How did ‘Badina’ first come together, and what was the starting point for the track?
The starting point for the track was really the vocal sample. We hadn’t made beats together in a while, and I was going through a new sample pack that had a lot of Shatta-inspired sounds. I started chopping up one of the vocal samples and combining it with a Dembow rhythm, and the first thing that came to mind was the hook for “Badina.”
From there, I just freestyled the verse, then Pinky freestyled his verse. That’s kind of become part of our style when we work together we’ll freestyle and get the ideas and melodies out first, then go back and add the actual words and shape everything around it. It keeps the process really natural and spontaneous.
‘Badina’ brings together Dembow, Caribbean and Latin urban influences with Shatta inspired rhythms. What drew you to these sounds for this track?
I’ve always been drawn to music that makes you want to move, and Dembow is a huge part of that for me. I wanted to bring in some of those Caribbean and Latin urban influences but also experiment with the bounce and rhythm you hear in Shatta. It felt like a good way to create something that still sounds like me while bringing in influences from different parts of the world.
The title ‘Badina’ is a playful twist on “bad Latina”. Where did the idea for the title come from?
The title came from playing around with the phrase “bad Latina” and turning it into something that felt more unique and playful. “Badina” just had a good ring to it. But with that being said it also can just be baddieI don’t want to concentrate on one type of female
You describe ‘Badina’ as a track about energy, movement and having a good time. What were you trying to capture when making it?
I wanted to capture that feeling when you’re out with your friends, the music is playing and everyone turning up. There’s no overthinking it, it’s about movement, confidence and having a good time. I wanted “Badina” to feel like a track you can put on and immediately change the energy in the room.
Jalmar and Pinky Promise come from different Australian, Chilean and Venezuelan backgrounds. How do those different influences come through in the music you make together?
I think you can hear those different influences naturally in the music. We both have different cultural backgrounds and different things that we grew up listening to, so when we come together, those influences just come out without us really forcing it. There’s the Latin side, the Dembow influence, Caribbean sounds and also the Australian side of how we’ve grown up making and experiencing music. I think that mix is what helps give our music its own identity.
This is part of your ongoing collaboration and the development of a shared Latin urban sound. How has your creative relationship evolved through working together?
I think we’ve become a lot more comfortable with each other creatively. When we first started working together, there was probably more of a process of figuring out what worked, but now we can pretty much jump into a session and start creating without overthinking it. We understand each other’s ideas a lot more, and there’s a trust there where we can freestyle, experiment and throw ideas around without worrying if something is perfect straight away.
What does the writing and production process usually look like when you work together?
A lot of it starts with the beat or just finding something that gives us a feeling straight away. From there, we usually freestyle a lot. That’s become a big part of how we work together. We’ll freestyle melodies, hooks and verses and just see what sticks. Once we have those ideas, we go back and start putting the actual words together and refining everything. I think that keeps the music feeling natural rather than trying to force a song from the beginning.
What was the most challenging part of bringing ‘Badina’ together from the initial idea through to the finished track?
I think the biggest challenge was actually knowing when to stop changing things. Because the song came together quite naturally through freestyling, there were a lot of ideas that we could have kept adding or changing. At some point you have to step back and realise that the original energy is what made the song work in the first place. So it was more about keeping that energy while making sure everything sounded finished and polished.
Jalmar created the artwork while Jonathan handled the mixing and mastering. How did you approach the visual and production sides of the release?
For the visuals, I worked with a new director, TMWR Media, because I wanted to try a different approach. I felt like I’d done a lot of dancing and had a pretty established style when it came to directing my own visuals, so I wanted to take myself out of that position for a bit and let someone else take the wheel and see what they came up with.
It ended up creating a more elegant type of energy, which I really enjoyed. It was nice to step back creatively and see the song through someone else’s perspective.
On the production side, Jonathan handled the mixing and mastering, which helped bring the track together and keep the original energy of the song while giving it that finished, polished sound.
Now that ‘Badina’ is out, what would you like people to discover about your music and the sound you’re building together?
I’d like people to discover that we’re not trying to stay in one box. We’re taking influences from Dembow, Latin urban, Caribbean music and other sounds we’re interested in and just seeing where we can take them. “Badina” is a good example of that because it has that Dembow foundation but there are other influences happening within it too.
More than anything, I want people to have fun with the music. Hopefully they hear “Badina”, feel the energy and then want to go back and discover more of what we’ve been creating together.
