IN COVERSATION WITH: MS NINA X JEDET

Eduardo Pérez Waasdorp reflects on the recent ‘In Conversation’ event held between Ms Nina and Jeder for True Music Studios Madrid.

Being close friends, Nina and Jedet ended last year releasing a collaborative hit, ‘Las Reinas’, and now they’re each embarked on their own projects. From the start, one could tell that the relation between these two icons of pop culture and music goes beyond a normal friendship…

For those of you that maybe don’t know much about either Jedet or Ms Nina, let’s give a bit of background…

A self-styled reggaetón feminist, Argentina-born, multifaceted artist Ms Nina is one of the pioneers of the urbano movement in Spain. Having cut her teeth at the early stages of the new Spanish wave, it was when she moved to Madrid when she connected with a network of hyper-creative outcasts, shaping her quirky club-ready music, which carries consistent messages of empowerment, sex-positivity, boldness, and strength. After her 2019 album, ‘Perreando Por Fuera, Llorando Por Dentro’, was released, Ms Nina’s profile went global, currently being one of the most in-demand artists in the perreo circuit.

On the other hand, Jedet is one of Spain’s most renowned actresses and LGBTQI+ activists. Being a trans woman herself, her journey of transformation has been enlightening. Jedet rose to icon status after starring the critically acclaimed TV series ‘Veneno’ (A3Media/HBO), depicting the young life of one of Spain’s most famous trans vedettes in the 90s, La Veneno (real name Cristina Ortiz Rodríguez).

Jedet opened the informal interview in her own fashion, explaining to the crowds what the True Music Studios are truly for. The spirit of the program is not just about DJ sets, concerts, workshops or talks: “It’s more of an experience during which you can meet-up with like-minded music fans, see what’s going on in Spain’s musical scene, and check out upcoming Spanish artists. Also, the cool thing is you can learn and meet people,” started Jedet, while pointing out that with the pandemic, this sort of events weren’t allowed to happen. Now they’re back, bigger than ever! So it was time for Madrid to celebrate the amazing opportunity that gives hosting the True Music Studios, especially for local talent.

Then, Jedet introduced the real star of the night: Ms Nina. “I come to do what I always do when I’m in the city: sit on the sofa with my best mate and chat about stuff”, Jedet said, before welcoming Nina to the stage.

As they later mentioned, they first met in a house party, although they always joke telling people they met at “a gay sauna”. From that point, the relationship developed until they became best friends.

The pair also opened up about their struggles at the start of their careers when they lived together and couldn’t even afford food. “We didn’t have any money and would scrimp and save what we had for a €1 tortilla and mayonnaise”, Jedet said, while Nina added laughing: “With canned lentils”.

“I always tell myself and my parents: ‘If it doesn’t work, I can always go back, but I don’t want to have reached 40 or 50 saying I didn’t try”, Ms Nina affirmed.

Nina went on to explain how she created her whole artistic persona, as an antagonist to her shyness and own insecurities. Jedet perceives Ms Nina “as someone to go to who will tell you nice things to empower yourself”. And Nina specified: “I created Ms Nina to help myself, because Jorgelina (her real name) has been an insecure person all her life”, also telling the audience how she suffered from bullying which shaped who she is today. “Without knowing it, my lyrics were for other girls or whoever needed to hear them” she concluded.

Born in Argentina,  a country she defines as “sexist”, Ms Nina explained how her parents, and especially her mother, always told her to love and accept everyone as they are. She also said how meeting Jedet made her more aware of the struggles of the queer community.

Speaking about sexism in a male-dominated industry, at a point Jedet remembered how Nina has asked her more than once to accompany her to the studio, as she was recording with just men in the room: “When it’s 10 guys and one girl in the studio, I don’t know why, but you always feel uncomfortable. Even if nothing happens. I’ve never had an issue, but in those situations you always feel like that and I need someone to come with me,” Nina explains.

During the conversation between the two, Jedet was able to bring out a side that Ms Nina is not always keen to show publicly, touching on subjects such as motherhood and how she would like to be a parent in the future. If it wasn’t for Jedet’s humour and charisma, it may have been impossible to get such a closer look into Nina’s personality. And it wouldn’t have been as fun!

Watch the full conversation between Ms Nina and Jedet as part of the Boiler Room  x Ballantine’s True Music Studios Madrid below: