Well done
The Puerto Rican rapper wanted to feel like a master chef serving up something new for fans. Now, he's ready to share
Álvaro Díaz is the first to say that his last album Sayonara represented a massive breakthrough for him. After years building a reputation as Latin music’s most beloved underground rapper, Sayonara shot up the charts and landed on multiple best of lists (including Rolling Stone’s Best Latin Albums) and scored several Latin Grammy nominations.
And yet, last November, while Diaz was celebrating all the accolades and recognition, his emotions were all over the place. He’d just bought his first house, and he was performing at the Latin Grammys ceremony. “I was so proud to be there because it was like, ‘Wow, I’ve been dreaming about this and singing in front of the mirror with a remote control since I was a kid,” he says. But he was going through some personal issues, too. He’d been through a few losses, and he’d just ended a situationship that week. Later, he found out he hadn’t won the Latin Grammys he was hoping to. “It was like a bunch of mixed feelings, and it felt really crazy, to be honest,” he says. “It really felt like an omakase of emotions, almost like a collage. I was really proud of myself, and then I felt really let down about all these other things.”
