Helado Negro’s New Song Is A Tender Ode To Brown Skin

The son of Ecuadorian immigrants, Helado Negro’s childhood and music mirror each other in the sense that they are both suffused with the diasporic sounds and colors of the various Latin American cultures of his native South Florida.

Helado Negro, today, shares a new track and U.S. tour dates ahead of a new album, Private Energy. The song, weaving electronic riffs and pounding bass, is a self-love anthem especially dedicated to his brown sistren and brethren of the world.

“The song is about self love,” the singer explains to us, “thinking about my own brown skin. It’s a song I thought of as a children’s song and also something romantic. It’s about the resilience of our skin, how it can stretch, grow, heal and scar. Maybe the most obvious of analogies being the healing and scaring but it’s this one thing we have and we can’t change. It feels good to be brown and I want all the other people who live in the United States who might be fear that their brown skin brings them trouble to use this as a meditation or a mantra.”

On “It’s My Brown Skin,” the Brooklyn-based producer turns the lens on his own skin and tenderly analyzes the body with which he moves in the world.

Helado Negro kicks off his biggest tour yet this month, shortly after he drops his new album on Oct. 7, where “Young, Latin & Proud” also lives.

October 9, 2016 – III Points Festival – Miami, FL October 11, 2016 – The Vera Project – Seattle, WA
October 12, 2016 – Doug Fir Lounge – Portland, OR
October 13, 2016 – Rickshaw Stop – San Francisco, CA
October 15, 2016 – Soda Bar – San Diego, CA
October 20, 2016 – Hideout – Chicago, IL
October 21, 2016 – The Frequency – Madison, WI
October 22, 2016 – Des Moines Social Club – Des Moines, IA
October 23, 2016 – The Record Bar – Kansas City, MO
October 24, 2016 – Urban Artifact – Cincinnati, OH
October 25, 2016 – The Hi-Fi – Indianapolis, IN
October 26, 2016 – Kentucky Museum of Arts and Crafts – Louisville, KY
October 27, 2016 – 21c Museum Hotel – Lexington, KY
October 28, 2016 – Majestic Cafe – Detroit, MI
October 29, 2016 – The Drake – Toronto, ON
October 30, 2016 – L’Escogriffe – Montreal, QC
October 31, 2016 – Light Club Lamp Shop – Burlington, VT
November 1, 2016 – Wonder Bar – Allston, MA (With Buscabulla)
November 2, 2016 – Bowery Ballroom – New York, NY (With Buscabulla)
November 3, 2016 – Johnny Brenda’s – Philadelphia, PA (With Buscabulla)
November 4, 2016 – Ottobar – Baltimore, MD (With Buscabulla)
November 5, 2016 – Duke Coffeehouse – Durham, NC
November 6, 2016 – Masquerade (Purgatory Stage) – Atlanta, GA
November 7, 2016 – Strange Matter – Richmond, VA