After years of moving between genres, languages, and cultures, YEИDRY has finally arrived at her debut album—but the road to Como Agua was anything but straightforward.
Since 2019, the Dominican-Italian artist has moved fluidly through bachata, R&B, dembow, pop, and beyond, continually adding new sonic touches to her repertoire. She has collaborated with Colombian hitmakers J Balvin and Bomba Estéreo, as well as Jamaican singer Damian Marley. Before that, she appeared on X Factor Italy in 2012.
Behind that momentum were battles largely invisible to listeners: a toxic former manager, financial constraints, visa delays, and the exhaustion of waiting for others to believe in her vision.
“I always say there are a lot of things happening in the background that we don’t know about,” she said. “You never know other people’s battles. [For] me it was a crazy, toxic former manager and not having enough money to create art, and then waiting for people actually to believe in this project with me.”
She continued: “My visa took six months. I’ve been waiting for my visa for six months. A lot of things in a person’s life affect their artistic life. That’s why it took so long.”
Faced with burnout, YEИDRY returned to the reason she makes music in the first place: to heal. “This album was my way to go back to what I love doing and a way to discover myself and figure out who I am,” she told Remezcla.
That self-discovery anchors Como Agua. Across 13 tracks, YEИDRY draws from growing up between two cultures, “the loneliness of being an immigrant,” and her embrace of both her mother’s Dominican roots and her stepfather’s Italian heritage.
The album’s standout songs bring both sides of that identity into focus. On “ITALIA POEMA,” her luscious Italian vocals float over a delicate piano ballad. The rhythmic, sun-kissed, güira- and tambora-tinged merengue “No me vuelvo a enamorar” transports listeners to the sweet Caribbean life that holds the other half of her heart. Other highlights include the heartbreaking bolero “Mala mia,” the fierce “Sin fronteras” with Saso, and the empowering alternative-pop track “Mentira.”
When asked how she expresses both identities and whether she resonates with Becky G’s widely known “200 percent community” sentiment, YEИDRY agreed with the Mexican-American pop star’s POV. “I like that take on 100 percent both,” she told Remezcla. “Whenever they ask me, ‘Oh, do you feel like you’re more Dominican or more Italian,’ I think it’s very balanced in my life, you know? I was born in the Dominican Republic, so I will always have that vínculo; that bond with it. It’s in my veins. It’s something that stays with me wherever I go… [and] I grew up and spent most of my life in Italy, and that will also stay with me and will never leave.”
Rather than choosing between those cultures, YEИDRY now sees their convergence as a source of possibility in the studio.
“Having two different cultures in the studio helped me to be more free and more open to new ideas and sampling things,” she said. “I am a result of what I’ve been listening to since I was born. So I have a lot of melodies from some Italian songs or rhythms from Dominican songs. And I think that is a richness that at first I saw as a limit because there were too many influences. And now I think I know how to channel that into whatever I want to write about or however I want my voice to sound.”
The musicians who shaped Como agua reflect that same cultural range. YEИDRY points to Dominican figurehead Juan Luis Guerra, whom she calls a “maestro,” as well as celebrated Italian singers Mina, Luigi Tenco, and Lucio Battisti.
After spending years fighting to make Como agua her own, YEИDRY is finally ready to let it belong to everyone else.
“I put a lot of love, a lot of work, and a lot of sacrifice into [this album],” she reflected about Como Agua ahead of its release. “So for me, I’ve already done it, and it’s not mine anymore, and I can’t wait for this secret to come out, and I hope—I really hope—you like it.”
This feature is a part of our 2026 Our Heritage Month collection.