Mon Laferte Adds A Latin Twist To Trip-Hop On ‘Tenochtitlan’
The track serves as the singer-songwriter’s first single from her new album
Mon Laferte has shared the first song of a new phase for the singer-songwriter with “Tenochtitlan.”
The track is trip-hop with a Latin heart and finds the artist using mechanics to create rhythmic foundations and samples to create a song that speaks about social judgment and self-worth.
“Tenochtitlan” emerges from three key concepts: self-value, social judgment, and reinvention. It features electronic elements that have been part of Mon Laferte’s music at other times, but now with characteristics of mariachi and bolero.”The song is about how I’ve come to feel. I can assure you that all people have been judged by prejudices at some point,” Mon said in a press release.
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The song is accompanied by a music video directed by Chilean audiovisual creator Camila Grandi. The director notes that visual references included the film The Passion of the Christ and photographs by Mexican artist Graciela Iturbide. “I found it very interesting to be able to cross references of Mexican culture and Catholic religion in this video. I researched a lot about the Muxe, and here they are the ones preparing Mon for her death. They are also the ones who are with her throughout the judgment process, they are the ones who shelter her,” she explains.
The artwork, meanwhile, is a painting created by the Chiapas visual artist Fabian Chairez, whose works over time have been characterized by questioning spaces of power, hegemonies, and tradition.
Laferte’s upcoming album is one that the artist defines as one much more reflective than previous works. She dared to immerse herself in different sounds and used new tools, returning to the more alternative essence of her early years, when she produced her albums independently. “I loved this new creative work. I wanted to try different things from the previous albums. I’m very excited, I feel like it’s my best record yet.”
Mon Laferte had a busy start to 2023 with the January opening of her art exhibition Te Amo, Mon Laferte Visual, at the Gabriela Mistral Cultural Center in Santiago, Chile, and two exciting shows with the Regional Women’s Band Mujeres del Viento Florido at the Huaso de Olmué Festival and Lincoln Center. In February, she began to write the follow-up to 1940 Carmen (Universal, 2021).
