Nervous and full of doubts, that is how singer Vakeró reacted when Nelly Medina, his wife and manager, informed him that his performance at the opening ceremony of the 2026 Central American and Caribbean Games in Santo Domingo would be in English.
“I won’t deny that when I told him, Vakeró got nervous. He immediately asked, ‘In English? Me? Mr. Boombastic? But that song is too low-key for me’… And my answer was the same from the very first moment: ‘Yes you can, with this and more,’ Medina recounted as he narrated how the participation of ‘The singer of the rappers’ came about.
Nelluy says that this opportunity came at an opportune time, since she had expressed to Vakeró her desire to see him singing in this language.
“When he told me it would be a tribute to the Anglophone world, singing in English, I got very excited. A while back I had told Vakeró that I wanted to see him recording in English and God, who always finds a way to confirm things, used Zayas to remind me that that vision was on the right track,” he explained.
Aberto Zayas, the general producer of the show, approached the artist through Nelly, who dedicated herself completely to ensuring the idea materialized successfully. “It wasn’t just about singing in English; it was about taking on a challenge, paying tribute to a culture, and demonstrating, once again, the versatility that has always characterized him. I told him that I would help him myself with the pronunciation and with understanding every word so that he could interpret it with intention, not just repeat it. He only asked for one thing: to record it with @edwinjaymusic, where he would feel comfortable and under no pressure. The production agreed, and that’s how we did it. Then Antonio arrived with some spectacular arrangements that finally brought to life everything you saw last night. And when we found out that @mimichmo would be in charge of the costumes… that’s when we understood that the staging would be on another level,” explained Nelly.
