I have been listening to Alih Jeys’s newest single Bruja (Witch) all week. It is not only an earworm that makes your day move along happily with a kind of deep-in-your-blood energy, but it is stealthy, with many layers and details that you can’t get the first time through.
Her voice is almost casual, like summoning a witch was something she does every day. But as the song moves forward, Jey puts an edge into her voice as it accelerates to rapid, almost hip-hop lyrics, broken by overdubs of her voice and musical chorus interludes that drift just a bit into the mysterious, just enough to put a be-careful edge on it.
There is danger here, but it is masked in a soft exterior. The energy is subdued like it is leashed, almost ready to break through a dimensional barrier – which it does in moments.
If you listen a second or third time – or more, you pick up details that simmer under the surface like ghostly voices, sounds like distant chains rattling, and sophisticated and slightly disturbing modulation of her voice as she shifts from hip hop to chorus. There are distant horns, and the electronic buzz that initiates the song submerges as she begins singing, but surfaces as a hum that deepens the environment of her lyrics and then resubmerges.
The sophistication of the production and arrangements are amazing, but typical of Alih Jey, who, in addition to being a Latin Grammy-nominated rock artist and Billboard-charted singer, is a much in demand songwriter and producer. With song credits for Ricky Martin, JLO, Wisin, Gloria Trevi, Jessica Simpson, Paulina Rubio, Los Rakas, and many others, she knows exactly what she wants and how to achieve it.
Jey comes from an iconic musical family in the Dominican Republic. Her father, Aníbal de Peña is one of the country’s most honored and celebrated musicians. Her debut single, It’s OK, hit #16 on Billboard. She has toured with Paulina Rubio, Bacilos, and Raul Malo and shared the stage with Ximena Sariñana, Gloria Trevi, Aleks Syntek, and Alejandra Guzmán. She has played SXSW, LAMC, The Grammy Music Series, and appeared on The Tonight Show. She is completely bilingual and sings in Spanish and English, and boasts a following in both languages.
Bruja is in witchy music in Spanish, but it is so much more than that the language does not matter. You know what is embedded in those notes and lyrics. And once its power has you, you can only want more.
Patrick O’Heffernan
