At only 23 years old, Pepa Solana took her suitcase and went to New York to learn the language and to work with American musicians. She wanted to learn more about the origins of the r
There they know her as Pepper, because of the way they pronounce her name, and together with her last name it has become her artistic alias. He sings in English and Spanish, at the Box NYC, a very extravagant cabaret and well known in the nightlife world, but since he is a “restless ass”, he does everything: choirs, writes his lyrics, creates music for others… doesn't stop She recently returned to Spain for a mini-tour of concerts in Madrid, Barcelona and Bilbao with her group Muchapepper, “it is a choral and inclusive project where everyone contributes their grain of sand,” she tells us. She is the lead singer and Jorge Pérez is a musician and producer.
You have a very powerful voice, there is a lot of work here.
Since I was little I started taking music classes. I had my first concert when I was 12 and when I was 14 I did my first job doing the music for a Miss Intercontinental Gala, I worked with Alain Pérez, also at the Circo del Sol, and I went on tour with the play Tiny,… it's a long career .
How did Muchapepper come about?
We wanted to do a social experiment, we asked ourselves what would happen if we took the music that the masses listen to with basic themes, and added somewhat deeper lyrics but in a super direct way. Jorge has a lot of experience and has a lot of knowledge in the music sector, I write a lot and have very defined ideals, and we considered that we were the perfect team, then we added the rest of the group, but we thought it was a very good formula to create this project /social experiment. Also, I wanted to experiment with this type of music that was not my style. And that's how Muchapepper emerged, it was a bit, let's see what happens?
In 2022 they were launched on the networks and…
Suddenly one day Vocaliza went viral, and had thousands of comments. We published the song without mentioning any artist, because regardless of personal opinion, we do not mess with anyone, we are all artists, and many are under the influence of record companies, this is a very complex world. But people in general thought that we were messing with Rosalía, with the bad rabbit..., and it was assumed that the group criticized them. It was pretty funny but it worked.
The music that young people listen to now has lyrics like: “when I saw that ass with sand and salt, I knew I was going to fall in love”, why aren't they moved by the lyrics?
I'm not very clear why, really, and the fact is that now there is a very dangerous current with hypersexualization as a synonym for feminism. I'm not saying that someone feels empowered by showing her body, of course, although I don't think that all that hypersexualization like showing her ass and twerking is liberation, but that discourse justifies those songs. You have to be careful with fashions. Objectification is not always liberation, and on the contrary, there are those who do feel empowered by being able to show their body.
But Pepper Solana also shows her body on the networks.
Yes, well, I also work in a cabaret and that dictates the wardrobe, but it depends on the day. I am almost 30 years old and I show myself as I am, with my legs and my stretch marks, but I do not make of it a feminist discourse, it is not a claim. My message as an artist is a little more sensitive, I talk about feelings. Above all, I have dealt with themes of abuse in my latest songs, because I have gone through an abusive situation in New York, before my current partner, of course. It was a very bad stage.
But was it psychological or physical abuse?
More psychological but there was something physical, obsession, chasing, jealousy, cameras at home... quite strong. For example, regarding clothes, I controlled what I wore, now, when I want to be a little sexier, I have that freedom, that's why I said that you have to be careful because not all hypersexualization is feminism.
Muchapepper's lyrics are very personal, for example, when you talk about record labels, what do you mean?
I lost a record deal because I didn't want to have liposuction. That's why we did the song 'Gorditas', because here where you see me with a size M, they've been calling me fat all my life, when I was little they took away my plates of food because I ate a lot or they told me who I looked like with such handsome parents. that I have. I was very young and impressionable, the industry wants us innocent, submissive and moldable. It's a bit of what I experienced, now I look back and I would have liked to get up from the table and leave them alone, but I was just a girl. For example, my bandmates called me 'elephant legs' because I have very tall thighs.
Well, now that has changed a little, Rosalía for example has good legs.
Yes, for some things it has changed for the better, because like everything, the industry has seen that something works and they go for it, although it doesn't change the narrative at all.
Would you collaborate with singers whose lyrics objectify women?
I don't think so, with certain artists, I don't think so. And it is very difficult to discern between those who have changed because they have wanted to understand the world, because they care about women's rights, and those who are pure marketing because it is fashionable to seem more empathetic and demanding but they continue singing about the same thing.
You have rejected a proposal
No, not yet, I would have to consider the situation, but I think it would go against Muchapepper's message.
Who would you like to sing with?
Well, it doesn't occur to me, but since I'm a little strange, I would tell you that with Stevie Wonder, and also with the Tanxugueiras, I would be happy.
You hear young people talking lately and it seems like we've gone back in time with women's rights.
Yes, it seemed like we were on the right track, but it's as if someone had done something, and protest has become a trend where the industry has gotten involved. It's a complicated topic. You cannot sell feminism as something banal. It is important to qualify the message and analyze. I think that currently we are bombarded with so much information, much of it unverified, that we have lost the analytical capacity, to ask why things happen without going to the Internet.
In 'Barbie Clothes' you talk about the difficulty of finding large or special sizes, and you tell women that they have to love themselves.
I am the first one who has cried in a clothing fitting room. It is not only fat, but also special sizes, large, small..., and in the world there are very few that have a normative size. It is very easy to make a single pattern, but you would have to make various clothes for different types of women... and it is worse for girls, it happened to me, when I was 19 years old, physical problems led me to bulimia. At Ropita de Barbie we wanted people with problems not to feel alone, there are girls who listen to our songs and we help them see that it doesn't just happen to them. That is the message, that we all go through the same thing.
In 'Que no qué?', we talk about the problems of women being recognized in the world of work. Aren't men looked at with this perspective?
I wouldn't say so much, because in the LGTBIQ community there is discrimination, especially with male gender roles, but on the subject of work, I recognize that, although a lot of progress has been made, there are still problems.
Do you see yourself as a feminist reference?
I let people decide, I tell it from my point of view, I simply try to show my art to the world. Sometimes it's not easy, but it's worth it.
Is there any artist that has surprised you lately?
Lizzo, an American singer, an African-American XXL-sized artist, who has made a splash in the United States with big concerts and who talks about issues of loving herself. I find it curious that the industry has accepted this girl, even though she is only one.
Someone else?
On a personal level, I like the Spanish Gata Cattana, she died young, but she was a good poet.
What is your favorite Muchapepper song, I know you have many
Thin air perhaps, because of the theme and the dark vibe, in addition, euthanasia is a topic that few people have touched on, it is still a taboo topic. The lyrics are more ethereal than the rest, so that it would be more subtle and not so direct.
Are you going to compose more songs?
We continue with these themes. I am very interested in making a song for the NGO Open Arms, their work is super beautiful and important. And we are working on a new song about the right that women have to have fun anywhere, safe and without fear of anything happening to them, and without needing to have a man by their side. We are recording it.
This is their latest topic, Natural Intelligence, "I wish we would dedicate the same effort that we put into the development of artificial intelligence, to the knowledge of human intelligence and consciousness," they add.
