2024 Will Be the Year of Ivy Queen

The legendary Ivy Queen — sometimes called the Queen of Reggaetón or La Caballota — as soon as stated in an interview, “In the life of every woman, there’s a point when you blossom and when you flourish.” And for Ivy Queen, after a long time of cementing her place as a pioneer of the style, that point is now.

Born Martha Ivelisse Pesante Rodríguez, Ivy Queen first grew to become acknowledged in the reggaetón scene again in the ’90s, when the style was nonetheless thought of underground. She was the first feminine member of the all-male rap collective shaped at the studios of The Noise, in San Juan, Puerto Rico. And her first reside efficiency — the place she rapped “Somos Raperos Pero no Delincuentes” (“We Are Rappers Not Delinquents”), carrying what would then grow to be her signature model of outsized denims, a T-shirt, braids, and lengthy acrylic nails — launched her on a legendary profession. She has since created music that has empowered generations of ladies, inspiring in the present day’s reggaetón feminist wave and artists like Karol G, Becky G, Natti Natasha, RaiNao, Young Miko, Villano Antillano, and extra.

Today, La Caballota is in her blooming period and at last receiving her much-deserved flowers. Just take a look at her accolades in the previous few years, from internet hosting Spotify and Futuro Studios’ “Loud,” a podcast that reveals the true historical past of reggaetón, to being honored at the thirty fifth version of Premio Lo Nuestro with the Premio Lo Nuestro Legado Musical Al Genero Urbano Award final yr, to receiving the Icon Award at the Billboard Latin Music Awards for her contributions to the male-dominated style.

We not too long ago caught up with Ivy Queen backstage at San Juan’s Distrito T-Mobile proper earlier than rehearsals for Dick Clark’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest in Puerto Rico. The reggaetonera regarded extra peaceable than ever with a white candle lit proper in entrance of her. Ivy refers to herself as a really non secular particular person, and she or he would not go anyplace with out a vela blanca. (In October, for instance, she appeared on NPR’s Tiny Desk and lit a candle throughout her efficiency that had a picture of Bad Bunny on it.)

“The vela represents light and those that have passed,” Ivy Queen tells POPSUGAR. “For instance, my father passed away, and I feel his spirit is always with me. My father was a musician. He used to play guitar . . . when he passed, I was at a concert and I had this feeling before when I was taking a bath [earlier that day], that I had to visit him at the hospital. Through my mind I kept saying, ‘Wait for me, wait for me, please papi, wait for me.’ I just had that [intuitive feeling].”

Ivy explains that the candle additionally serves as a non secular device she makes use of to cleanse any area that she enters to guard her vitality. It was one thing she realized very early on in her profession, as she navigated a style and a world that was solely dominated by males.

Part of that navigation got here by way of the stars — actually. In the early days of her profession, Ivy began diving into astrology to grasp her strengths and her weaknesses as she moved up in the music business. “I learned the elements. I learned my birth chart. I asked my mother what time I was born,” she says. “It was around the ’90s, [and] I used to love Walter Mercado. Every time his show would come on, they’d show the wheel and I was like, what the f**k is this? So, I started to learn my sign and I was always ruled by my sign. I know it’s a water sign. I know what signs don’t match when it comes to business.”

Ivy’s solar signal placement is in Pisces; her moon is in Sagittarius; and her rising is in Scorpio.

“With the Scorpio, I have to protect my energy,” she says pointing to the white candle. While Mercado was one of the solely mainstream figures at the time who had a complete program devoted to Latine spirituality and astrology, he wasn’t the just one who impressed Ivy’s non secular journey.

“My favorite artist was Celia Cruz. She came from Cuba, which is one of the houses of the spirits. It comes from Mother Africa — la madre tierra. So literally I learned watching these people,” she remembers. “Walter was also a Pisces. I was like, let me see if he only talks about the good parts of that sign because he’s a Pisces but no. These are stuff I wish that they taught us at a young age to embrace. You know the moms and abuelas that were curanderas — I was raised by that.”

At 51, Ivy Queen appears higher than ever. Her pores and skin remains to be youthful and radiates from inside. Her lengthy blonde extensions hit previous her hips. Ivy additionally nonetheless sports activities the lengthy and clever acrylic nails she’s grow to be recognized for, however her most noteworthy trait is how she carries herself with grace, confidence, and poise. She credit her spirituality to taking part in an enormous position in how she’s realized to embrace her divine female vitality.

“You have to attract the energy,” she explains. “If you feel like you’re all f**ked up, vieja y jodida [old and messed up], your body will react to that. La mente es bien peligrosa, pero tambien es bien poderosa [the mind is very dangerous but it is also very powerful]. Like, [it’s about] how are you going to use your powers, you know?”

It’s no shock that Ivy is a giant believer in the regulation of attraction and manifestation. For her, that is available in the type of writing and praying — to God, to the Angel de la Guarda, and to her ancestors. La Caballota has additionally realized to be nonetheless and take note of the indicators. This yr, she needs to lastly verify some main objectives off her bucket listing.

“I will be touring [this year]. I wanted to start in Puerto Rico because I’m from here. Then I announce the tour in the US — the dates,” she says. “And then I decide if the story of my life is going to be a series or a movie. I will be producing it.”

Right earlier than Ivy Queen rang in the new yr, she already seen some indicators confirming that 2024 goes to be the yr she spreads her wings and sees all these objectives manifest into actuality.

On Dec. 30, her daughter landed in Puerto Rico, a day earlier than Ivy Queen carried out at Dick Clark’s Rockin’ New Year’s Eve, and gifted her a monkey plushie with a little bit hat and the Puerto Rican flag. The reggaetonera determined to take the plushie together with her in every single place for good luck, and at the seaside, she seen a black and white feather that appeared out of the blue. She additionally seen a crow standing on a department proper behind the plushie. For her, these have been all indicators.

“I was asking for 2024 [to be the year] I need to elevate. I was asking the spirits like Venus because she’s the Goddess of love, I was asking for signs . . . send me a sign,” she says. “I see it as maybe the feather is a sign that I’m flying to another step. I want to be moving a lot, and birds, they go everywhere. So, I pay attention to signs and I put my own meaning behind it. I took it like, OK 2024, I’m going to be busy and I’ll be doing well.”

Considering la reina’s observe file for manifesting all the profession milestones she’s set for herself, we now have little question that 2024 can be the yr of Ivy Queen