”. She has also appeared in multiple remixes with popular artists, such as “En Tu Cuerpo” with Lyanno, Rauw Alejandro and Lenny Tavárez, “AYNEA” with FMK and Beret, and “Además de Mí” with Rusherking, Khea and Duki, Lit Killah and Tiago Pzk, her first No. 1 on Argentina’s Hot 100.
“It would be a great achievement for me if I can maintain my career like this,” working independently, says the 21-year-old artist, who started at 12 by posting her first video on Facebook (a 5 minute parody monologue that was viewed over a million times in just a few hours). “I know that there comes a point where it is very difficult to pay all the expenses, because the videos, everything, I pay for it. ... But my goal would be to have my own record company.