Nacho begins the talk with a childhood anecdote: he knew he was in trouble when his mother referred to him as Miguel Ignacio, instead of simply Nacho.
“Miguel Ignacio called me my mother when he wanted to hit me,” said the singer a few days ago, when he offered an interview to talk about “Radio Venezuela”, the album that was released a couple of weeks ago and that marks his return to the stage together with Chyno, the partner with whom he became world famous and from whom he separated in 2017 due to personal and professional differences.
For his followers, Nacho is and has always been, for many, the brain of the successful duo that became one of the most influential Venezuelan urban music groups with the most decorations outside their country.
After the separation, both artists began careers as solo artists, although neither of them was as successful as when they were together. In 2020, Covid nearly took the life of Chyno, who faced a long recovery after suffering serious health complications, including encephalitis.
Communication between the two was reestablished and in 2021 they released “Chyno & Nacho is Back”, an album of twelve songs; In 2024 they were seen together at award ceremonies and went on the Eternos Tour, which took them through the United States and Puerto Rico.
Almost two years after those events, the duo is reunited again and talking about an almost definitive reunion. Discords and accusations were left behind. Now Nacho’s tone is conciliatory, although he recognizes that the breakup between him and Chyno was not on the best terms.
“Basically, like brothers, there was a moment where our ego, pride, won us the spotlight,” he said. “Where any nonsense made us get upset with each other and then reconcile.”
Boy stuff, he said.
New stage
Now, however, they are already experiencing a wonderful stage of satisfaction and gratitude for everything they have experienced, said the artist. And it is such a fact that everything is now behind us, that it was Nacho himself who invited Chyno to join “Radio Venezuela”, when he realized that when recording this album – which includes 18 tracks – it sounded more like Chyno and Nacho than like Nacho alone.
“Very difficult skills for me, as Nacho alone, after having created an identity as a duo, to find a sound that could not be heard like Chyno and Nacho and that represented me alone,” Nacho acknowledged.
“Radio Venezuela”, without that being the initial intention, became a tribute to its country when the voices that came together along the way of production were entirely from the Venezuelan diaspora. Performers such as Danny Ocean, Rawayana, Elena Rose, Mau y Ricky, Akapellah, Neutro Shorty, El Pollo Brito and Luis Silva are some of the guests at this musical party that includes reggaeton, urban, merengue, pop, rap and other Caribbean rhythms.
“We felt that our culture, let’s say, was not so popular around the world,” Nacho said. “That changed radically. […] Now there is an uptick in so many young people who are having success in different parts of the world.”
The calls began to Elena Rose, to Danny Ocean, to Rawayana, until it occurred to Nacho and Chyno that they had to take advantage of that wave to maximize their culture, their idiosyncrasies, their slang, their language.
“And that people connect with what we are,” he said. “And thus ‘Radio Venezuela’ was born.”
For all its revelry, the album covers social themes that Nacho—who was in charge of production—explored just before the arrest of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro by the United States government.
“Venezuelans have lived for many years with politicization,” he said. “So it is something inherent to us that at any time we meet something always comes out of our position on the reality that Venezuela is experiencing.”
This album, then, has to do with people who have made a life outside of Venezuela, but who maintain nostalgia and roots, said the performer.
The duo plans to start a tour this year, but the details have yet to be defined because Nacho has agreed to tour Europe with his solo project for the remainder of 2026. Although he announced that what they do will be “crazy” in terms of assembly.
For now, Nacho will begin a diet for the busy 2026 that awaits him.
“I have to cut back on carbs,” he said. “Not drinking so much soda if I want to have the energy these coming years require.”
