Cuban singer and songwriter Victoria Queen announced her arrival in Sydney, Australia, her new country of residence, after seven years of living in Vietnam.
"Welcome officially with me to Sydney, Australia. And I want to share that I am now a permanent resident in the land of kangaroos," the artist stated in a video on her Instagram account, where she revealed that the wait for the visa had come to an end.
The move is motivated by family reasons: her husband is Australian and their son Mateo has citizenship in that oceanic country. "This is my husband's country, and therefore my son has citizenship. So we couldn't wait to receive that blessed visa," explained Victoria Queen.
The artist settled in the Bondi Beach neighborhood, one of the most iconic areas of Sydney. "Our home is in Bondi Beach, a spectacular area. We walk six minutes and we're at the beach," she described enthusiastically.
Her first 24 hours in Australia were filled with the excitement of family reunion. "Being here and seeing my son with his grandfather is priceless," she said, adding that her husband organized a mini Australian barbecue to celebrate the occasion.
The contrast with Ho Chi Minh City, the Vietnamese city where he lived for years, also caught his attention. "My first impression of the streets left me quite shocked. You can feel the difference not being in Saigon with 11 million inhabitants in that city," he noted, recalling that Sydney has less than six million.
Victoria Queen emigrated from Cuba about seven years ago and built an independent artistic career in Asia centered on bringing Cuban repertoire songs and ballads into English, as well as transforming English hits into salsa. She describes herself as someone who "Cubanizes every Vietnamese that crosses my path," and now she promises to do the same in Australia.
With permanent residency in hand and a new city to explore, Victoria Queen closes her Vietnamese chapter and opens a new one with the same spirit that has defined her from the beginning: "Australia, give me a hug because I'm coming to Cubanize you."
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