Why Quevedo’s New Album ‘Buenas Noches’ Kept Him Up at Night

The Spanish singer and rapper Quevedo spent some sleepless nights back home in the Canary Islands this fall. He’d been busy visiting family before the November release of his new album, Buenas Noches, and the wait for the project was keeping him wide awake.

Insomnia inspired the whole LP, in fact. Buenas Noches is a look at all the things that kept Quevedo up as he skyrocketed into stardom over the last couple of years. He made a splash when he first appeared on the Spanish-music scene back in 2020 and later scored a viral hit in 2022 with Argentine producer Bizarrap (the video for “Bzrp Music Sessions, Vol. 52” currently has more than 675 million views on YouTube). In 2o023, he released his acclaimed debut album, Donde Quiero Estar, which included collaborations with Myke Towers and homages to Daddy Yankee.

The quick rise was a lot for the 22-year-old, whose full name is Pedro Luis Domínguez Quevedo. Buenas Noches captures two years of late-night celebrations and late-night longing. “It’s that feeling when you’re awake at 3 a.m., staring at your ceiling,” he says. Here, he breaks down some of the tracks from the new LP and explains the creative process behind the anticipated new album.

“Duro”

This is one of my favorite songs I’ve ever made. The drumbeat is really different [from] what’s happening in music right now, but it somehow still has this essence and the delivery and the wordplay you hear in reggaeton. My last song, “La Última,” was an unloading about how not everything is great in the music industry. The album has a lot of moods, but I wanted to come back so people know that the Pedro who loves making music is still here.

“Halo”

I grew up listening to reggaeton in the Canary Islands, but it doesn’t mean necessarily that I’ve lived that life. That song features La Pantera, a rapper who is one of my closest friends, and it was a way of playing and creating a moment where we pretend to be tough. In the verse, though, we joke and there’s the humor of saying, “Look, we’re not actual gangsters.” Throughout the whole album, there are small touches that have a sense of humor.

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“14 Febreros”

A while ago, a TikTok came up with a song by Sin Nombre, and I remember loving it. Later, in the studio, my friend who worked on the album came and said, “You have to listen to this artist, you’re going to love him.” And he played “Total” by Sin Nombre. I was like, “This guy from the Dominican Republic who sings. He has these amazing melodies — what were his influences? He probably grew up listening to dembow and Justin Bieber.” And that fusion of things sounds so good, and he’s a pioneer in that. I was like, “This guy has to be on my album.”

“Buenas Noches”

I decided to close the album with this because I thought it was a way of telling people what I felt over the last year. It’s me reflecting about my personal life with my friends in Spain, and my artistic life, with travels and events. And it’s about how when I have one, I can’t have the other, and how I’m always missing one side. It was something I felt deeply.