Courtesy of BBC Mundo.

Too often I bump into 12-year-olds rapping about sex, money and cars as they play catch with their friends and drag an oversized backpack on one hand and a soda on the other. The juxtaposition of this reoccurring event has me wondering what aspects of adulthood I managed to squeeze into my mind when I was that age. Begging my mother for tickets to see Diego Torres in Honduras was my most vivid memory of juxtaposed images. There I was, a small, awkward fourth grader who was out way past her bedtime, among a crowd of 30-year-olds sipping Coronas and serenading their friends. Little did they know this round-faced child had VIP tickets and was front row, staring into Diego‰’s eyes for two hours.

I grew up listening to composer and songwriter Diego Torres mostly because my school choir covered a variety of his music. In his 2001 album Un Mundo Differente, the Argentinian artist put out lyrics of positivity in an attempt to also transmit listeners to a world empty of the problems from reality. The album went gold on release day and platinum in his home country. The first song on the album, “Color Esperanza‰” is perhaps my favorite. It‰’s basically a motivational song that begins by acknowledging the frustration of being stuck in life‰’s endless cycles and then quickly becomes an anthem for anyone feeling down. By the end, it is almost impossible to feel sad and, most likely, you’ll find yourself wanting to go outside and venture into the unknown. The song ends with the words “tempt the future with your heart,‰” which I think is the most beautiful end that throws you into the present with a new perspective of the future.

Standing front row in that hot, summer night, feeling his music flow through my ears and belting my lungs to “Color Esperanza‰” was the juice I squeezed from adulthood and poured into my childhood.