Last year
Despacito by Luis Fonsi became the most viewed video on YouTube, gathering a
massive 4 billion views. The song was played on every radio station and was in
that sense quite the exception since, at least here in The Netherlands, not
much Latin music is played. Especially not the type of baladas I stumbled across recently.
In my recommended
YouTube videos I found Tu Falta De Querer
by Chilean singer Mon Laferte. The song is very dramatic sounding, especially
during the chorus, and accompanied by a ditto dramatic video. The husky and emotional
voice of the singer lured me into discovering more of her work.
Mon
Laferte released her first album back in 2003 but her first big single dates
from 2011 and is called Soy. It's a
nice pop rock song, but not really unique. She released two more albums however
her big break came in 2015 with the album Mon Laferte, vol.1 (very original
title). The album contains a whole range of different sounds. Besides the
earlier mentioned ballad Tu Falta De
Querer the album contains some Johnny Cash-like rock 'n roll (Si Tú Me Quisieras), ska (El Diablo) and of
course some bolero (El Cristal). On
this album Mon Laferte used a more traditional Latin sound, which is what I,
and many fans with me, came to love.
In April
2017 she released her fifth album entitled La Trenza, on which she collaborated
with several people including Juanes (Amárrame,
a cumbia style song) and Enrique Bunbury (Mi Buen Amor). Other songs on the album like No Te Fumes Mi Mariguana and title song La Trenza are great as well.
The album
went platinum in both Chile and Mexico and was nominated for five Latin
GRAMMYs. Nevertheless in a recent interview Mon Laferte announced that she will
go on a hiatus to recover from her busy touring schedule and take time to write
new material. I'll be here patiently waiting for more dramatic baladas.
