ALEX CUBA

It’s a strange thing, watching audiences sing along with Alex without speaking his native Spanish. But they do. They “la-la-la” their way from chorus to chorus, caught up in his inescapable gravitational pull. His warm, elastic vocals float above a sound essentially from everywhere. It’s an effortless mix of funk, soul, and pan-Latin textures, and no matter where you’re from, you can’t help it. You’re home.

He discovered music’s power to mesmerize and transport you at an early age. “I used to skip meals,” says Cuba, speaking of the long days he spent locked in his room as a child in Artemisa, Cuba, mastering the bass. “My mother would have to remind me that I was human, that I needed food. Music has always taken me away like that.” Today, he carries audiences away with his performances in the same fashion, from the Hollywood Bowl to Radio Music City Hall. There, he has shared the stage with artists as diverse as Sheryl Crow and Juan Luis Guerra. He casts his spell as if genres weren’t a thing.

At the heart of his ability to charm anything that breathes is Alex’s mastery of a deeper, more important language. The dude speaks joy. And it doesn’t matter if it’s Tito Puente joy or Stevie Wonder joy; it’s contagious. It shines through songs he’s co-written with Nelly Furtado and Jason Mraz. It’s the north star of his compositions.

This undeniable exuberance, expressed with masterful musicianship, has catapulted Alex to the highest levels of global critical acclaim. It led this fiercely independent artist to two Juno awards, four Latin Grammys, and a 2022 Grammy for Best Latin Pop Album.