Alex Cuba is not coming home with a trophy, but he is brimming with success. The northern B.C. musician was in Los Angeles on the music industry red carpet, as one of the nominees at the 58th Annual Grammy Awards, the single most coveted award in the world for any musician.
Cuba already won a Latin Grammy earlier this year for his new album Healer, and he is also up for a Juno Award in April. On Monday night he was in the room for the big wins for songs like Uptown Funk, Traveller and Don't Wanna Fight, and major victories for artists like Taylor Swift, Ed Sheeran and Kendrick Lamar.
On the Canadian side, the big multi-winners were Justin Bieber and The Weeknd. Joni Mitchell won one. Another went to The Band working with Bob Dylan and Canadian producers Jan Haust and Peter Moore.
Charles Moniz was part of the Uptown Funk engineering team. And Drake didn't win one but he was up for five categories so that has to be considered a big night nonetheless.
Another Canadian who scored major recognition but didn't get the trophy was Cuba. He was up for Best Latin Pop Album along with Julieta Venegas, Alejandro Sanz, Pablo Alborn, and eventual winner Ricky Martin.
"It was a beautiful night. I'm so happy we came," said Cuba the next morning on a call to The Citizen.
He has been to the event before, in 2011 when his album Alex Cuba was up for the same category (Alejandro Sanz won that year), so he now knows how to work the superstar industry gathering. He has been up for five of the Latin Grammy Awards (a cousin event specifically for the Latino diaspora) since 2010, winning four of them.
This accrued reputation is why the Canadian Consolate in Los Angeles invited Cuba this year to be one of the performers at their annual pre-Grammy national celebration. It's why international media lined up to interview him. It's why some of the highest level songwriters came by to have a chat with him.
It ignited his consciousness that the United States consumer market might just be his next focus.
"I never toured down here extensively. I should be more here," he said.
"Two days ago I had a session with Magic! (an L.A.-based Canadian band whom he toured with across America prior to their respective mainstream success), we did 24 dates then they became Magic! It was fun to be with those guys again, and we broke into a conversation about what should come next for me. They were really excited about my nomination, and for sure the next step is the big one of my career. What am I going to do now? We are thinking about it very seriously. I would like to remain creative and risk-taking instead of being afraid of steps forward, making attempts to reach more people."
It wasn't all business, though. The Grammy Awards was also a chance to be in the same room on the same peer platform as Adele, Bruno Mars, Ellie Goulding, and all the other luminaries named to that elite list of nominees.
He got a close look at what millions of viewers ate up at home on television.
"We always see the show, of course, very differently than people see on TV," he said.
"We saw a few weird things happen. You see Adele sing out of tune, you can't believe it, but it just proves she is human, but there was a technical thing that happened: the microphone that was mounted onto the piano fell on the strings and it was making a funny sound, and maybe that threw her off."
He came away with some disappointment over the performance of some live acts, but he was also impressed by elements of the glitzy production, even as a star musician who creates performance himself.
"All the effects, all the graphics, how fast they changed things up in the space..." he said, listing some personal highlights. "I think one of my favourite things was what Lady Gaga did for David Bowie; she delivered. It was actually very cool."
He joked that "maybe I should fake my death" so Lady Gaga could give him the same passionate tribute.
After finishing up his Grammy duties, Cuba hopped a plane back to his Smithers hometown for a one-day visit with family before he boarded another flight to his home country to shoot a documentary on Cuban music and his place within that storied history. He was gobsmacked to hear that on the same day, the United States announced it had signed a pact with the Cuban government to restore regular flights to and from the alienated countries. All told, 110 commercial flights per day have been authorized to depart for Cuba from American soil. For the past 50 years, not one has been allowed, only preauthorized charter flights.
"What? That is crazy. That's insane. From zero to 100?" Cuba said, flabbergasted. "I don't think Cuba can take it. There aren't enough hotels. Now's the time to buy property in Havana and set up your hotel before prices go through the roof."
Of course, Cuba has a place to stay with family anytime he goes back to his home country, and what he does best is bring the Caribbean out to the world, one song at a time.
