“Be yourself” is piece of advice you hear your whole life. You’ve probably even echoed this to your own kids. But the reality is that sometimes it’s not super easy to be yourself, especially when you feel intimidated and small?and this is true at any age. So when you stumble upon Bomba Estereo’s video for their hit “Yo Soy,” and you watch its star unabashedly strut her stuff on the streets of Brooklyn, you can’t help but think: This is the kind of person I want my kid to be.
Decked out in overalls and sporting unevenly beaded and braided hair, thick-framed ’80s-style specs and blue crocs, this is one tween who doesn’t take sh*t from anybody.
The video opens with her at the salon, grinning at her image in the mirror. She hops on her pompom-clad bike and casually cruises the neighbourhood. When she rolls up to two basic white tweens who proceed to stare her down, she whips out her recorder and wails on it until they stalk away. Because kids, a recorder solo is the best way to stop others from staring. Photo: YouTube
Continuing her cruise, she spots a group of 20-something guys playing basketball and stops to show them she’s got game. She even manages to fix her old, unsticky bandaid in between dribbles.
Photo: YouTube
And of course, when she encounters a group of shirtless break dancers on the street, she’s just has to show off her sweet moves.
Photo: YouTube
While we can’t help but admire this ...