Freestyle fans and those of us who came of partying age in the late ’80’s/early ’90’s got a big treat for the eyes, ears, and souls when sexy star Corina gave an intimate, invitation-only pop-up concert celebrating her new album Spanglish at NYC hotspot Red Eye on Sunday, July 28. The singer and actress, whose biggest hits include 1991’s Temptation and Whispers, is a dynamic live performer who knew EXACTLY what her fans wanted! In attendance were Corina’s first and recent Producer Carlos Berrios, Corina’s longtime friend and former manager Pepper Negron, author and creator/editor of the popular blog Boy Culture (boyculture.com) Matthew Rettenmund, and several of Corina’s family members and close friends.
As one of the producers of the event, New York City native Angel Love Figueroa spoke exclusively to Lavender After Dark about how the concert came about!
“In March of 2024, Corina held a contest called #InspireTheWorld, where she invited her Fan Club members (called Kittenz) to submit a video recording of themselves telling a story about how they overcame a challenge in their life or a moment that changed their lives forever. She would select 5 winners whose stories moved her the most. The winners would receive a private concert at their house for their family and friends in the summer of 2024.
I was hesitant about being so vulnerable in a video message sharing my story and I opted to record it via audio only. You can listen to it here:
A few weeks passed and they announced the finalists via Instagram on April 9th.
The 5 winners were announced on April 22nd. Frank Orlik and I were selected separately as “Honorary Winners”.
Like most New Yorkers, I live in a small space and I explored the idea of having my event in a proper club somewhere in New York City. I discussed it with my friends, and Frank and I decided to combine our winnings into one big party, with the help of Michele Ruiz. We targeted July for our event because having it during June (aka Pride Month), most of our friends are booked and busy.
That gave us three full months to plan our adventure. Michele worked on securing the venue. I got started on selecting the Freestyle music I wanted to play. Frank got started on his guest list. We ran some numbers, agreed on a budget and we all got to work.
A few years ago, I organized a 50th Birthday Party for myself at Stonewall Inn that Michele helped me with. It literally was the best day of my entire life! Since then, I have been itching for a reason to put together another party, and winning this contest was the motivation I was searching for.
I designed purple customized rubber bracelets to commemorate our exclusive Pop-Up event with Corina’s logo. Purple is her favorite color, and I knew she would get a kick out of it!
Somewhere along the way I decided to buy up all of Corina’s classic vinyl singles and first album on eBay to display onstage, celebrating her career journey. The intention was to give them all away to the audience at the end of the show. (Ok, I ended up keeping one! Her first single, ‘Out of Control’ from 1988).
Since CDs have all but vanished from existence, I still had a few dozen blank CDs in my office from my days of making mixtapes just for fun. I had to do something with them. I discovered that I had a 40-minute mega-mix of Corina’s music in my files and I burned the track onto a CD. I put the bootlegged CDs in brightly colored paper sleeves, and set them out throughout the club for party guests to discover. I crossed my fingers and hoped that people still listened to CDs in their car like it still do, and would scoop them up. They all disappeared within an hour. A few days leading up to the show, we finalized our plans with a tech call with the venue staff so that everyone would be ready once we got into the club to load in. We did our best to get things accomplished quickly but we noticed we started to run behind schedule. Michele kept everyone focused and we opened the doors a few minutes later than expected immediately after Corina’s sound check. Shout out to my husband Gerard Mawn, and our friend Trishia Crawley who helped check everyone in at the door and give them their wristband.
I could feel that everyone waiting in the bar area was buzzing with excitement because they got to hear the soundcheck moment. The DJ started the music and the doors were opened to the guests. After about an hour of my pre-programmed freestyle music mix, Corina took the stage at 3PM. We had planned that she would be onstage singing and talking for an hour. She gave us almost two hours’ worth of music and stories. She performed some old hits and new music from her new album, ‘Spanglish’. As the producer, I did get a little nervous about the length of the show as it was happening. I did look at my watch a few times. But I saw that everyone was enjoying every minute of it. The entire night was dedicated to her, and we gave her all the time she needed.
About a week before the party, she announced that ‘Spanglish’ would be released on the day of our party. That made the entire event extra special because she would be performing those songs for the first time at our event!
The audience was curated specifically for this event. Since this party was a secret event, I could not post on social media promoting it. We had to invite people personally like it was the 1980s. We invited people who loved Freestyle music, and who also loved Corina. I invited Violet Sky, who I met a few weeks before the event. She’s a huge 80’s fan and influencer on Instagram with over 90K followers (@IG: glitterwave80s) ! Two people at my party asked me, “Is that Violet Sky?!” I curated the right audience! Everyone who was there was a friend. The vibe was so relaxed and fun, especially for a Sunday afternoon. Most of us are no longer a late night crowd. Sunday afternoon is the New Saturday Night!”
You can buy Corina’s Spanglish at Amazon here!
LAVENDER AFTER DARK (because life begins when the sun goes down...) 