Soy Yo

Colombian band Bomba Estèreo released the album "Amanecer" in 2015. It was placed 50th in Rolling Stone's list of the year's best albums, the song "Soy Yo" was selected for the "FIFA 16" soundtrack (via). This week, the band released the official video, "an insanely cute celebration of brown girls". According to frontwoman Li Saumet, the song and the clip tackle "bullying and intolerance, issues that worry all of us".



The clip - the result of an open-submission idea contest - was shot in New York City (via). The winner was Danish director Torben Kjelstrup who was inspired by a photograph of his girlfriend from the 1990s - braces, red hair and a confident look. Kjelstrup started building a universe around this character and chose Sarai (from the moment he saw her he knew she was the one) who had her acting debut in the "Soy Yo" music video. Sarai's parents are from Costa Rica and Peru and live in New Jersey (via).



"So, yeah, this is a well-made music video, and the song is pretty catchy. But for the Latino community, this video is a really big deal even beyond all that. Why? Because I almost never saw myself represented in the media when I was a kid."
Alicia Barrón, Upworthy

"All this to say that, my heart was filled with nostalgic joy and magical brown girl pride because I immediately saw my former awkward self in her. Only at her age, I wasn’t as confident but had this music video existed in my day, perhaps I would have owned my wavy bangs, bushy light eyebrows, and, er, unique sense of style."
Cindy Rodriguez, Huffington Post

"This tiny girl can teach you how to be awesome. Haters begone. From this moment onwards, I refuse to take life advice from anyone but the young star of Bomba Estéreo's "Soy Yo" video."
Estelle Tang, Elle



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