Spotlight On: NATALIA LAFOURCADE

ABOUT this week’s guest:

Natalia Lafourcade is a Mexican composer, artist, singer-songwriter, and music producer, who has become recognized as one of the most influential voices in Latin popular culture of this century. Born in Mexico City, and raised in the Mexican state of veracruz, Natalia grew up the daughter of two musicians - her Chilean father, who was a pianist, organ builder, and promoter of baroque music; and a Mexican mother, who was a music teacher. A turning point came early when Natalia was just six years old. She was kicked in the head by a horse and suffered a nearly permanent injury. Her mother developed and implemented a music-based method that aided her daughter's recovery. And the experience sparked in Natalia a deep passion for music that is present to this day. She studied and played several instruments, including piano, flute, saxophone, singing and guitar, eventually joining her first band in high school, but soon forged her own path. When she was just 18 years old, Natalia Lafourcade's self-titled debut album, a combo of latin, pop, and bossa nova, was released in the summer of 2002, and earned her first Latin Grammy award as Best New Artist. Across eleven albums, Natalia evolved her sound from original songs rooted in pop, rock, latin rhythm, and bossa nova, to, in recent years, exploring more traditional music and songs of Mexico and Latin America. She has become the Latin female artist with the most Latin Grammys in the history of the Latin Recording Academy with 18 Latin Grammys and 4 Grammys to her name, as well as the Rolling Stone Legend Award, a Billboard Award, and 3 MTV Awards. When we last caught up with Natalia Lafourcade in 2022, she had just released her last studio album, the Grammy winning De Todas Las Flores, and since then she has put out a self-titled book, a podcast, and in December of last year, the album Live at Carnegie Hall. 2024 came to a close with Natalia receiving the honor of being named the First Ambassador of Music for Peace at the World Summit of Nobel Peace Prize Laureates in Monterrey, Mexico, where her music was recognized for its ability to break down barriers, unite people, and spread messages of hope, peace, respect, and solidarity. Now this extraordinary artist is back with the next chapter in her musical evolution: Cancionera - her twelfth studio release, which will soon be followed by the most extensive North American tour of her career.