GRETCCHEEM GREY: THE ARTIST WHO MOVES BETWEEN LIGHT AND SHADOW

Articel by Mia Blacksmith 

A VOICE BORN IN LA HABANA VIEJA

There are artists who discover their calling early, almost by instinct, long before they understand its magnitude. For Gretcheem Grey, everything began in the streets of La Habana Vieja, a place where art is not a privilege but an atmosphere. Music, dance, emotion, and storytelling live in every corner, shaping those who grow up immersed in its pulse.

As a child, she sang in church choirs, but back then it was simply part of the world around her. Her true artistic focus was ballet. She trained at the Alicia Alonso National School, one of Cuba’s most prestigious institutions, and dedicated her entire childhood and adolescence to the discipline. Ballet became her structure, her language, her mirror. It shaped her body and mind, teaching her precision, emotion, and the power of presence. She rose to the position of first soloist in the Ballet de la Televisión Cubana, carrying herself with the fluidity and discipline of someone who has always been at home on a stage.

But at eighteen, one moment changed everything. Inside a professional studio in La Habana Vieja, she recorded a cover of Sia’s “Chandelier.” Hearing her voice echo through the studio monitors awakened something she had never fully recognized in herself. It was as if a new door had opened and she suddenly understood that music was not simply another talent but a language she was meant to speak.

Her culture remains present in everything she creates. She does not compose tropical Cuban music, but the emotional intensity of her homeland breathes in her voice. Cubans feel deeply and express intensely, and Gretcheem carries that legacy with every note. Even her stage name reflects the duality she inhabits. “Gretcheem Grey” merges her given name with the shadowed, emotional space where her creativity lives. Grey is the color between light and darkness, the place where her music is born.

A CINEMATIC HEART SPEAKING FROM THE DARK

Describing Gretcheem Grey’s sound through genre labels would be reductive. Her music is an atmosphere rather than a classification. It feels cinematic, emotional, and unafraid of vulnerability. It balances fragility and strength in ways that only someone with her artistic background could deliver.

She wants her listeners to feel understood before anything else. To her, music is a form of connection, a bridge for those who feel alone in their emotions. Her creative process begins not with structure but with feeling. She chooses a beat, closes her eyes, and allows melodies to emerge through an invented language she uses during composition. This instinctive, wordless language frees her imagination and gives shape to the emotional architecture of a song before lyrics exist. Only afterward does she translate those sounds into Spanish, giving them clarity and narrative depth.

Her influences include artists who embrace the shadows with honesty. Billie Eilish, Miley Cyrus, Melanie Martinez, Demi Lovato, Jutes, Aurora, and Sia all inform her artistic world, not through imitation but through shared vulnerability. They remind her that darkness, when approached with sincerity, can be a source of beauty and power.

Her voice has become her signature. It carries intensity without force, and softness without fragility. It comes from her years in dance, from her upbringing in Cuba, from her emotional experiences, and from the complexity of being a storyteller who has lived both discipline and freedom. It is cinematic. It is delicate. It is powerful.

MILESTONES, TRANSFORMATIONS, AND THE PATH FORWARD

Every artist has defining moments. For Gretcheem Grey, one of the first was her nomination at the Premios Lucas in 2020 for the visually striking and horror-inspired music video “La Puerta,” directed by Helier Muñoz. That nomination marked her emergence as an artist capable of translating narrative atmosphere into visual form. Two years later, winning the 2022 award for Best Pop/Ballad Music Video with “Limbo” confirmed her artistic resonance with both audiences and critics.

Another moment that still echoes within her was the recording of the song she brought to X Factor Italy. Selected from more than five thousand candidates, she advanced into the top one hundred. The emotional weight of that achievement was overwhelming, and she cried after the final take. It was not merely a professional victory but a moment of deep personal recognition.

Despite her growing visibility, misconceptions persist. Some assume that every lyric she writes represents literal personal experience. In truth, many of her songs are interpretive, inspired by her life but transformed through the stories of those around her. Music, for her, is not documentation but emotional translation.

THE PERSON BEHIND THE ARTISTRY

Behind the stage name and artistic vision is a dreamer with a disciplined mind, shaped by ballet and driven by emotion. Gretcheem is a perfectionist who sees detail as language. She imagines constantly, building stories, colors, and moods in her mind long before they become songs or visuals.

Family grounds her. Her father, in particular, plays an essential role in her life. Caring for him and staying close to him reminds her of what truly matters and keeps her connected to love as a source of strength.

Before entering a studio, she prepares with calm intention. Deep breathing, vocal warm-ups, water, infusions, and music that evokes emotion help her step into the space where creation becomes possible. Her songs have textures and colors in her imagination. Dark red mixed with black. Velvet in low light. A bittersweet taste that lingers long after the moment has passed.

Her music is not simply sound. It is sensation.

HEALING THROUGH SOUND

At the core of Gretcheem Grey’s artistry is the desire to heal. She wants listeners to find solace, validation, and recognition in her songs. Her themes often explore shadows, emotional struggle, internal conflict, and transformation. They live in the spaces where pain and hope meet, where vulnerability becomes courage, where truth reshapes itself into something beautiful.

She wants her legacy to be honest. She wants it to reflect a life where pain was not hidden but transformed. Where music was not a performance but a way of turning experience into something meaningful for others. She hopes that what she leaves behind is a sound that stays with people, something real enough to accompany them through their own battles.

A FUTURE BUILT ON EMOTION, VISION, AND AUTHENTICITY

Gretcheem Grey continues to evolve. Her recent release, “Suspiro de Amor,” presented with a cinematic visualizer, and “Dime,” with its official music video, mark new steps in her artistic development. Both are deeply tied to emotional experiences from her life and from the stories of those around her. They are pieces of her identity shaped into music.

Her ambitions for the future are expansive. She dreams of collaborating with artists like Billie Eilish, Bruno Mars, Lady Gaga and Demi Lovato, whose emotional worlds resonate with her own. She defines success not through fame but through impact. If one person listens to her music and feels that it has touched their soul, she has succeeded.

Her fire stays alive through passion, evolution, storytelling, and the healing power of creation. As long as she has something to express, her work will continue to grow.

If she could send one song into space, she would choose “Suspiro de Amor,” a piece that captures the endurance of love through distance, silence, and separation. It is emotional, human, and universal.

Gretcheem Grey stands as an artist of shadows and light. A storyteller shaped by discipline, emotion, and the cinematic landscapes of her own voice. Her journey is still unfolding, but one thing is clear: she is destined to leave a mark that resonates beyond the stage, beyond the studio, and beyond the moment, carrying her truth into every place a listener is willing to feel.