Quack, Quack

R&B singer Raquel Serenil’s first stab at show business was a Star Search audition at age 11. When that didn’t work out, she started making the rounds here in her hometown, Houston. At 14, she tried to start a Latino version of Destiny’s Child called Kloud 9. When 18 girls came — and left — in the first year, Serenil decided to go solo. Four years later, with her first CD almost completed, illness forced her to shelve everything for a year. That CD was never released. Now 20, Serenil has almost finished recording another CD. She talked to us in the Houston Press offices, with her mom, Elaine Gracia, acting as chaperone/PR rep/support system/manager.

Houston Press: You have a big female following, does that surprise you?

Raquel Serenil: I do get a lot of love from the ladies, but I have my share of male fans.

At one of my very first shows, I actually had two lesbians in the front row and they were going like, ‘Woooohooohooo!’ (laughs) But I love all people, so it was fine.

HP: You’ve played all over Texas, I know. And you did a big tour of Mexico, right?

Serenil: I did, with the Italian soccer team, and that was pretty cool. [At each game] I sang the Italian national anthem, then I did the half-time show. Because I sang the anthem in Italian and then did the half-time show, some in English and some in Spanish with mariachis, they never knew what I was. Was I Italian singing mariachi? Was I a Mexican singing Italian? They were all confused. (laughs)

HP: What was it like traveling around with the Italian soccer team?

Serenil: It was fun! Every guy on the soccer team is super-famous so it was like traveling with 40 Brad Pitts or something.

HP: You had to shelve the first CD you recorded. Why was that?

Serenil: Somehow I had broken my nose and it had healed crooked (laughs), so they had to break my nose and reset it. That changed everything, my voice, my breathing, everything, so I started over on the album.

HP: Getting your nose fixed changed your voice that much? How?

Serenil: It changed everything, and for a while there I sounded like I was tone deaf because I couldn’t make my voice do what it used to do. It was horrible. I had to relearn everything. At one point we didn’t think I was ever going to sing again and my mom was like, “It’s okay, Raquel, you can still be a teacher, mija. It’s okay.” I was like, “Nooooooooo! I want to sing again!” So I started vocal lessons and then after three months, I was sounding better. Now it’s all good.

HP: But wait, you don’t know how you broke your nose? When or how or anything?

Serenil: I think it was just before the Thanksgiving Day Parade two years ago. I was going to perform in the parade. I was so excited, I was just running around and I ran into a door. It made me cry, but I didn’t think it broke my nose. Maybe that was it.

Or it could have been some other time I don’t even remember.

HP: You run into doors a lot, do you?

Serenil: Yeah, actually, I do. People laugh at me because I’m so clumsy. When I was in Mexico with the soccer team, I was getting on the bus at this one stop and there were like a thousand people there, everyone was screaming my name, and I was waving at them and then boom, I fell. My dress flew over my head. I was just, splat, out there. Everyone was, “Raquel! Raquel! Raqu-ooooooh!” (laughs) But I bounced up and they clapped for me, like, “Oh, look, she can walk!” I told my mom later, “Thank God I wore some pretty panties!”

HP: Who do you think you sound like?

Serenil: I get a lot of comparisons to Christina Aguilera, but I like to say that I have my own sound. Being that I live here in Houston and this is such a diverse community, I’ve taken hip-hop, pop, Latin, R&B, everything and I’ve put it all together. I sound like me.

HP: What’s your favorite thing about being on the road?

Serenil: I have a blast when we go on the road, I love to talk and sing along with the radio. After a while everyone is like, “Shut up! It’s already been ten hours, be quiet, please!” But I just keep going. On tour, sometimes you get just a couple of hours of sleep a night, which, of course, makes me even more hyper (laughs), and that makes me talk even more! I’m okay with it, but I think I make everyone else tired.

HP: How many guys have you picked up with the line, “Hi, I’m a singer?”

Serenil: I don’t usually pick up guys like that. I usually am at a show and they know I’m a singer so they come up to me with (lowers voice) “Hey baby, maybe me and you could do something on my next CD.”

A lot of guys think it would be cool to date a singer but then they get all freaked out when I can’t go clubbing because I have to go do a show. They tell me, “You’re 20 years old, you’re supposed to be going out to party.” I just tell them, “Later, I’ll party later.” But they don’t understand and I think, “Oh, well. One day I’m going to be partying at the Grammys and you’re still going to the same old club.”

HP: Right this minute, instead of this interview, what would you rather be doing?

Serenil: Naw, I’d rather be doing this interview.

HP: If they did a movie about your life, who would you want to play you?

Serenil: I guess it would have to be somebody who really knows me — that would be my sister. She’s a pretty good actress.

Brad Pitt would be my boyfriend. Even though I don’t currently have one, in the movie I would. I would say, for my mom…

Elaine Gracia: You better watch it. (laughs)

Serenil: No, no, you’ll like it — how about Queen Latifah?

HP: Your mom is a light-skinned redhead, she looks like a white lady. You sure you want to go with Queen Latifah?

Serenil: (laughs) No, really, there’s a resemblance. She’s kind of the black version of my mom.

HP: Who’s the most important person in your life?

Serenil: God. God’s number one. Without Him, to be honest with you, we wouldn’t be anywhere in the music industry. There are so many people who are out to get you, to stab you in the back, people who say they want to help you and then take you for everything. It’s crazy out here, and we couldn’t be doing this except for God.

I don’t know how people who don’t have some kind of faith do it. You have to have something, Allah, Buddha, somebody.

HP: Tell us something people don’t usually know about you.

Serenil: A lot of people don’t know that I have a fear of ducks.

HP: Ducks?

Serenil: Yes, ducks. I am serious! Don’t say anything until you have been attacked by one, okay?

HP: Attacked? By a duck?

Gracia: It was a goose, actually, when she was about eight years old. There was a little pond in the park and she’s just so tenacious, she was bound and determined that she was going to feed this goose.

Serenil: I was trying to give him some bread, like, “Here ducky, here ducky.” He was kind of honking at me and all of a sudden he just kind of got low with it, crouching down and I was like, “Are you serious?” Then he just took off after me, chasing me. He chased me around the park like three times, I thought he was going to eat me! And (laughs) it’s not funny, he bit me. I even have nightmares about it sometimes.

People say they’re scared of snakes; I ain’t scared of snakes. They say they’re afraid of spiders or rats, nope. I’m scared of ducks.

HP: Who would you rather marry, Pee Wee Herman or Ronald Reagan?

Serenil: I would definitely say Ronald. Ronald would be my guy.

HP: What’s something you don’t want anyone to ever know about you?

Serenil: I’m pretty open, there’s nothing that nobody doesn’t know about me. Oh, wait, my (beep) boob is a little bigger than my (beep) boob. (laughs) I try to even it out all the time but it doesn’t work. For more information about Raquel Serenil, visit www.myspace.com/raquelserenil online.