On a humid and cloudy day in Curaçao, with its endless ocean views and pastel colonial buildings lining the streets, Colombian star Ryan Castro is eager to talk about the roots that shaped him as an artist and as a person. This isn’t the all-too-familiar story of a global music sensation, but more an intimate look at the places, people, and moments that inspired his second album, Sendé (out May 29), an ambitious love letter to the Caribbean.Here, on the narrow streets of Jan Thiel, inside a Jeep Wrangler, Castro retraces the steps he walked years ago as a teenager juggling everyday jobs while writing songs and dreaming big.
On this occasion, Billboard Español had the privilege of joining him on an intimate experience around the island.“It was while I was living on the island that I blew up in Colombia,” the artist recalls. “I think it was the right time to share that with everyone and let them know about my life here and my cultural influences too, because I love dancehall.
A lot of the things Castro does are deeply connected to this island.”It was during those formative years on the island — where he spent a couple seasons because his mother lives here — that he refined his sound and began gaining recognition back in Medellín, ultimately laying the groundwork for the artist he is today.Hours later, we visit the nursing home where his mother, a nurse, works to this day — a place where Castro did shifts as a young man — while secretly ditching work an.