How can you authentically love your neighbor if you don’t speak the same language?
That’s a question Evan Craft asked growing up in Los Angeles California, where 60% of the people speak Spanish. This led him to take Spanish lessons at the age of 15.
Fast forward to 2022 and Evan Craft has many albums under his belt in both Spanish and English.
96five’s Tim Bain caught up with Evan Craft to learn some Spanish and hear about the many iterations of his song Be Alright.
“My music took off on YouTube,” Evan said.
“It was such a big surprise because I thought YouTube artists were like B artists that they couldn’t make it with a record label, and that’s actually what really sustained my career for years and years.”
Evan originally wrote the hit song Be Alright for another artist, but regretted it because of how much he loved the song.
“Be Alright is such a cool song because we actually wrote it first in Spanish and we were thinking about people in Latin America.”
After realizing he could release an English version of the song, he teamed up with Danny Gokey and Redimi2 to create a bilingual radio edit, which eventually led to the remix with KB and Sam Rivera, playing regularly on 96five.
“There’s a tension in the song that I think is really beautiful,” Evan said.
Evan’s passion for transcending culture and language has made a non-Hispanic man one of the most successful artists in Latin music.
“I’ve been surrounded by a ton of Latin Americans who have really shaped and shaped me and really enriched my whole life”
Evan Craft is currently on tour with KB and Sam Rivera throughout South America.
To listen to the full interview, watch the video player above.
