The room / Rebeca Martínez

"Rebeca is controversial, and when she is not in prison she is being sought". This is how the great Rufo Caballero defined Rebeca Martínez more than 10 years ago, and the truth is that time, once again, has proven him right. 

Whatever age you are, if you live in Cuba, it's hard not to have heard of this woman at least once. Who would have thought that Rebeca Martínez would come back to be trending in social networks by 2023? 

The blonde from the capital has gone through everything: recognized dancer, humorist, actress, presenter, singer, sex symbol, showgirl controversial, and, finally, social networking phenomenon on a regular basis as meme material. 

What is certain is that, at more than 50 years of age, Rebeca refuses to retire. —why would I have to?—. She always stirs up the island's hornet's nest with something new. Whether it's a studio session and a sensual dress for Christmas, or her viral video for "and we continue with the nasobuco"or some photos Photoshopped in the style of the year 2000. The point is not to go unnoticed, something she has learned to do very well over the years. 

Now she is once again reinforcing her facet as a singer, her favorite side according to her own words and the one she would like to be recognized for. But beware, she is far from being the woman in the hymn "¿ ¿?Rakarakachan by Get Fit,* or that of its pop-rock hits All men are equal and I'm going to let my hair down. Not at all. Times have changed, and that formula, at the present time, would not have worked for him except for an invitation to live rope or perhaps to Piso 6.

Rebeca knows it, and to continue being trendy, she moves away from the sound she had us used to and resuscitates in everyone's mouth with a new musical track called "The New Music". The room.  

It's a simple track from a compositional point of view, and I'm not going to complicate myself in analyzing and deconstructing it too much because the truth is that it doesn't need it. It is what it is: a simplistic, diaphanous and carefree song that follows the thread of others of its creator, Tanya —The latter had its moment of greatest visibility at the end of the 1980s and the beginning of the following decade, and hit the hit song  That man is crazy before emigrating in 1993, although he returned to the Cuban scene with some assiduity a few years ago.—. 

Its strong point is, without a doubt, the catchiness of its lyrics (for better or for worse, depending on how you look at it), and above all the persistent use of double entendre, which without reaching the foul language gives the song that picantic touch and makes you remember that this type of pieces, as in the past, have been very popular. If you ask me for the fish, I will give it to you. by Eliseo Grenet or Chacho and Chicha's hut by Tony Ávila, are liked in the country. It is said that Cubans are hot by nature, and this kind of songs often become resounding hits. It is just that they are not usually composed and performed by women. 

Verses such as "sitting in the room doing porompompom.", y "I have the Trojan horse and he sends a tremendous jewel".probably have come to stay in the popular imaginary and popular speech.

However, I do not believe that this catchy lyric backed with the accurate use of the picaresque, by itself, would have put the song in the center of the media spotlight, as it is right now; and the fact that it was weeks on the Pistacubana site before many knew about it, serves to support my argument. 

The room becomes a sensation in the first place because it is Rebeca who sings it. Because the one who for years caused a stir in men, and was abhorred by women, now is —to its detractors— a lady who borders on the ridiculous and finds nothing better to do. 

Let's be honest: if Laritza Bacallao or Isis Flores had been the protagonist of this piece, would the result have been the same? Rebeca will be criticized, lynched, mocked and even burned at the stake for not aging according to the norm; but while this happens there are always those who follow her on Instagram or make a meme with her most recent videos. And therein lies one of the keys to her surprising success.

The second point is the controversial and unorthodox nature of the video clip. Personally, I don't consider it to be badly made. ¿Kitsch? Yes. Of little cinematic virtue? Also. But right this minute there are dozens of videos on Lucas that suffer from the same malady and are not criticized as much for it. The visual support of the director May Reguera - whose I confess to being a fan of his way of understanding art - has undoubtedly raised eyebrows, but the truth is that he makes an accurate use of photography to provide a striking product, in tune with the "hotness" of the subject. Both the color temperature of the video, as well as the visual tone vintage are entirely in tune with the camera shots and with Rebeca's mimic projection, who moves like a 70's diva. At the same time, at times the video is absurd and anomalous. So there, considering that the polemic, the weird and the controversial are the order of the day, I don't see why Rebeca -who evidently likes to adhere to trends- should be the exception. 

The room It may not be a musical genius, but, like it or not, it is a track that will be making the rounds in the networks for quite a while, at least until La Diosa premieres the arrival theme or Chocolate offers one of her signature refrains. It's not a masterpiece, but it has a fair dose of creativity and is in keeping with what is being consumed in Cuba today.

As for Rebeca, there will be those who will assume her to be a pseudo-showgirl zombie who refuses to accept that her artistic stage is over, or those who see her as a groundbreaker, full of originality, knowing what the public wants and that she has been able to exploit to perfection. In my case, I prefer to agree with Rufo once again: Rebeca is Rebeca. When she's not in jail, they're looking for her, so we can only wait and see what she surprises us with in the future. 

 *Musical aerobic gymnastics program on Cuban TV where Rebeca herself was one of the main protagonists. Rakarakachan was the theme of presentation and farewell, and became a hymn in Cuban homes.