Miami, .- Lady Gaga, Beyoncé, Metallica, Taylor Swift and Nirvana are some of the artists whose music has been transformed into lullabies by Rockabye Baby, who is now betting on the Colombian Juanes as the first Latin musician of this particular list.
“I listened to Juanes for the first time almost 10 years ago and I always knew that I wanted it in my catalog,” says Efe Lisa Roth, creator of the record label that has been given the task of making baby versions of artists for adults.
The businesswoman claims that she “fell in love” with the music of the singer of “La camisa negra” since she happened to listen to her music in her sister’s car, although she did not understand his lyrics because she does not speak any Spanish.
Although Juanes did not participate directly in the versions and production of the album, he has declared himself “excited”.
“It is an honor for me to be part of this project,” the Colombian artist told Efe from his studio. “As an artist and a parent, I know how important it is to have this connection with your children through music from an early age.”
That was exactly Roth’s goal when I created Rockabye Baby almost two decades ago. “Baby music was all the same,” explains Roth, whose surname supports his musical pedigree.
His brother is the singer-songwriter and producer David Lee Roth, better known as vocal leader of the rock band Van Halen.
The seed of Rockabye Baby was born after unsuccessfully searching for a musical gift for the baby of a friend who was about to be born. With a mixture of mockery and humor he declared that something like “Sex Pistols for babies” should exist.
I was not the only one who thought the same, and the concept caught on in such a way that not only did it become a successful company, but it was received with enthusiasm by the musicians themselves.
“We take the songs of the artists that work with our concept,” he explains. With the exception of some stars that do not give anyone the right to use their music, “everyone we have approached has granted us licenses,” he says.
The themes are adapted and recorded instrumentally with “relaxing” instruments and in the case of Juanes’ music, the xylophone was chosen as the main instrument.
Among the songs included are “To God I ask”, “Yerbatero”, “It’s for you”, “See you again”, “I fall in love”, “Light” and “Photography”, among others.
The catalog of Rockabye Baby has more than 100 productions, among which are also themes of artists as diverse as The Beastie Boys, Adele, Drake, Johnny Cash, The Doors and the soundtrack of the successful musical theater play “Hamilton”.
“We started with rock, but every time we added more genres,” says Roth, who still finds humor in lullabies versions of metal band themes such as Iron Maiden, Rush, Black Sabbath and Kiss.
According to Roth, the best sellers have been the baby versions of the Beatles, Coldplay, Queen and Journey songs, but one surprise was the success of the Blink-182 songs.
In total, in 2017 59% of the sales were downloads on the internet with 315 million reproductions and have sold more than 400,000 discs via digital, more than 2 million songs and 1.8 sales of physical discs.
Roth rejected the decision to incorporate Juanes as his first Latin artist to specifically seek to present the company to the growing number of Hispanic parents. “Good music transcends languages or cultures,” he says.
“Our goal has always been to build bridges between families.” Parents and grandparents share their favorite music with their babies with Rockabye Baby, “he says.
However, he recognizes that among his immediate plans are ten other artists who have written their lyrics in Spanish, although he declined to name names. “I do not want to take away the impact, but we will have at least one more this year,” he says.
He also has a long list of other Latin artists whose music he would like to adapt, including Marc Anthony.
The New York-born musician of Puerto Rican origin published the instrumental album “Marc Anthony for Babies” in 2017, an initiative that was added to the market for children’s music projects such as those published by the Mexican Thalía and the Venezuelans Chino y Nacho. (EFEUSA)
