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Leslie Grace is a singer, actress, and writer who is true to herself and the stories she tells through her lyrics. Whether you first discovered her through her early bachata covers, heard her Reggaeton and Latin Pop records like “Díganle” with Becky G, or saw her on screen in In The Heights, she’s an artist who has consistently moved between creative worlds. A three-time Latin GRAMMY nominee, Grace has built a career rooted in versatility, a deep connection to her Dominican American roots and female empowerment.

Now, she returns with her new album AMOR, ¿QUIÉN ERES?, a 14-track project that consists of a kaleidoscope of genres such as bachata, salsa, R&B, Afrobeats, merenguetón, and pop. The theme of the project explores love in all its phases, vulnerability, personal growth, and reflecting different versions of herself.

We sat down with Grace to talk about her evolution as an artist, collaborating with different voices, and this new era of Leslie Grace.

OnesToWatch: AMOR, ¿QUIÉN ERES? feels like a full journey through love, growth and vulnerability. How did all of this come together as you were writing, producing and creating the album? 

Leslie Grace: It’s been many years of that journey. I wanted to make an album that reflected where I am now. I had taken some time to reconnect with music in a personal, private way, because I had been doing it, like you said, for so long and from so young. I don’t think I had ever taken the chance or the time to give myself the opportunity to create the kind of creative process that I wanted or preferred, musically. I also was breaking into acting, and there were so many things happening at the time that I decided to take a break. I felt like I really needed to create a separate room for music before I released something. At that time, it started to become clear that I’m setting up the soil for the seed of an album. There are so many different phases of love in this album, but there are also different phases of myself. Each song is like a different angle of parts of myself that I’ve discovered in relationships and in life situations. I’m glad that we were able to put it in a musical way for people to enjoy in an album.

You blend salsa, tropical sounds, and R&B, with even a touch of Afrobeats in “En Mil Pedacitos.” How intentional was it for you to incorporate and represent that range of sounds in your work?

“En Mil Pedacitos” has a vibe; it was very intentional to play with different sounds. I've always loved to, like you would know because you've listened to my music for some time, but I've always loved to play with different sounds and fuse unlikely genres together, vocally and R&B-leaning. Anything that allows me to do that, whether it's a tropical genre that usually doesn't mesh with those sounds melodically, or it's something more classic, like a bolero or cha cha, I wanted to play with sounds like that. I knew that from the beginning of starting to write with different writers and producers. As we kept writing songs that we knew would go towards the album, I started to say we're missing this sound or haven't played with this. I really would want to play with this kind of sound.

“AMOR, ¿QUIÉN ERES?,” for example, is a bachata, but it has a bossa nova undertone. “En Mil Pedocitos” is kind of Afrobeat, Amapiano. We've got a little bit of cha cha in “Ojala,” but it's a very pop sound. “Perros” is kind of inspired by those big records that Rocío Dúrcal would do. “Tu Supiste,” which is like a Merengueton. We have a super reggaeton track, “Fanatico.” That’s going to be a surprise on the album, for sure. I feel like that one's the curveball of the album because all the other ones are kind of fused, but that one's like a straight “it's time to perrerar.”

You’ve spoken about being “200% Dominican American,” a sentiment I personally relate to as well. How does that dual identity influence both who you are and how you move through your career? 

That always makes me so happy to hear. I think for any 200 percenter growing up, you might have felt at different times that you had to choose one. I'm so glad that now, as generations continue to grow and there are more of us, you know, we don't. We feel like we can just live and exist and be authentic in who we are, fully proud of our roots, being Latina, and also being proud to be born here and to be part of this vast and full breadth of diversity that we have in this country.

Anytime that I can reflect that, whether it's through music or through the films that I get to be a part of, when I get to talk or just meet people, it's a part of who I am. It’s also a gift for me, because I know that there are other people like me, like yourself, that feel like, dang, if I could just see somebody, you know, speak Spanish and English and also make their art in that way, and not feel like they have to choose one, then I could do that. Thank you for letting me know that you feel reflected in the stuff that I make.

You worked with collaborators like Martox, DIA, and Torres, what was it like adding male voices to this project? 

It was so fun when we were figuring out who would be the collaborators on this. We had so many collaborators as writers and producers, but I knew that I didn't want to load the project up with features. I only wanted features if the song really called for it. And both those songs, “Tu Supiste” and “Fanatico,” were records that I knew could use the male response to what was already written. With Martox, they're a duo from the Dominican Republic. They're actually from where my mom is from, from Santiago. It was so dope to collaborate with them. I've yet to meet them in person, but I'm a fan, and so sending them that song and hearing their immediate response, like de una we're on, you know, was so great. And they're just killing it too. I'm so proud they just opened up for Juan Luis Guerra a couple weeks back. They're crushing it. I'm so happy to have them on the album. Those are my people and it was great to collaborate with them. And then with Torres and DIA, that record “Fanatico” was like we need a “Duro y Suave” part two vibe. We were hoping that when we shared it with them, they would be into it, and they were, se la comieron (they crushed it). I'm excited for people to hear that one.

You’re a true multi-hyphenate, you sing, act, dance, write. How has being able to create in these lanes shaped you as an artist?

It all adds up. For me, none of these skill sets are separate. They all kind of nurture my inspiration and my creative world. When I get to act in a film, whatever I learn, whether it's through the character or through the process of being a part of a film production, nurtures how I like to work in my creative process in writing music or creating or building with my music team, and saying vice versa, like all of the things that I love about music, my sensibilities, my ear, it all affects how I go into a scene or go into being able to take direction from a director. It's fun to be able to take, in different ways, inspiration from different projects that have nothing to do with each other, but then for me, they're all experiences I'm just living. So I get to grow through all of it.

You’ve mentioned before in interviews women empowerment is important to you, what does it mean to you personally in the music industry?

My ladies, we gotta give love to the ladies. I'm always here to give my ladies empowerment and love. It's important for our stories to be told from our perspective, too. A lot of times, our stories are narrated to us or around us, but there's some power to a female-driven story being told in the first person. That's why I'm really excited about this album, because it's the story that I get to tell. I love getting to play different characters in films, and so now to use that kind of skill set to tell my story is so fun, and to tell it musically is even more fun. All my ladies, I hope you feel represented and supported by all these songs about love.

This feels like a new era for you, when people finish listening to the album, what do you want them to take away?

I want them to take away some self-reflection. I feel like the album, at least the way that we hope for it to be, is a ride of different emotions, and so I hope that by the time they get to the end of it, they feel like they've explored some parts of things they've felt, maybe in love that they hadn't before, or felt within themselves that they hadn't faced. And that, one, they feel like they're not alone, and two, that they feel like they've learned something new about themselves. That's what I hope they take away.

Now that the album is out, what comes next for you creatively and personally?

I have two films that just premiered at SXSW that will be coming out later this year. I'm really excited. I don't want to say too much. I'm looking to come to a city near you to play these songs, so you'll definitely be hearing about that sometime soon. And I'm just excited to hear how people enjoy this album.

Listen to AMOR, ¿QUIÉN ERES below: