Long before their collaboration with Bad Bunny, Chuwi was already making a name for themselves in Puerto Rico. The local band was formed in 2020 by siblings Wilfredo “Willy” Aldarondo,” Lorén Aldarondo, Wester Aldarondo, and their friend, Adriàn López, and quickly became a cult favorite on the island with their EP “Tierra,” which mixed plena, Latin jazz, indie rock and musica urbano with powerful lyrics about gentrification and the current crisis that many Boricuas have found themselves facing in recent years — having to leave the island in order to survive. But when Bad Bunny tapped them to be a part of “Debí Tirar Más Fotos” for the track “Welita,” — and then brought the band in as the nightly band for his 30-show “No Me Quiero Ir de Aquí” residency at El Coliseo in Puerto Rico — everything shifted.
The group was performing to sold-out crowds while showcasing stylish looks exclusively by Puerto Rican designers and using their time on stage to pay love and homage to Boricua music, fashion, and culture. Their visibility became so massive (they were featured in a piece in Harper’s Bazaar as well as a viral performance on NPR’s Tiny Desk) that by the time Benito announced his all-stadium “Debí Tirar Más Fotos World Tour,” it almost felt like a given that Chuwi would be the official opener, carrying the same soulful island energy of the residency onto stages around the world.
Chuwi’s lead singer, Lorén, has quickly become “the voice” of a new generation — and the moment she steps on stage, you understand why. Her voice is hypnotic, her style is impeccable, and her island-coded fits (consistently and intentionally by Boricua designers) are a whole mood. Add in her iconic mane of long curls, and she’s pure Boricua goddess vibes. The world tour only just kicked off in late November, and Lorén has already delivered a series of unforgettable looks.
At the tour’s opening performance in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, the singer showed off her signature curls and a radiant makeup look that held throughout her stadium set despite the hot temps and suffocating humidity. Her dress was a sleeveless, emerald green mini dress with mesh and ruffles at the hem, created by Puerto Rican designer Lizaimi Rivera Rivera. The singer says that she’s continued to work with the same Puerto Rican stylist that the band worked with throughout the PR residency — Kathia Sánchez Ruiz.
“I feel like there’s something really special about having grown little by little with her,” Lorén says. “Because we’re really identifying what styles everyone feels really comfortable with. It feels like we’re elevating.”
When it comes to beauty, Lorén sticks to what works best for her — not just stylistically, but practically. She leans into her natural curls and gravitates toward makeup looks that enhance her already stunning features: her caramel complexion, her big dark eyes, and her naturally full pout.
Lorén refers to her hairstylist Nikole Denisse as a hair wizard and the reason why her curls managed to stay so defined and intact in Santo Domingo. “A lot of my tips I learned from her in the residency. She had done my hair two times, and in that time I learned so much,” she says.
Working so closely with Bad Bunny — from appearing on the “Debí Tirar Más Fotos” album to performing nightly during his residency and now being a part of the world tour — has been a surreal experience for the band, one that Lorén admits she’s still taking in. It’s been an epic year for the group, and collaborating with Benito has been everything she imagined and more. She shares that her favorite part of working with him has been just observing his genius.
“We did a couple of rehearsals before for the DR show, and then he comes in, and he’s analyzing everything,” she shares. “And the last rehearsal at the part where I walk in, he was like, ‘Lorén, I think we should change the floor lighting because this part is different. The song changes into something else. And Lorén is singing so beautifully, the floor lights need to change.’ . . . He’s observing the show, the singing, but also observing all these details, and it’s these details that do create the storyline. It’s been amazing how he defends so profoundly what he’s showing.”
She shares how one of the things she’s had the honor of witnessing during the residency and now performing alongside him during the world tour is how much Bad Bunny truly cares about Puerto Rico and the Latine diaspora. Everything he does is truly for them, she says. In many ways, you can argue that this is part of his calling as a music artist.
“[Bad Bunny] said in an interview once, and we’ve also had conversations about this with him, about how he could just go and buy a home in Iceland right now and live a good life. He doesn’t need to look at Puerto Rico and say, ‘Oh, systematically this is wrong.’ He generally doesn’t need to do that. He has the key to escape,” she says. “The fact that he has decided not to do that and actively wants to see other musicians grow with him and give importance to who we are culturally says a lot. He’s been very vocal politically, and we got an election where we didn’t necessarily get the winner we wanted. Instead of him choosing hate or anger, he chose this angle of like, ‘No, I’m going to show you why you should be profoundly in love with PR.'”
Ahead, the singer shares how she’s been getting ready for the tour, the products she uses to achieve her juicy curls, and that glowing-from-within makeup that complements her most fire fits.
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