▶ Watch Video: Becky G reflects on how she mixes art with advocacy in her new music
Multi-platinum singer Becky G’s mission goes beyond music with her latest album.
The global star said in an exclusive interview with “CBS Mornings” that visuals for her new music are where her advocacy and art “really came together.”
“It was emotional for me,” she told “CBS Mornings” co-host Gayle King while reflecting on the music video for her track “EPA,” where she’s seen breaking a block of ice in response to recent immigration raids.
“I feel like, for a lot of us in our communities, you know, with the discrimination and the oppression that we have felt for decades, it’s one of those things where you can’t rain on our parade. We are the people who dance in the rain, you know?”
Rise to fame
From Inglewood, California, Becky G, born Rebbecca Marie Gomez, began her singing career when she was just 9 years old.
The oldest of four children, she grew up in a Mexican household with her parents, grandparents and siblings.
As a teen, the superstar’s viral cover songs would eventually lead to a record deal – making Becky G the primary provider for her family. She revealed she used to “carry resentment” as a child, feeling the pressure to be the family’s breadwinner.
“We had to do a lot of work as a family to get to a place where I could heal from that and also be seen in that way and also have my family show up differently in that.”
But today she feels “a lot different” from when she was younger.
“I feel really thankful that my parents have actually been able to just be my mom and dad, especially in this, it’s never too late, you know, in that sense.”
Becky G gives Gayle King an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at rehearsal
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New music and major collaborations
Today, Becky G’s music has 28.3 billion streams worldwide as she collaborates with global powerhouses like Selena Gomez, Bad Bunny and Karol G, who she’s currently on tour with as a special guest.
“I wake up every day like I haven’t done anything the day before and in Spanish we say, like … I have the desire to eat the world,” she said. “Like, literally, like, the entire world. I just want to, like, devour it and just take over.”
But she hasn’t forgotten one of her first hits. “Shower” came out 12 years ago and recently made a comeback on social media, reaching over 1 billion streams on Spotify.
“I love it,” Becky G said about the song. “I have so much gratitude for that song. I think it was such a blessing for me to kind of get a crash course experience in what it is to have a song that almost goes No. 1.”
Her new album is “Baraja Bendita,” which loosely translates to “a blessed deck of cards.”
“We all know that quote of we can’t necessarily control the cards that we were dealt – but what we can control is how we play them,” she said.
“I feel like throughout my years of, of doing what I do, personally and professionally, I’ve gotten really good at playing the game and I think that that’s something that especially as women, as we’ve become more empowered, we’re almost taught to feel more shameful about that and I think I’m just owning it.”
One of the biggest names in Latin music, she said the album reflects every part of her.
“I feel like this album really marries the Rebbecca side of me … the sensual, more vulnerable side of me, the intimate side of me, and then also, you know, who I am,” she said. “The boss in the boardroom and the boss on the stage.”
Navigating relationships and her future
The singer has also had to navigate dating in the public eye. She’s been in a relationship with professional soccer player Sebastian Lletget for nearly a decade.
The couple called off their engagement in 2023. Becky G has been open about infidelity in the relationship, but now says “it’s a new relationship” and that they’re both happy.
“We’ve done the work and we continue to do the work, and I think that’s the most important part of it, is that it’s work, relationships are work,” she said.
“I think at the end of the day, what I would want for anybody that I love is to not make decisions based off of what’s happening in the comment section, but more based off of their life experience and what they know to be true to them and what they feel is right for themselves.”
The 29-year-old said she’s “really settling into” herself and caring more about what and who she wants “to become and less about anything else outside of that.”