Regina Soto Sirgado (Havana, July 3, 1997), known professionally as Gina D’Soto, is a Cuban jazz and R&B singer and songwriter. From a young age, she took responsibility for her artistic training to develop the talent and passion that define her. Between ballet, painting and piano, her first steps on stage were taken in Cuba, at the Manuel Saumell School; however, she later moved with her parents to Canada.
A piano graduate, Gina decided to move to New York to begin her career as a singer, and she became an artist who, without a doubt, breaks new ground and transcends the superficiality of sounds and chords.
Throughout her career, she has shared the stage with musicians such as Antonio Sánchez, John Faddis, Arturo O’Farrill and Daymé Arocena. The U.S. media outlet NPR Live once chose her song “Something” as its song of the week.
How has it benefited you to have started in the arts at such a young age?
Starting as a child has helped me tremendously in terms of structure and organization. Without that, you can’t do what you have and want to do. It has helped me throughout my life to maintain a well-defined schedule, with my hours counted and planned, so that I have time for everything. Studying art has opened many doors for me, not only in music but also in other forms of art, because it taught me to see dance, painting, theater differently…and to understand how they can relate, blend and create something beautiful.
Music is a very abstract thing: you see the notes on paper, but that’s not necessarily what you feel. When you play or sing, you become part of that experience. This has made me understand, listen and make music differently: with more openness, experimentally, letting myself be carried away by what the music wants to tell me and convey to me in that moment.
Many artists who started as children confess that they gave up part of their childhood because of the responsibility that studying music demanded. Do you remember depriving yourself of anything to study from such a young age?
I deprived myself of some things, but it also had benefits. My mom helped me a lot to organize a study schedule, and afterward I always had time to play. I remember playing Barbies, hide-and-seek, tag and board games with my school friends. When I was older, we went to concerts, clubs…. So, for me and for the people I studied with, we didn’t deprive ourselves so much; we simply had a different way of organizing our time, because we went to class morning and afternoon, studied and did other activities outside of that.
Of course, it required a lot of responsibility, but we didn’t completely lose our childhood. It’s not as hard as people might imagine, at least when it comes to music; I don’t know what it’s like in other forms of art.
There are times, when you’re a child, when you feel frustrated because you might want to play right away when you have to study; sometimes children want things right away. But then I realized that if I studied with focus and enthusiasm, I always found time to play afterward.
How much did the piano help you develop as a singer?
The piano helped me a lot. In fact, I graduated in classical piano: I sacrificed 14 to 15 years of my life, but it helped me compose, harmonize and everything I can do now, including teaching.
The piano is an instrument that, even if you don’t study it as a basic instrument, but rather as a complementary instrument, always helps you. It’s one of the most important instruments, if not the most important, because everything is there: the melodies, the harmonies. You can rely on the piano for anything. That training helps me with everything in my career.
What drew you to jazz and R&B as musical genres? Why did you choose to stick with them?
Jazz influenced me a lot growing up, because many of my friends played it. One of the first people who introduced me to that world was Denis Carbó, a saxophonist who was then a professor at Manuel Saumell, where I was studying.
Later, I began to discover elements of jazz in singers and instrumentalists, how things move within the genre, and how songs are structured. Later, I started singing and studied jazz voice, and that opened up countless worlds for me as a singer and musician that I never imagined and that I love. In fact, I still sing jazz in some places.
R&B, as a genre, is derived from jazz, and what caught my attention most was its modern sound and its freedom, because it doesn’t have a fixed structure for singing. It’s more fluid, and the instrumentation can vary; you can cover jazz songs in R&B, or create more Latin-based ones…it’s a genre that lends itself to a lot. I listened to it a lot at home growing up. I love it and that’s why I dedicate myself to it. It’s very special to me, to everything I’ve done throughout my career as a singer.
I love both genres. I like performing both because it’s one of the sincerest ways I’ve been able to express myself. I know I’m Cuban, I defend my roots tooth and nail, but, to be honest, I feel very confident and at ease singing these two styles.
How do you avoid falling into the whirlwind of the market and commercial rhythms and songs?
I’ll be honest: I also love pop and everything the market offers, but I’m one of those people who thinks there’s so much to explore and do. As a musician who’s been training for years, I see that there are many aspects I can explore within these two genres, especially in R&B. There are so many mixtures, rhythms that can be combined, harmonies. Why not try?
I try to be as experimental as possible with the songs. I think each one has a life of its own: I can start with a melody or a text, and I try to make everything flow in the sincerest way.
I could take the easy way: using harmonic progressions that are pleasing to the ear of anyone who isn’t a musician, but a listener, with simple changes; I could write simpler lyrics or ones that are closer to what’s heard on the street, but that wouldn’t be me.
The beauty of creating music is being as sincere and authentic as possible. Even if that makes it slower for me to reach the public, it doesn’t affect me, because I know I’m doing it with the best intentions, from my truth. And I know it will reach whoever it’s really meant to reach. I always try to stay true to my intuition and my way of listening to music.
In an interview at the beginning of 2023, you said that the market was cruel. Why do you think that?
The market is quite cruel because these days it doesn’t matter so much how much art you make, or how musical you are, or your value as an artist, but rather the numbers: social media, the number of followers, the listeners you accumulate on digital platforms. It’s sad because art is so quantified, and honestly, I don’t see it that way. That’s why I say it will take time, step by step, to get to where I’d like to be.
Fame isn’t for everyone and it’s very subjective, just like success. For me, being a successful person means being honest with my music and being as authentic as possible as an artist. I’m not so much governed by those data or numbers.
Also, those who manage the music market tend to be quite narrow-minded when it comes to genres. It has to sound a certain way for them to consider you for anything. Bringing something a little different is complicated, but not impossible. It just takes time to reach certain places, platforms or audiences, simply because it’s a bit different from what’s in fashion.
How difficult is it to develop a career in New York or the United States, in general?
It all depends on what you want to do and the time you dedicate to it; that’s how things will turn out. On social media, many of the things you see don’t reflect reality. It doesn’t mean people are lying, but not everything is rosy. You go through difficult moments, whether it’s with time, money, equipment or resources. It always requires more effort at first, because you’re trying to understand how everything works.
The important thing is to educate yourself, learn a lot and understand how the business works, because music is, above all, a business. You have to know how much money to invest in a big project, how much in a small one, and be realistic with those figures. It’s also key to surround yourself with people who truly believe in your project, your vision and the message you want to convey.
For immigrants, it will always be double or triple the effort. New York is a cosmopolitan city; there are many opportunities, but also many people eager to bring their ideas and projects to fruition. It’s also the city with the most distractions I’ve ever seen. Therefore, you have to be very focused on what you want to do and how to do it so that that project truly bears fruit. And yes, you can falter, fall or doubt along the way…but if you stay focused, are clear about what you want and are determined, no matter how long it takes, you can always achieve it.
What is Gina’s day like when she’s off stage?
My day is usually a bit chaotic. I get up very early, at six in the morning, and prepare food for the whole day. I try to eat as healthy as possible, because here we cook with a lot of oil and almost everything has chemicals and additives. I give music lessons to children: I teach them piano, bass and singing.
Depending on the performances, I sing in different clubs and places, whether it’s Latin music, R&B, with different groups, timbas, Colombian bullerengue — which I love — or Afro-Venezuelan music. I do a lot of shows that aren’t necessarily my music, and I like that because it allows me to do a variety of things and learn from many artists throughout the year.
Then I go straight to the gym. I exercise a lot to activate my body and maintain my energy. If I don’t have a performance afterward, I usually go see a show, a play or a movie…or, if not, I stay home working on my projects: recording, composing, working on the computer, the website, or some other platform.
Being independent means doing everything, although I have a wonderful team that helps me a lot and to whom I can delegate some responsibilities. However, most of the work falls on me, so I always try to put in double or triple the effort to make sure things go the way I want and everything comes out great.
What has been the hardest part of this musical and personal journey?
The hardest thing personally is being away from my country, away from my family. Not a day goes by that I don’t wake up wishing I was back in Cuba. I know the situation there is complicated for many reasons, but it’s my country, and I love its vibe. I miss my mom, my dad, my grandmothers, my whole family a lot. I think that’s the hardest thing personally: being away from the people I love and from what makes me Cuban, from my roots.
Musically, I think the hardest part has been trying to present a different approach, one that doesn’t conform to society’s Cuban standards. A proposal that isn’t just in Spanish, that isn’t entirely Cuban music, that has different visuals, a different aesthetic. But well, little by little, we’re moving forward with that.
What short- and long-term projects do you have?
I’m preparing an EP that will be released on September 19th on all digital platforms. It’s an album mostly in English, but it includes songs in Spanish. There are seven tracks composed by me and produced by Juan Diego Villalobos. It’s been a project I’ve been working on for quite some time, and it’s finally coming out.
It’s a very beautiful and sincere album, from my perspective as a woman, where I bring out all those feelings we sometimes keep quiet: hate, pain, desire…. There are many things that we, as women, want to say, but we don’t out of fear, shame or because we’re afraid of being questioned. This project is my way of saying: I don’t care what people say, this is what I want to express, and it comes from a very emotional place. It’s called And We Left and We Cried.
That’s the closest project I have, but I’m also working on another EP completely in Spanish, with a simpler, more acoustic sound. I can’t give many details yet, but it’s a project in its early stages and explores more bolero, song, and less danceable Latin rhythms.
In the long term, I have my first formal album planned. We’re already writing and, for now, we’re thinking of thirteen songs. It will be in Spanish and English, and it will be a somewhat “strange” album because it will include many experimental pieces from different genres, but it’s something very beautiful that I’ve wanted to do for a long time, and I’m finally achieving it. It’s scheduled for release in about two years.
Also, I’ll soon begin a tour of the United States, Canada and Mexico, and perhaps something in Europe by mid-2026. I also want to perform more in Cuba. I’ve already been to the Jazz Plaza Festival a couple of times, but I’m looking for connections to be able to play in more places and for people in Cuba to get to know my music and the work I do a little better.
Which dreams have come true and which ones remain to be realized?
Sometimes we don’t stop to think about these things because life moves so fast…but being able to present my first EP, this collection of songs, and bring them to light, has been a beautiful dream. I am very grateful to all the people involved in this, because it has taken a lot of work and time.
Another dream come true was being able to sing with Danay Suárez, an artist I greatly admire; collaborating with producers and industry professionals I respect; and making friends with artists I love, who are now like family to me. Experiencing different cultures — their music, their food, their dances, their traditions — has been incredible for me.
I’m a very simple person in that sense. I always try to look at things through the eyes of a newborn, and I think that has helped me fulfill my dreams little by little. From the moment the dream is born, from the moment the desire arrives, I look for ways to achieve it, and that has been very beautiful.
And I have so many dreams to fulfill. I would love to sing in a stadium, to go on a world tour. Eventually, I would like to collaborate with other artists, whether American or Spanish-speaking. There are many dreams I want to achieve, but I think one of the most incredible things that has happened to me was seeing the cover of my first single from this album in Times Square.
When I saw it, it was incredible! Seeing my face in the middle of New York City, seeing millions of people who walk by every day seeing the cover of my song, my face, the title, my name…even if it was only for almost 48 hours. And to be discovered by several people thanks to that was something very special. That was a dream I always had, and it came true! For that, I’m truly grateful.
But hey, there’s still so much to do and accomplish, and I hope life grants it to me, because I put a lot of effort into what I do…and, above all, a lot of love, which is the most important thing: putting a lot of love into what you do.
