Often the people we love the most are the ones that drive us the craziest; we’re all mirrors to each other, and they can more easily see us as we truly are. So when your closest musical collaborator is also your romantic partner, does it actually pose more challenges than ease?
In the case of Puerto Rican indie dream pop duo Buscabulla, it certainly makes things more interesting. Their new sophomore album, Se Amaba Así (That’s how they used to love), is fittingly deep and personal.
Raquel Berrios and Luis Alfredo Del Valle met in New York's indie music scene and formed Buscabulla (troublemaker in Puerto Rican slang) over a decade ago. Se Amaba Así, their first album in five years, mines their relationship — as well as the classic baladas romanticas en español from Berrios' late father's record collection — to explore the ups-and-downs of love over a moody but gorgeous sonic palette. It was a cathartic record; these were not stories of the past, but themes that came up during the creative process, asking to be felt, sung and transmuted into beautiful songs instead of stuck emotions.
Del Valle also participated in the vulnerable creative exercise, writing two songs from his perspective and centering his vocals for the first time. You can also hear their daughter Charly, who is now 11 and starring in her school play, at the end of the title track, as well as offering backing vocals on "Divino Tesoro" and "De Lejitos."
But this isn't the first emotionally deep or aurally ambitious project from Buscabulla; in fact, it's been part of the group's DNA from the jump. The duo debuted with the Dev Hynes-produced EP I in 2014, followed by the buzzy EP II in 2017, featuring fellow Latin indie hero Helado Negro on the breezy closer "Frío." And while the lush sonics — which effortlessly fuse modern synths and pop sensibilities with tropical instruments and classic Latin genres like salsa and bachata — can soundtrack a poolside hang, their lyrics explore poignant topics like gentrification and colonization, gender issues, and self-reflection.
After the devastating Hurricane Maria, Berrios and Del Valle returned home to Puerto Rico in 2018 (the same year they played Coachella) to raise their daughter and foster the indie music scene, including with their non-profit PRIMA. The move inspired their debut album, Regresa ("return"), their first on taste-making British indie label Domino, under their Ribbon Music imprint. (The new album is being released by the main label.) Sadly, the project’s momentum was dampened by an ill-fated May 2020 release date, but was still heard by some very important ears including, arguably, the most famous Puerto Rican.
The couple were considering whether it made sense to keep going on as musicians when a collab request (in the form of a fateful DM at 11:11 p.m.) from the one-and-only Bad Bunny reignited their creative purpose. It resulted in a prime feature ("Andrea") on the GRAMMY- and Latin GRAMMY-winner's record-breaking Un Verano Sin Ti in 2022, placing them on massive stages alongside the Puerto Rican superstar on his stadium tour in their home country, Mexico and the U.S.
GRAMMY.com caught up with Berrios and Del Valle at Domino's Brooklyn office to explore the vulnerability of their intimate new album, what they learned from working with Bad Bunny and more.
You chose to explore the universal — love — and the intimate — your relationship —on Se Amaba Así. And how did these themes and the way you approached them sonically evolve as you were working on it?
Berrios: I was very inspired by romantic songs of my heritage: The romantic songs that my dad showed me, a lot of tropical trío music, salsa, Luis Miguel, all those Latin power ballads of the '90s, and a lot of the very melodramatic singer-songwriters of the '70s.
I already had a lot of that language in the back of my mind when I started to write these songs because I wanted to channel that romantic energy into what I was doing, but I also wanted to make a really modern record. I wanted to take the vibes of these old songs — the vulnerability, the melodrama — and then when it was time to arrange and produce, I wanted to put all of this context into this present moment and this new sonic world. I wanted to both make something that had the sensibilities of the past with a lot of the sonic ideas of the present.
Del Valle: There are a lot of moments of self-reflection in the songwriting, which we wanted to also reflect in the production. That's something we try to express, both lyrically and sonically, these ups and downs of relationships, of love, and how it can feel so comforting and warm and also so chaotic and out of control.
There's a lot of vulnerability on the album. "Te Fuiste" is so intense. It's basically asking, What if you just left? What was it like leaning into that dynamic, on it? Was it healing to explore that sonically?
Berrios: Yeah, it's cathartic. I have realized that every time I sit down to make a song, to me, it's therapy. I sit down on the piano and start blurbing stuff out, it's almost like maybe when you get hypnotized. I think it comes from a very subconscious place. A lot of the songs I've written before came from having to muster up the courage to make music or to transcend. For me, it's always been about spirituality and transcending, [about] being brave. A lot of the songs are about—como se, superación?
Del Valle: Self-actualization.
Berrios: Yeah. But this record came from a really different place emotionally. Whatever comes out, I write it down. It's not I'm gonna write a song about this, it's usually What's in my subconscious right now? There's maybe something about the parasympathetic [nervous] system when you start playing the piano and your brain is being used to play an instrument, it's almost like it lets your subconscious sort of wander out and you can't control it.
This record was definitely emotional, and it was reflecting on everything that Luis and I had been going through. Before I knew it, I was singing about things that had happened and the way I felt about things. So, it's very honest, it's very vulnerable, and it was very cathartic.
Del Valle: It was curious because all our other music has been about external themes, maybe some internal themes, but not really about the dynamic between us. On this record that very much switched over and the lens was very much put on this relationship. It was honestly hard. I didn't love it. At first, I was like, Why are you doing this? But I have to give it to her. It's very brave and inspiring. The artists I love the most are vulnerable, are honest, are not afraid to delve into deeply personal matters and hopefully create something beautiful and transcendent out of that.
I came to terms with it by watching a lot of Lindsey Buckingham videos and interviews from the Tusk era, from Rumors and the documentaries of them making the record. It's really quite something. Stevie Nicks got into the band through Lindsey Buckingham and she ended up being this breakout star that gave Fleetwood Mac new life and a whole new career. Lindsey had to sort of take the L and say, "All right, I'm gonna be the producer here. I'm gonna be the guy who makes these songs come to life even though they're all about me and s— talking to me." ABBA is another inspiration.
Berrios: I just can't imagine us making a record about anything else, nothing else had that much importance. It would have been very hard. As they say, records are chapters in your life. That was the moment where that was the thing that was most occupying my mind and my heart.
Del Valle: You know what's funny? You have these music-making AI tools now and you can get them to write a song in the style of Buscabulla. The musical element is a bit more accurate I guess because there's already this history of music that we've made. But the lyrics are all about the sun and the beach and these very trivial tropical themes. What I took of it is that's what AI would expect us to do next, to just coast on this idea of tropical, and that's the opposite of what the record ended up being. It's a very, very vulnerable, very personal record, and something AI could never write.
What song started this process of personal songwriting?
Berrios: "Divino Tesoro" is the second song [I wrote for the album], the moment where I was really feeling that I was getting older. It's probably close to the time when I was already 40, 41. Turning 40 kind of made me like, Damn. This is going by fast. It made me reflect on what is really important.
"De Lejito," which is actually the last song on the record, was one of the first songs I wrote. In a way, it made evident that ours was a relationship that really needed space; it needed some kind of transformation and renewal. That song just came out [of me], it was such a simple little song. That's the one that kind of started a lot of it, a theme of getting older and understanding that life gets really deep the older that you get. You suffer more, you go through loss, things get more complicated. I knew that I wanted to make something deeper.
"De Lejito" is very deep and beautiful and longing, but it's also a little bit funny, a little tongue-in-cheek. It's kind of, You're getting on my nerves, you need to go away. It's that thing when you get annoyed by the person you love the most. I like the idea that I was writing a song that was edgy in that way, almost kind of bitchy, like, I love you but I don't want to see your face. It was completely honest. Aren't the people that you love the most the ones that drive you nuts and push your buttons the most? I really wanted to make a radically honest song, a cute song about, Oh, just go away. And maybe after we have some space, and I see you again, I'll fall right back in love with you. That song sums up the whole arc of the record.
It's the tension between trouble in paradise and then cathartic moments of each person telling [the other] off. The songs go through the experience of each one getting annoyed or being hurt, and then in the middle, it goes into a very deep, inner-reflective part of, Wait a minute, what have I done to contribute to this chaos and this trouble? It ends with this longing and hope for renewal. It's funny that in "De Lejito" it's all kind of there in that song, that was one of the first ones that were written.
What did you learn about each other and the way that you both love and think about love and love songs?
Del Valle: I didn't have that great of an example for relationships growing up; not through anybody's fault, it's just circumstance. I felt like I had to come to terms with my own codependency, my own issues of validation, and this kind of stuff that is deeply connected to love and relationships. And how in trying to save something, you can sabotage it, by trying to overcompensate for your own faults, you can sabotage something. I learned to be vulnerable the hard way because I had to, I had to for writing these songs.
At one point, Raquel came to me with the idea of us making a double album, where you get your side and I get my side. I don't really write that often, so it wasn't something I ever felt that comfortable with. But after a while of working on the record, and after hearing like seven songs about me, I was like, Okay, I have to say something. I learned to put myself out there and to really come to terms with who I am, that I'm not perfect either. It's a game of give and take, as they say.
Berrios: I was excited to put myself in a challenging space. When you know that it's going to be hard, you know that it's probably going to yield something interesting and good. I definitely learned to not be a damn control freak. Again, it's funny, because that's the example of love that I got. My parents also didn't have the best relationship; I saw my mom try to make things better. She tried so hard so many times. And I sometimes see that I can also be a little bit intense, and I want to make everything perfect. I wanted this album to be perfect. I've learned that I kind of have to make stuff from a little bit of a looser place.
That also reflects on love; sometimes you have to be a little bit more relaxed. You're not always gonna have the perfect relationship, and I am not always gonna be the perfect, most self-aware person with no psychological problems. I've focused a lot of energy into I have to become better. I have to get rid of all my stuff. Well, we are imperfect people and we have to learn to sort of relax and just make it nice for everybody, and that will probably make you more lovable. I think that approach comes to relationships; it's how you make music, how you approach your work, how you have to believe in your work so it goes well. This process has been hard, and it's definitely taught me to chill. It'll probably make me a better bandmate, a better person, a better mother and a better artist.
Are there examples of you practicing that in the making of the album, of letting certain things go, or kind of messing around with the vocals instead of having to get it perfect?
Berrios: I tend to be a Virgo perfectionist. I always imagine what I want things to be, and probably 99 percent of the time, I'm let down by what the actual thing ends up being. This happens to me with everything, with the actual song, with my vocal, with the production, with the videos. [Chuckles.]
But I've realized that the magic is in that you can only sort of aim, but you have to be more flexible or more accepting. The artists that I admire the most are the artists that are more loose or improvised, or things that come from a place of deep security and pleasure. I really need to learn to be more loose in that way. Because, man, I drove Luis crazy with this record, [saying] It's not good enough. [Laughs.]
Del Valle: Yeah, I almost grew the Lindsey Buckingham hair. [Laughs.] But given the subject matter and what we're trying to deal with, it's natural, it comes with the territory. At some point I think, I had to just bite the bullet and accept that we're going into this fully. I admire artists that do that.
Luis, your voice takes center stage on "El Empuje" and "Mortal." How did singing on these records change your relationship to your music, and why didn't you duet?
Del Valle: The project has always been from Raquel's female perspective. It's always been her lens and I've been careful to respect that. But in this case, since we're tackling our relationship and it takes two to tango, I had to step in and sing and write and produce the songs and do this whole thing. I have to give credit to Raquel, because she really encouraged me to do it. At first, to be honest, I was scared. I didn't want to do it. I didn't want to put myself out there. But you have to face those fears.
We didn't duet because that might be for the next one. For this one, we wanted to offer each of our perspectives and respect the perspective each was coming from, sort of give space. I hope we're holding space here. It might happen on the [summer] tour. It might happen in L.A. or Atlanta, who knows?
Obviously, I have to ask you about Bad Bunny. How have your lives and career changed since working on "Andrea"?
Berrios: It was wild when it happened. When Bad Bunny came along, we were in a bleak moment; it was two years post-pandemic, after putting an album out. Everybody was just tired. The first time we presented the record was this little window of time in the fall of 2021…whenever there was a little COVID-free window, we sort of popped our heads out. We hadn't really been able to see the growth from this first album because it was put out during the pandemic.
We were about to start the second album, but our finances were weird, as any musician's finances were. We were in this moment where we were like, Do we really want to keep going? And then the Bad Bunny thing happened. It was the universe basically saying, Yo, you made a great album. It touched this huge artist, and now you have to keep making music. It gave me a lot of reassurance that we were on the right track, and that we couldn't stop. Not only that, but it was really cool that he came to us to write such a socially poignant song, a necessary song.
He came to us to write a really important song about women, gender, domestic violence, or the inequalities that women living on the island [face]. That meant a lot. This guy sees us as a band that, yes, we do make sort of lounge-y music, but our subject matter is deep, and that matters a lot.
I mean, we ended up in one of the most famous, popular records in Latin history. What are the odds of that? That's wild. We call it the Latin Thriller. How did we end up on Latin Thriller? [Laughs.] It gave me a lot of security and hope and made me feel that this is what we were meant to be doing.
So it kind of helped bring you to this next era?
Berrio: Yeah. I mean, it gave us a certain amount of financial security. It's a steady amount of money coming in that probably will [continue]. The record's still hugely popular. That really helped us to be able to keep being creative and making music. It was huge. It helped us a lot to keep going.
Was there anything you took from that experience of being on this huge album, and working with him, getting to perform with him, that you've sort of integrated into your own creative practice or approach? Or even just something you learned from it?
Berrios: Yes. I love this idea of writing from a very deep place. "Andrea" was a deep song. It really unlocked something where it's like, I can be deep and I saw how people reacted to the deepness, and I was like, I never want to go back to making—
Del Valle: Songs about the tropics?
Berrios: [Chuckles.] I've sung about a lot of stuff, but at the beginning, [I wrote] a lot more tongue-in-cheek themes. I want to write from a very deep, emotional place from now on. It really unlocked that for me.
Bad Bunny has always been an advocate for Puerto Rico and Puerto Rican artists on his albums. On his last one, he really leaned into more traditional sounds. What was your reaction to hearing Debí Tirar Más Fotos and seeing him continuing to embrace the island and its emerging artists at this high point in his career?
Berrios: It's really inspiring. It's risky.
Del Valle: It's kingly, bro. You love to see it, man. Somebody's really out there who has a huge platform, is from our island, and is actually making something that has pull all around the world. That's something we've never seen, and it's independent.
It's actually coming from there, staying there. It's giving jobs to people there. It's inspiring. It's incredible. It's so commendable. And it's cool to see him embrace those sounds, it's punk rock in a way.