After touring the world, releasing five albums and making lifelong friends while being in wildly popular boy band CNCO, Zabdiel de Jesús is ready to show the world who he is as a solo artist.
“Everything has been busy but great,” Zabdiel tells Celeb Secrets host Juliet Schroder exclusively in a virtual interview. “It’s a time that I am enjoying all of the stuff that is happening in my life. I’m trying to maintain everything in balance between the tour life with [CNCO] and my own stuff. It’s been crazy, but I feel nice.”
Yesterday (August 24), the 25-year-old Puerto Rican multi-threat talent, whose artistic name is now ZABDIEL, opened a new chapter of his musical journey by releasing his first-ever solo single “Aventura” via WK Records.
“Aventura” is De Jesús’ take on Toby Love’s global bachata 2006 hit “Tengo Un Amor,” a song which he says was one of his favorites growing up. It also features Spanish pop star Ana Mena, who according to the singer/songwriter “sounded too good” on the upbeat track.
“I didn’t plan to do a Bachata as a first song, it was like an organic thing,” Zabdiel shares regarding sampling “Tengo Un Amor” for his debut single. “I knew one of the writers [of the song] and he told me he had the rights to it. For me that song in Puerto Rico was everywhere when I was a kid, and I used to love the song. So when he told me that, I was like, wow, maybe we can do like a reversion, because that was a big hit.”
“Nobody did it before, so I was like, maybe we can do something cool with it. We had the idea to bring a girl, and Ana Mena was perfect for that,” he continues.
And while he’s excited for what’s to come from this new chapter of music, Zabdiel says that he’ll always be grateful for what he learned while being in CNCO.
“I think so much stuff. Maybe everything,” he says of what he’ll be taking away from his experience in the boy band. “CNCO is the way I entered to the music industry, so I learned basically everything I know onstage, everything I know in the studio… I learned that in CNCO.”
“The whole experience of being in the band for me was like university. I think if I have to mention one thing, its the fact that to make great things, you have to work with a team, you cannot do stuff alone.”
As for if he’ll ever cross paths with his band members again, Zabdiel tells Celeb Secrets that he’d love to collaborate with the guys on a track in the future.
“Of course,” he says of a potential song with Richard, Eric and Christopher. “That’s gonna happen for sure. We are like brothers. We share the same passion for the music, so for sure it’s gonna happen.”
For more on Zabdiel’s music, make sure to watch our full interview below and don’t forget to let us know what you think of “Aventura” by either leaving a reaction at the bottom of the post or by sliding into our DMs on Instagram at @celebsecrets.
You can connect with Zabdiel by giving him a follow on Instagram at @zabdieldejesus and TikTok at @zabdieldejesus42.
