Isa Cruz

From the studio to the stage, Reynaldo Fuentez ’26 feels most alive creating, composing and performing.

“There’s something about being on stage with the lights, no matter what it is, whether you’re singing a song, whether you’re acting,” Fuentez said. “There’s something about being on stage and having everyone looking at you telling a story that is just so captivating to me.”

Recently, the story Fuentez is trying to tell is his own. This past Monday, he released an original song, titled “The One Who’s Happy,” which was inspired by the personal struggles Fuentez’s faced with his family his sophomore year.

“[The song] is about struggling between wanting to move on from your past self, heal from your past self, but also wanting to stay the same,” Fuentez shared. “So, this song is very simple. I’m trying to figure out how to move on.”

Fuentez recorded the song through Expanding Sky Studio, a music production company located on Maine Street. When Fuentez first heard about the studio, he went there and sat outside, sitting in the pouring rain, waiting for someone to leave so he could stop them and introduce himself.

The wait in the rain paid off, as the introduction that day secured Fuentez an internship at the studio this past summer—the same summer he spent working and reworking “The One Who’s Happy.” His internship ended with the opportunity to record the song.

“The recording process was super fun. Reynaldo had the song fully written, but was open to some extra musical ideas being added. If I remember correctly, we first recorded Reynaldo playing the rhythm guitar, just to a basic click track. Then, on top of that, I played bass and the owner of the studio (Michael O’Connell) played drums,” Will Lederer, an engineer and producer for Expanding Sky Studio, wrote in an email to the Orient. “Reynaldo is a great songwriter and performer, but also just has a really positive and enthusiastic attitude. So working with him was a total blast.”

Before recording original songs, Fuentez began performing with the band Far From Juno. The band was formed by Fuentez and his friend—bandmate and drummer—Courtney Burnett ’26 in their first year at Bowdoin and is still in full force today, although the group is taking a small hiatus with their lead singer currently studying abroad.

Far From Juno pleasantly uprooted all of Fuentez’s expectations. He arrived at the College with plans to become an engineer, having believed all his life that was his calling, but is now a music major with a performance concentration. Fuentez credits Far From Juno for introducing him to the stage and setting him on the path to becoming the musician he is today.

“I feel like I’ve grown as a performer significantly. And I think a lot of that I will credit to acting classes, but a majority of the stuff that I feel confident on stage is through Far From Juno,” Fuentez said. “We performed so much during our freshman and sophomore year. So for me, being on that stage, even though I wasn’t singing, even though I was playing guitar—that really gave me the confidence I needed to keep performing.”

Fuentez’s next artistic endeavor is not a new song or an upcoming show at the Pub. Rather, he will spend this weekend performing in Masque and Gown’s production of “The Sweet Science of Bruising” in Pickard Theater. Fuentez is excited to take people into the world of 19th-century England as four women enter the boxing ring in pursuit of personal freedom and liberation.

After the curtain closes this weekend, Fuentez plans to step back into the recording studio. By the start of May, he hopes to record and release another song he composed this past summer. Fuentez will spend this upcoming summer once again with Expanding Sky Studio, where he will dive deeper into the mixing and mastering processes of music production. Grabbing at every opportunity to perform and grow as an artist, Fuentez is working up to the eventual release of a full album.

“I remember listening to Rey play me [“The One Who’s Happy”] on acoustic guitar. I loved it then, and I love it now,” Burnett said. “It’s so cool to see his relationship with music grow and change, and I’m excited to see what he does next.”