“I’ve been a salsa fan since I was a kid,” Neutro Shorty tells Apple Music. “I grew up listening to salsa all my life in my neighborhood in Caracas.” Although Liomar Ricardo Acosta Orta built his name through rap and urban music, El Disco de Salsa feels less like a detour than a return to the sounds he grew up with: hard-edged barrio salsa, bolero, Caracas-style merengue, and the voices that shaped generations in Venezuela. “This music is very healing for the spirit,” he tells Apple Music. “When you have a piano and a drum, that’s already enough to start the party.” The idea took shape after recording “Incomprendido” with Rawayana in 2023. “People started asking me to make a salsa album,” he recalls. The result is a project where Neutro steps away from rap and fully embraces the language of the sonero, backed by an orchestra of Venezuelan musicians moving between romantic salsa and the raw energy of ’70s salsa dura. But the album’s emotional core comes from how it connects his personal story to salsa tradition. “Ese Bonche” channels the spirit of Billo’s Caracas Boys and Memo Morales; “El Malo y El Bueno” draws from the storytelling lineage of Rubén Blades and Héctor Lavoe; and “Idilio,” alongside Oscar D’León, pays tribute to one of the great classics of Latin music. (“Now I have to be a salsero 100 percent,” he jokes.) Even at its most romantic or nostalgic, the album keeps the raw narrative instinct that defined Neutro’s urban music. “Darién” reflects the Venezuelan migration crisis through the dangerous jungle crossing into Central America, while “El Malandro y La Princesa” plays with the public perception of his persona. “I want to keep singing salsa and bolero,” he says. And on El Disco de Salsa, Neutro Shorty sounds less like an artist trying a new genre than someone rediscovering a fundamental part of himself. We spoke with him about the album, track by track. “Yo Soy” “It comes from ‘Soy Yo,’ the song that launched me in trap and urban music, which is what I normally do. We decided to open the album with this track because it describes me perfectly: I may look like a bandit, but I’m sentimental. Saying ‘yo soy’ is extremely powerful. It elevates your being—and what you’re doing—to another level.” “Tiro En El Pie” “It talks about the things that happen in the streets, but it also shows that love can save everything. The guy tells his girl: Before I go back to crime and prison, I’d rather lose myself in your kisses and lean on your love. It captures the spirit of street salsa, but with a more modern sound and stories from my neighborhood.” “Contigo o Sin Ti” “If I’m honest, it’s my favorite song on the album. It challenged me a lot vocally and made me realize I really have talent for singing this genre—that I can actually be a good salsero.” “Idilio” “It was an honor to have the Sonero del Mundo, Oscar D’León, joining his voice with mine on this song, which is also a tribute to another legend who is no longer with us: Willie Colón. A fun fact is that originally Willie himself was supposed to play the trombones. We got in touch, things were moving forward, but unfortunately time didn’t cooperate and what happened happened. Recording it with an icon like Oscar is both a challenge and a responsibility. Now I really have to be a salsero 100 percent.” “Amiga” “It’s about a girl friend-zoning you. You want to be more than friends, but she doesn’t. Those are stories every man can relate to.” “Ese Bonche” “The style of this song is what we call Caracas-style merengue here in Venezuela—basically the kind of music Billo’s Caracas Boys, Memo Morales, and all those classic Venezuelan artists used to make. We had to include it on a project representing the country. When my father died, he didn’t leave me money, houses, or cars. The inheritance he left me was a collection of around 100 records from all the artists he loved.” “El Malo y El Bueno” “We thought about Rubén Blades because we dreamed of having him on this song. But you also have to go step by step; I can’t be a salsa rookie and expect every legend on every track. This song captures what Héctor Lavoe used to do with storytelling songs like ‘Calle Luna Calle Sol’ and ‘Juanito Alimaña,’ or what Rubén did with ‘Pedro Navaja’ and Willie Colón with ‘El Gran Varón.’ That storytelling side of salsa has been lost.” “Un Consejo” “Gilberto is a legend. He recorded the vocals and said, ‘Don’t touch those vocals—they stay exactly like that.’ And it sounds epic, just like he sounds live in all his songs. He has a deep vocal range that’s unique in salsa, and the second you hear him, you know it’s the Gentleman of Salsa. It’s a romantic song where the main character admits he’s a troublemaker because he failed his woman. Honestly, it’s one of my favorites.” “Infidelidad” “To me, Porfi is the key figure who shaped the direction modern salsa ended up taking. After Los Adolescentes, a thousand groups followed that same salsa style, and that fills me with pride because it was created entirely by Venezuelans.” “El Malandro y La Princesa” “This song is inspired by my girlfriend. Since I’m usually an urban artist, my style is very street-oriented and I talk about hardships in the barrios and social realities: murders, drug dealing, all of that. Because of that, people started seeing me as a thug or delinquent, which I’m obviously not, but I understand why people buy into the character. My girlfriend comes from a wealthy family, and we wrote this song inspired by that contrast.” “Cuestión de Piel” “The moment I heard it, it reminded me of Orquesta Salserín and I knew it had to be on the album. It’s one of the songs I liked most because it demanded a lot from me vocally. For a rapper, realizing you can push your voice further is something huge.” “Darién” “It carries an incredibly powerful message. In Venezuela, because of the sociopolitical situation, more than a million people had to leave the country over the past few years by crossing the Darién jungle. The song tells the story of a man who crossed that dangerous jungle for love—not just the love of a woman, but the love of his family, his children, and himself. I wanted the jungle itself to be heard in the music.”