La Cruz remembers Pulse shooting victims on new EP "El Nene, Vol. 2"

La Cruz released his new EP, "El Nene, Vol. 2," on June 11, one day before the 10th anniversary of the 2016 Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando, Florida, and used the closing track "Te Perdí" as a tribute to the 49 people killed there. The Venezuelan reggaeton artist also teamed with Brazilian drag pop star Gloria Groove on "Sírveme," a collaboration he says came together in a single afternoon in Miami.

La Cruz, whose full name is Alfonso La Cruz, grew up in the coastal Venezuelan city of La Guaira and moved to Spain in 2015 to pursue music, competing on the show "Operación Triunfo" before he came out publicly and released his 2022 debut album, "Hawaira." He has built a following as an openly gay voice inside Latin reggaeton, a genre that historically excluded LGBTQ+ artists, with early supporters including Karol G and R&B singer Omar Apollo.

His 2023 single "Quítate La Ropa" became a breakout hit, and this EP builds on that momentum alongside other openly queer urbano artists such as Young Miko and Villano Antillano, with the new record joining the release calendar as La Cruz keeps pushing further into the mainstream.

La Cruz said he was living in Spain when the Pulse shooting happened in 2016 and remembers a phone call in which his brother, who had just moved to the U.S., described a shooting near his home at a gay club. He said he wrote "Te Perdí" after learning the stories of survivors, describing the song as "a voice for this situation that should never be repeated."

La Cruz said he would like to open for Colombian star Karol G on her Viajando Por El Mundo Tropitour, though he described that only as a hope rather than a confirmed plan. Nothing in the interview specifies additional tour dates behind "El Nene, Vol. 2" itself.