Melanie Santiler brings her debut album "Los Cisnes" home to Havana, with Carlos Varela on the title track

October 20, 2026

Fresh off a tour of Spain, Melanie Santiler returned to Havana to present "Los Cisnes," her first visual album. The launch concert was scheduled for Saturday, October 17, at the Quinta de los Molinos, with Pe Gardez and Jeila Maviola as guest artists, the singer told the EFE news agency.

Released on September 25, the album collects ten songs she wrote herself, moving between alternative music, Latin pop and reparto. The 25-year-old said the songs deal with anxiety, loneliness, love and everyday life, and described the project as "made in Cuba, from Cuba and by Cubans."

The title track, recorded with singer-songwriter Carlos Varela, centers on Cuban families separated by distance. "In Cuba there are no swans, and no freedom. It's complicated to talk about that, and it's complicated to be Cuban and live here," Santiler said in the interview, dedicating the song "to all Cubans around the world."

Santiler debuted in 2023 and now has about 167,000 monthly listeners on Spotify and more than 300,000 Instagram followers. Rolling Stone en Español named her in 2024 among a new generation of Caribbean artists, and Billboard highlighted her in 2025 among emerging reparto talents. On building an independent career, she admitted, "It's a super complicated process that you have to do by hand."