MUSAS isn’t your average girl group, even though they take inspiration from some of the most famous the United States has produced, from afar.

The Afro-Latina sister trio, comprised of Fiorella, Keisha, and Fiona, moved from Colombia to Brooklyn, New York in 2016 and were immediately impacted by a change in culture they previously knew little about. It was the combination of music from South America, the Caribbean and the U.S. they loved that made their transition to life in America a bit easier. Everything, however, changed when the COVID pandemic hit in 2020.

Living with their family in The Big Apple, MUSAS always had an interest in not only music, but dance and theater – things they started participating in while in their native homes of Argentina and Colombia – and continued through the arts-based middle and high schools they attended in Brooklyn. But when everything came to a halt because of the pandemic, it was a chance to actually act on their talents and begin creating as a trio.

It took MUSAS a couple years to configure their chemistry, working relationship, and brand, which is why they currently only have three music videos out, but what they have released is gold, literally.

In their debut song/video “Destino,” the trio don gold dresses, a symbol they say is inspired by the mineral resources stolen from their native land, while weaving between rapping and singing in English and Spanish – a nod to their native countries and influence gained from the U.S. More recently, they’ve released two videos, “Patience” and “Fantasy,” that tow similar lines while also displaying the continuity of a TLC or Destiny’s Child.

Now working on a debut EP, MUSAS has still not made its full introduction to the world, but that’s coming when everything finally comes together. BET recently spoke with the group about their latest music, how much their heritage inspires their musical being, being a product of the pandemic, and so much more. Read below.

BET: From South America to Brooklyn during your early high school years. How has the culture in New York inspired you to want to do music professionally?

Fiona: Well, I think because we are sisters, we grew up singing, taking dancing class, all of that stuff together. So then creating the band just came naturally for us. We created it while we were living in Brooklyn stuck in quarantine. So that was like a time that we were all together and realized we were so talented and we know each other so well, just as being family.

Fiorella: I was born in Argentina and raised in Colombia, and they were both born in Colombia and raised in Colombia. And since we were there, our parents who put us in dance academies, mixed with our culture, I definitely think it’s engraved in us. So we tried to make a lot of our music and put a little bit of our culture in it.

Keisha: I think back to how Brooklyn shaped us. I was like 16 or 15 when I moved here. So for me, it was obviously a culture shock coming from Colombia to Brooklyn. But it was definitely interesting to se different people, different cultures, different music. So I think that, as Fiorella said, we merge in our culture and the Spanish lyrics, but we also merge whatever we hear around us living here in New York, which is so diverse.

BET: I don’t think I’ve spoken to a group formed out of the pandemic. What were those decisions you made about creating your group and why was that really the time for you to start it?

Keisha: We didn't have anything else to do. So it was kind of like our parents and our family – they've always said, “Oh, you guys should sing and have a trio.” And we used to sing actual Christmas carols at Christmas time, and we would have matching outfits. We were singing and harmonizing and everything but we didn't really take it super serious. It was kind of just like a holiday thing. And then in the pandemic, it was likethere's nothing else to do, let's just be just…

Fiona: It was kind of wanting to make the better of a bad situation –  use that as a way to concentrate and be positive instead of just like the world is gonna end.

Keisha: Music for us has always been like a release, an outlet, so everything in the world is happening. I mean, the George Floyd issue happened as well. So for us it was like, Let's just get our instruments out, play some music and kind of destress from everything and make other people happy as well. We would do Instagram Lives and be like, Hey everyone, how's everyone doing in your house [laughs]?

BET: What was that transition like culturally moving from Colombia and Argentina to Brooklyn, which is pretty diverse in its own right?

Fiorella: I definitely think at first it was hard for all of us. We grew up with our mom speaking English, but we didn't understand certain slang, just certain things that people say that have a different meaning to them. I definitely think each of us had our own experience with bullying in school or [being picked on]. For me personally, I didn't really have a Spanish community when I came here.

It was just a lot of kids. So I couldn't really understand everything. It was hard in classes and stuff. So that was definitely the shock – having to learn a whole different learning system and education system that was definitely a shock.

Fiona: Yeah, even like with the arts, because we went to an arts high school. In Colombia, I used to take a lot of dance classes. That was like one of my biggest passions and things to do. And then when we went to the art high school, I was taking dance classes there too, but the way they teach you is completely different. Then I started taking a lot of African dance classes and all of those things were new to me, but I really enjoyed it. I found a community for me through the arts.

Keisha: For me, I did musical theater. So for a really long time, even in Colombia, I did musical theater. Here, it was just like let me just keep on doing that because that's what I know I'm good at. Even though it was diverse it's still interesting because there's a lot of different communities, and coming in, like [Fiorella] came in at the end of elementary school, Fiona came in almost like at the end of middle school. So it was kind of like, Oh, the new girl. What group do you fit in with and all of those things? But I definitely made friends with a lot of Latino kids in high school because that's my community. Then with the whole Amara La Negra coming out and saying, I'm an Afro-Latina, that whole movement for me was like, Wow, that's dope.

BET: Your new single “Fantasy” is excellent and I definitely feel like there are a lot of emotions revealed in it, very transient. How did that one come together?

Fiorella: I started off the writing process, which was just me and my piano. It was just kind of a melody at first and then I had the idea of fantasy, then I wrote on that. I showed the song to the girls and they were like, Yes, okay, let's do this. It actually took a while to fully produce and record everything, but they added their lyrics, [Fiona] did her own rap and Keisha added some of her lyrics that she had.

Keisha: I think that's our process as well with almost every song. Someone comes up with an idea and then everyone's like, Yeah, let's do it, and we started building off of each other. Or sometimes someone has everything written down and then everyone's like, Okay, I'll learn it. I'll go record it. That's it. But I think our process is always like someone has a harmony, let's build on that, someone has a lyric, let's build on that. And then for production Fiorella composed the song. And then we got Marcus and Vicki, they produce more of the transit sounds that you hear in the song and the beat. So that was really cool working with them because they're also siblings. So it's kind of like a sibling group thing going on.

BET: You also released your single “Patience” back in November. Can you talk about that one a little bit as well?

Keisha: So in this case, I came up with the idea and [the] producer’s like, I would like you guys to hear this out and if it works, it works, whatever. No strings attached. I really liked it, so I started writing on it. I showed the girls, they were like dope, let's build on that. Then we got into the studio. It was actually harder though for this song because we weren't the ones producing it. So we didn't have that type of control over [it]. And it has to sound good. For me, I'm a perfectionist, so sometimes I get very stressed about things. So it's like I don't like it. I don't like it. It was a long, long process to mix and master the vocals because we're all perfectionist like if it doesn't sound good…

BET: How much does your Colombian and Argentine heritage influence the music you create?

Keisha: So I think that, for example, with “Destino,” which is the first song we released, it meant a lot because it was kind of honoring our culture, our heritage. So we have these golden dresses in the video, and they represent the gold that was stolen from the Caribbean and Latin America and other parts. So we're near the water, we have these golden dresses, it's like an ode to our culture and our heritage. The song and the people that we collaborated with, the genre of the song is also from the Pacific Coast. So yeah, for us, it was just like let's do something that people can vibe with, they can dance to, but it's also super important to portray where we come from.

Fiona: Yeah, to give flowers to our community and because there's not a lot of artists that do that right now. We also want people that are artists like us, or similar to us, to feel related in some type of way. So that's why I think it's important for us to add some Spanish into our music, even if it's like an R&B song. It's just kind of in our creative process because if something sounds good with us, as bilingual people we're going to put it in…

Keisha: And I think a lot of people, actually friends of ours, wrote back after this came out and we're like, “Yo, I've never seen something like that before and the way that you guys rapped in Spanish and sing in English and this whole thing, and even recorded the video in Colombia – I feel seen with that.” And for us to hear that, that was like, Whoa, crazy. I mean, that's the purpose of making music and art: to represent and connect with other people.

BET: You three definitely have that 90s girl group vibe but updated for the present day. It also is kind of intentional from how you brand yourself. Talk about that a little…

Fiorella: Yeah, I think when I compose I definitely have… growing up listening to Alicia Keys, Erykah Badu, those sounds are always kind of coming out of my music – that kind of 90s vibes. But I also have my roots and my family telling me a lot of times that my music sounds like something like Argentine sound, but when they come in, their roots are more Colombian…

Fiona: That’s the funny thing: we all kind of have different music tastes, and then when we each write our hearts in each song, you can kind of see like a little bit of everything because we're all like unique in our own way. But we know how to come together.

Fiorella: And I think being sisters helps. It's like, I know what you like, I know what you like, and I know what I like. Let's work with that.

BET: So yeah, what are some of your influences then and how much do they play into your musical makeup?

Keisha: So I grew up listening to a lot of jazz, so Etta James, Ella Fitzgerald. I love Aretha Franklin as well and Celia Cruz – that's my OG right there. Genre wise, salsa, merengue – all that. In the Pacific Coast of Colombia they listen to a lot of chirimía, which is like a combination of a lot of instruments. It actually sounds a lot like the bands in Louisiana, which is like a really cool connection. So that's like my musical route and musical theater as well.

Fiona: So I really like rock music, so I listened to a lot of like Nicki Minaj and then one of my favorites of all time is Lauryn Hill. I also really like Reggaeton because that's like my go to for dancing. It's a lot of people that I like in that type of genre of music.

Fiorella: [I] have a long list but I listen to a lot of Alicia Keys and Jhené Aiko, Whitney Houston, Aaliyah. Sometimes I go into the indie like, Willow [Smith] type-vibes. But yeah, R&B is definitely what I go to. Also, obviously, TLC.