Jay de la Cueva opens up: the alter ego that saved him
Jay de la Cueva always had one thing clear: music is his channel to connect with something bigger. But he also knows that it makes him uncomfortable. In an interview for the podcast “Mejor Q’ Ayer”, the musician spoke about his career, how his father put him in front of a drum kit at the age of three, and how that spark led him to form Microchips at the age of nine.
But the real plot twist came with Moderatto. There, Jay created Bryan Amadeus, a character who became his shield and springboard. “Everything that scared me, I threw at the alter ego,” he confessed. “At 21, I was more afraid and insecure, and with him it was easier for me.”
“An alter-ego that accompanied me for 24 years… everything that scared me I threw at him”
That mask allowed him to release ideas that, like Jay, he did not dare to express. But it also revealed something deeper to him: that his talent is not his alone. “I come to create that divinity that does not belong to me, it comes from another place, I am just a channel,” he explained.
And therein lies the drama. Because that genuine connection with music is not always well received by those around him. Jay revealed an uncomfortable truth: in some bands he played in – without naming names – he felt that his colleagues did not understand the need to communicate something beyond the notes.
“There are people who don’t understand that they don’t envy what you have, but rather what you represent to them that you have… and that can be from the same people who accompany you in a band”
Jay says it without rancor, but clearly. For him, music is not just technical: it is connecting, making people feel. And when that happens, the energy is unstoppable. But also, sometimes, lonely.
In the end, the musician found in his alter ego the confidence he lacked. And now, without the mask, he continues searching for that beauty that inspires him. Because as he himself says: “there are images in music.” And theirs definitely do not go unnoticed.
