For GIULIA BE, storytelling comes first and in three languages

Brazilian singer, songwriter, and actress GIULIA BE  hosted an intimate showcase during Miami Music Week in March, performing songs from her self-titled album. The trilingual album (English, Spanish, and Portuguese) highlights her versatility across languages, genres, and emotional depth.

During the showcase, she performed “grillos,” “911,” “adulta,” among many others, showcasing her talent by engaging with the crowd and leaving us all in awe. Quip had the chance to chat with GIULIA BE about the album, storytelling, and embracing every version of herself.

Sarah Ruiz: You sing in 3 languages. What is it like creating music in these languages?

GIULIA BE: It’s pretty fun, pretty confusing at times. I have to say, my brain is always split into three depending on who I’m talking to. It’s kind of a different personality coming out depending on the language that I’m speaking. And I think that that’s what this album is about. In a way, I think that everyone who’s bilingual can kind of recognise that we’re not exactly the same. You know, we’re the same person, same essence, same soul, but not exactly the same. We manifest ourselves in different ways. I think that this album allowed me to really manifest these parts of my personality and their individual quirks, and kind of figure out which one’s more fun, which one’s more powerful, which one’s more serious, which one’s more chill, and really overflow that sentiment into the music. 

SR: You’re an actress, singer, and songwriter. How does it feel to live out your dreams across these different creative lanes? 

GB: It’s amazing. Acting kind of came as a surprise for me. I always had such a huge respect for the profession that I really wanted to make sure that I studied up before I tried it, because I didn’t want to fuck it up, truly. Netflix was kind enough to offer me the opportunity to audition [for Beyond the Universe]. I auditioned, and went to the second round and they chose me for this role. It was such a special role, and I kind of fell in love with acting through that. It’s now a part of my life that I really want to explore more. I always say that I only sing because I write, and I think that that’s because my favourite thing in the world is to be a storyteller, and acting is storytelling, but in a different way. You’re still telling a story, but you’re lending your body to someone’s very powerful story. 

SR: Some of my favourite songs you’ve released in the past are “delicia proibida” and “ tonta” – you’ve touched different genres and moods. What made you decide to create in these different genres, and what have you learned from that process?

GB: That’s an interesting question. What we did was we started off by releasing the songs that were more dancing, that were more pop, that were more radio-friendly, if you will. And eventually, as you get to know these characters more, just as you get to know a person, you start seeing their weaknesses and their vulnerabilities. And that’s kind of what we did with this album. As each character starts coming with their own music, the stories get deeper, more vulnerable, they start to cut your heart up a little more, and get more poetic. I feel like you really start seeing layers of fears and insecurities and many other different things, but in a way that it’s still profound. I think that at the same time, each of the genres made it so, like the Latina Giulia flirts with reggaeton and American Giulia flirts with disco music, and so on.

SR: What does it mean to you to be a woman in music? 

GB: Babe, it’s so fun. I love it. It’s so much harder at the same time, because we got to serve looks, we got to serve confidence, and we are still going to get second-guessed. But you know what? I think that a lot of women in this industry have been such amazing teachers to me. They’re so magical. I love the term “sacred feminine,” and I guess that applies a lot when it comes to music, when you’re able to connect with someone in this industry on a level that’s really deep. You feel seen in a way that’s very ethereal and profound, you know?  I admit, it has its hurdles, but it also has its perks, like looking cute on a Friday. Imagine having to go up on stage and, like, a black T-shirt and jeans, boring snooze fest. What are you talking about? 

SR: How do you feel you’ve grown as an artist?

GB: I’ve learned to just trust your instinct more. I think it’s kind of like a wobbly road in the beginning, when I didn’t really know anyone, I was very confident. And then once I started getting haters, and once I started getting people, talking all this shit, I really started to get a little wobbly in my confidence. I think that as I grew, as I matured, I kind of started separating what I wanted to take with me and what I didn’t. And I think that was kind of a key moment for me to really bring my confidence in a very new and almost more stable way than it was. I always say it’s a mix between being utterly delusional and really confident, and I think you kind of have to have a little bit of both in order to make it.

SR: What can we expect from your trilingual album? 

GB: Oh my God, what can’t you expect? I feel like you can expect a lot, and I will deliver a lot of different versions of myself, some of my best songs. Imagine there are songs that I wrote nine years ago and songs that I wrote five months ago. One of the reasons that I really wanted to put them all out together was truly because I needed to honour that version of myself that wrote the song so long ago. Also, be able to show people, kind of how I’ve evolved as an artist and as a songwriter throughout the years. 

Images by @christybarley