logo
Natalia Lafourcade talks alter ego in 'Cancionera', the significance of touring in her 40s

Natalia Lafourcade talks alter ego in 'Cancionera', the significance of touring in her 40s

USA Today25-04-2025
Natalia Lafourcade talks alter ego in 'Cancionera', the significance of touring in her 40s
When Mexican musician Natalia Lafourcade turned 40, her alter ego was born.
Lafourcade, now 41, was reflecting on four decades of life and "wanted to have the right things to say to my friends, family and loved ones" at her birthday celebration, she says. "I was trying to think about what I was going to say that night, and I was taking my time to write something, and that week, 'Cancionera' came as an inspiration and as a message – I guess to myself, but also to the world."
"Cancionera," or songstress, is the title track off her 14-track album of the same name. In the sultry and spiritual song, Lafourcade calls out to the "grounding but also very ethereal" songstress inside her. "Always, always sing your truth/ Be woman, the beautiful muse …" she sings in Spanish.
It "has to do with your liberty and freedom and your own persona, your soul, your mind and the way you're doing things in life," Lafourcade says.
Lafourcade, who began songwriting from an early age, launched her first solo album in 2002. In her nearly 20-year career, she has released about a dozen albums, won four Grammys and is the most decorated female artist at the Latin Grammys with 17 wins.
Her follow-up to 2022's "De Todas las Flores," which earned her a Grammy award for best Latin rock/alternative album, returns to her haunting, ethereal and Latin folklore sounds, honoring the traditional San Jarocho sounds of her native Veracruz, Mexico.
More: Maná talks new tour and how Rock & Roll Hall of Fame nomination felt 'like a dream'
As Lafourcade shares "Cancionera" with the world, she also kicked off the Cancionera Tour − the singer's biggest North American trek since 2018 − on April 23 in Xalapa, Mexico, followed by several sold out stops in Mexico through May, and more than a dozen U.S. cities.
"I feel like I have two children coming into the world: the album and the tour," says Lafourcade. "It's been a dream for me."
The making of 'Cancionera' was 'really something special'
"Cancionera," as Lafourcade's artistic mirror, also brought some levity at a transitional moment in her life. It allowed her to explore the duality of light and shadow, tradition and transgression, and pushed her beyond the conventional.
"The way we created the album allowed me to play a lot with my personality, but also with the alter ego of this character and the different energies that I felt La Cancionera was bringing to the table," Lafourcade says.
'This is the path to death': Anitta reveals why she ditched her 'nonstop' work ethic
With this project, the singer-songwriter marks a transformative phase of her career − one that continues to honor the intimacy of her voice and the guitar.
"'Cancionera' makes you create," she says. "She's very much like, 'Let's play, let's create, and let's not think too much about it.' That was the way we were making the music … the energy of creating that way was really something special."
More: Paquita la del Barrio's best heartbreak anthems, from 'Rata De Dos Patas' to 'Taco Placero'
Lafourcade brought a team of musicians together, recorded the entire album in one session on analog tape, and mixed it live with the help of producer Adán Jodorowsky, who also worked on "De Todas las Flores."
"We didn't know in the moment if it was going to be OK, but it was really great to see how every song was taking its own form and personality," she says of the process.
Natalia Lafourcade: Music is her master, the stage is her home
At only 4 feet, 11 inches, the stage doesn't overpower Lafourcade − she takes charge during live performances, becoming a force and giving life to the emotions her lyricism evokes. Lafourcade loves the stage because she gets to lose control, but still trusts that something beautiful will come together, she says.
Whether singing a cappella or accompanied by her guitar to hundreds or thousands of people − at a small venue or an awards show − Lafourcade's performances feel visceral, intense and intimate all at once.
"For me, the stage feels like my house. I feel very comfortable onstage, it's not like I get nervous or weird," says Lafourcade. "It just feels like a safe space to create in a constant collaboration with these energies."
"You can feel the room being fed with people's emotions, with the emotions I'm bringing, but also with what my fans bring," Lafourcade says. "The love that comes with everything creates a very particular energy, and I love to use all that to tell a story."
'You deserve safety': Ángela Aguilar dedicates Billboard Breakthrough Award to immigrants
And a storyteller she is, through and through. Through her music, Lafourcade paints stories of heartbreak, loss, womanhood, grief and the celebration of life.
In "Hasta La Raiz" ("To the Root"), one of her most popular songs, she sings of her Mexican roots and the deep connection she feels to her hometown. In "Muerte" ("Death"), Lafourcade shows gratitude for permanent endings, which in turn teach her the importance of living life to the fullest. She also dedicated "Que Te Vaya Bonito Nicolás" ("I Wish You the Best, Nicolás") to her late nephew, who died in 2021 after a tragic accident.
"Music is one of my biggest masters and it makes me transform all the time," she says. "For some reason, many times I feel that when I'm comfortable in a song, music is shaking my face and saying, 'Move on, go to another place and try something different and do things differently.'"
She continues: "Every single time, music is confronting me in that way and I love that. It makes me realize I have the ability to change as many times as I want. Music really loves when we can move out of a certain path so her energy can move through us."
For Lafourcade, going on tour and releasing "Cancionera" feels full circle. She's ready to share with her fans music she's been working on since she was 15 years old, when she was still finding her footing in this industry.
"I wanted to do this tour in my 40s to begin this decade, and so far, it's felt like a reconfiguration."
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Barcelona star sends farewell message to club's fans
Barcelona star sends farewell message to club's fans

Yahoo

time6 hours ago

  • Yahoo

Barcelona star sends farewell message to club's fans

A departing member of the attacking ranks at La Liga giants Barcelona has bid a fond farewell to all in Catalunya's capital. The player in question? Pau Víctor. Frontman Víctor is for his part of course fresh off seeing his departure from Barcelona made official. Following a quickfire round of talks with Portuguese outfit SC Braga, the Camp Nou brass sanctioned a deal for the 23-year-old to depart on a permanent basis this weekend. As much brings to an end what was a short-lived stint for Víctor on Barcelona's books, spread between the club's reserve outfit, and first-team. Evidently, though, across this time, the Blaugrana made a deep impact on the versatile attacker from a personal standpoint. This comes with Víctor having taken to his official social media accounts, to bid a heartfelt farewell to the Spanish champions: 'Today marks the end of a chapter that has shaped my life. A chapter that has been much more than football: it has been a dream come true. First with Barça Atlètic, then with the first team… but always with the same feeling: that of a kid who grew up dreaming of wearing this shirt. Defending this badge has been an immense honor, both at the Johan and at Montjuïc, always with the pride of being part of a unique club. Because Barça is not just a club. It's a feeling that fills you, transforms you, and makes you better. Thank you to all the coaches, teammates, club staff, and fans who have accompanied me on this journey. I take with me friendships, values, lessons, and memories that I'll carry with me forever. Now I head toward new challenges, with my head held high and my heart full. With the same passion, the same commitment, and the eternal pride of having defended these colors, and a dream lived that will accompany me wherever I go. With all my gratitude, Forever a Culer.' Conor Laird – GSFN

Before-and-after photos show how a woman boosted her home's curb appeal with a mudroom and statement arch
Before-and-after photos show how a woman boosted her home's curb appeal with a mudroom and statement arch

Business Insider

time7 hours ago

  • Business Insider

Before-and-after photos show how a woman boosted her home's curb appeal with a mudroom and statement arch

Steffy Degreff's home has changed a lot since she and her husband bought it in late 2017. Degreff, a full-time content creator, and her husband, Matt Degreff, bought their home in Long Beach, New York, in 2017. They have been raising their sons, Hudson, 8, and Charlie, 5, and their dog, Claude Pepper, there ever since. When they bought the house, which was originally built in 1954, it had three bedrooms and two bathrooms. However, the Degreffs did a big renovation in 2019. Now, it has three bathrooms, and they converted an attic into an additional bedroom. "To be honest, when we bought it, I don't think we viewed it as a forever home," Degreff told Business Insider. "It needed so much work that it was overwhelming to think that we would be the people to do that work, but everything that's good takes time." "Now, eight years later, it's finally in a place where I don't feel like we have anything massive to do on it anymore," she added. Degreff has been putting her personal, whimsical stamp on her home for years. Although their big renovation took place years ago, Degreff updates her home almost constantly, taking on DIY projects and documenting them on her social media pages. She paints areas of her home throughout the year and makes small additions in her personal style, which she describes as "vintage grandma." Some of her projects are meant to be temporary, like painting doors or windows, while others are longer-term. For instance, Degreff constructed built-in bookshelves for one room in her house, painting them green and adding floral touches to the doorway next to them. "A lot of the bigger projects I do with permanence in mind," she told BI. "If I'm putting up built-in bookshelves or redoing paneling in a bedroom, chances are I'm not ripping that out. But paint is just such a fun way to change your vibe year to year." Although they had personalized their home, there was still one part of the house that wasn't working for the Degreffs by 2024: the entryway. From the outside, a simple staircase led to the Degreffs' front door, which had a small patio next to it. Inside, guests entered the living room. "I always knew that the entry to my home was less than ideal," Degreff told BI. "People would walk in, and we had nowhere to put our coats. We had no coat closet. It was freezing in the winter." In 2024, the Degreff family reached a breaking point with the entrance to their home. They decided they wanted an entryway that would provide storage, make their living area warmer, and fit the aesthetic of their home. The Degreffs decided to extend the front of their home to make space for the mudroom and a statement archway. Degreff said she got inspiration for the renovation from other homes in her area. "I started walking around the neighborhood and getting ideas, and the really cool thing about Long Beach is that there's a multitude of home styles," she said, including Spanish, Victorian, and Cape Cod houses. "No two homes are exactly alike, which brings an endless amount of inspiration." As she studied homes in her neighborhood, Degreff found herself drawn to the ones with rounded doors, but she didn't want to commit to the nontraditional shape. "I started to think outside the box of what can I do that looks like that same quaint, cottagey type of look but isn't actually the door, and that's where I landed on the arch," Degreff added. The project kicked off in May 2024 with the removal of the existing steps at the home. The new room and arch extended out of the front of the house, adding just 80 square feet to the space. But it would have the closet the Degreff family wanted so desperately. Degreff comes from a family of contractors, so it was a no-brainer for her to hire her uncle, Pat Gordon Contracting, for the project. She also worked with James Joyce Architect, and she tapped Weathertop Masonry to find brick that would match the home's existing stonework. The arch was the most difficult aspect of the renovation to create. Like the rest of the house, the arch was raised off the ground, and stairs led to the platform entrance. The arch pointed at the top, while the door beneath was designed with a round window atop it for contrast. Degreff told BI that Weathertop Masonry was integral to creating the archway, which was almost entirely made of brick and stone. She said the team initially tried to find vintage bricks to match the house, and when that didn't work, Degreff said Paul Scanio, Weathertop Masonry's president, got creative. "We ended up ordering a blend of two or three different types of brick, and the way that he grabbed and picked each brick, it mixed it in a way that made it look exactly like the old brick on my house," Degreff said. Degreff chose custom tile for the interior of the mudroom. Degreff said she spent "hours and hours" researching tiles before selecting a green, patterned set from London Mosaic. The tile was laid in August, and Degreff held off decorating the rest of the space until January 2025, getting used to it before deciding how to finish it. When Degreff finished the mudroom, green was integral to the design. Thanks to the arch, the inside of the mudroom has high ceilings, and Degreff played up that height by painting the walls and ceilings a deep green. A textured light hangs from the ceiling, and the window above the door lets in natural light. There's a second door that leads to the living room, making the main house warmer. Degreff added a bench to the entryway. When you enter the mudroom, the long-awaited coat closet sits on the right, but the left side was a blank canvas for Degreff to decorate. "I knew I wanted to do a bench seating with a little open shelf, something that I could restyle seasonally, and a spot to hang extra stuff," she told BI. She did the work on the corner herself, adding paneling to the wall behind and next to the bench for some texture. A wooden shelf floated above the bench, and Degreff added hooks to the wall for jackets and purses. Degreff said the mudroom is already making her home more functional. "It's so nice," Degreff said of having a mudroom. "This was the first winter that we walked into having a mudroom, and it's just so much easier having a place to put the kids' sports bags and hang up our coats." "For work, I have a lot of random props that I get, and I have a closet space there now," she added. "It's not just sitting by the front door in the middle of the living room." The archway also improved the home's curb appeal, as Degreff's neighbors can attest. The arch drastically changed the house's appearance, but Degreff said all the work they did on the exterior in 2024 improved its curb appeal. "We were adding sod, we added a fence, we added landscaping, so the arch is just like a piece of other things that definitely made the house more attractive from the outside," she said. Degreff said people who live in her community noticed the upgrades. "The amount of neighbors that are excited about it has also been really cute," Degreff said. "I have at least one neighbor every day, and it's been a year, that's like, 'Your house came out so great. I love how it looks.'" She feels like the exterior finally matches the interior. "Nobody realized that it was cute inside because it had sad grass and it was just so dumpy outside, and now I feel like people get it," she said. "When we first did the renovation, people asked me when I moved in and welcomed me to the neighborhood because they thought I had just bought the house and started to fix it up." She also has fun changing up her doorway seasonally. Degreff has been switching up the decor out front to match the season. "Decorating it every season has been so fun," she said. "I put leaves around the arch for fall last year, and then I did garlands and lights for Christmas, and it's just fun and festive." She told BI that she's also "constantly" repainting the front door. Degreff knows repainting it so often might lead to wear and tear long-term, but she considers it a work expense because so much of her content revolves around her house. "I sand it in between, but it does get thick. It's definitely a casualty, and I look at it as a business expense at this point," she said. "Worst case scenario, I will, in five years, get a different door and start from scratch. There's nothing saying the door has to be forever." Having a clear vision helped Degreff bring her renovation to life. Degreff didn't have an exact cost breakdown for her mudroom and arch renovation because she and her husband also had work done on their driveway and other parts of their home. Still, she recommends people estimate between $50,000 and $70,000 if they want to take on a similar project. She also said that people who plan to take on similar projects should have a clear vision for their transformation. "I think my best advice would be to go on Pinterest and take a look at all the elements that you want to have in your space, whether it's a bench seating area when you walk in or a special kind of tile or special window," she said. "When you hire a contractor, they're just carrying out your vision. If you don't go into it with the vision, then you're not going to get exactly what you want." "The first time I renovated, I definitely didn't do enough research or planning, and there are things that I would do differently," Degreff said. "But with the arch, I 100% feel like it's exactly everything I wanted and hoped and dreamed."

Sekou McMiller's ‘Urban Love Suite' celebrates social dance with Jacob's Pillow world premiere
Sekou McMiller's ‘Urban Love Suite' celebrates social dance with Jacob's Pillow world premiere

Boston Globe

time8 hours ago

  • Boston Globe

Sekou McMiller's ‘Urban Love Suite' celebrates social dance with Jacob's Pillow world premiere

With the support of NAACP Berkshires, McMiller — a Chicago-born and New York-based African Diasporic dance and music scholar/educator — immersed himself in the Berkshires' robust Afro-Latin community. He led workshops at a local elementary school and dance club. During a 'cultural exchange,' McMiller combined his own choreography with the celebratory traditions that local workshop participants offered him. McMiller incorporated some of the movement generated in this Pittsfield engagement into the new work, and it will live on in the choreography after it leaves the Berkshires. 'It's a love letter to the Black and brown communities,' McMiller said in a phone interview this week, 'the beautiful music and dance that has been created from hip-hop to samba to New York Mambo.' Advertisement So, despite the formal venue, you can expect this Jacob's Pillow performance to feel like a party. Advertisement 'Urban Love Suite' celebrates the relationships between different African diasporic communities through their dance and music traditions, 'their nuanced differences, their similarities and their shared roots from the continent of Africa,' McMiller said. To develop the work, with the support of the NAACP Berkshires, Sekou McMiller immersed himself in the Berkshires' robust Afro-Latin community. Pictured, Sekou McMiller and Friends' Sekou McMiller and Marielys Molina. Elyse Mertz The work also celebrates how a dense city can bring many cultures into close proximity, he said, creating opportunities for exchange that are unique to the urban experience. It can, as he put it, yield 'amazing fruits of music and dance.' 'Like New York City Mambo, which was done in New York, Harlem, where you had that cross pollination of Lindy Hop and jazz and tap dancers, with the Latin dancers coming directly from Cuba, but then [they] create a new way of doing the dance that only could have been done in an urban city like New York.' McMiller's point is that proximity can be challenging yet generative. You might not always be in the mood to listen to your neighbor's playlist, but after the fourth or fifth time through, you might find your hips moving to the beat, reluctantly familiar with the rhythms your neighbors prefer. McMiller, a classically trained flutist and jazz musician, is also the curator at the National Jazz Museum in Harlem. He reveres the intimate entanglement of music, movement, and social gatherings, and collaborated with music director Sebastian Natal on a score grounded in Afro-Latin jazz to be performed live alongside the dancers. 'Love Suite' draws parallels between parading traditions like Uruguayan candombe and New Orleans' second line, and layers party dances from Cuba, Puerto Rico, Chicago, and New York. It also highlights the roots of these movement forms in cultural traditions from Nigeria, Senegal, and Burkina Faso — the region the colonialist machine favored for the capture, export, and exploitation of human beings as a resource, who became the ancestors of Afro Caribbean, Afro Latin, and African American communities. Advertisement 'They're social dance in nature,' McMiller said, 'so they're not born of a studio. They're born from culture. They're born from parties. They're born from celebrations. They're born from traditions and rituals.' After noticing a lack of social dance in the Jacob's Pillow archive, artistic and executive director Pamela Tatge has made efforts to uplift dance artists working inside those traditions — with the help of her curatorial team. 'If we are charged with representing the breadth of dance in the world, to not center social dance would be a mistake,' said Tatge in a recent phone interview. It's complicated to bring these dances to the stage because social dance is a participatory art, and The Theater fosters an inherent separation between the audience and performer. McMiller is up for the challenge, and his solution: improvisation in both music and dance. 'It's call and response from beginning to end. I allow my choreography to be a call to the dancers to then respond … so at some point you won't be able to tell the difference between improv and choreography,' McMiller explained. 'So every night, it's same format, different show.' 'Love Suite' will also disrupt the performer-observer relationship by dancing among the audience and inviting attendees onto the stage. Performance is a call too, that asks the audience to respond. 'I hope this pushes people to get out there and come join us,' McMiller said, 'to not just spectate with us, but become an active participant in this life.' Advertisement URBAN LOVE SUITE At Jacob's Pillow's Ted Shawn Theatre, Becket, July 30 to Aug. 3. Tickets start at $65. 413-243-0745, Sarah Knight can be reached at sarahknightprojects@

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store