Early on, Mexican singer Karina Sofia had a sketch of her album La Reina Del Cañon in her mind: She knew she wanted it to crisscross a narrative of strength and independence, mirroring a journey toward emancipation and self-love she’d experienced herself after a toxic relationship. She’d already put a few demos together and played them for a music industry friend, who listened and immediately said, “Gustavo Santaolalla has to produce this.”
Sofia wasn’t familiar with who Santaolalla was, and it wasn’t until later that she realized he had worked on some of the most seminal albums in Latin pop and rock history, including ones by artists like Juanes, Julieta Venegas, and Cafe Tacvba, whom she grew up listening to as a kid. (Santaolalla is also behind the soundtrack for films like Babel, Amores Perros, and Brokeback Mountain.) “I didn’t know him by name, but I knew his work,” Sofia says. “But that ended up being a good thing, because it was almost like I didn’t totally understand how serious the situation was and I didn’t get nervous.”
Santaolalla is immersed in a million different projects these days, including soundtrack work for the HBO show The Last of Us (he did the music for the video game, which was largely repurposed for the series.) However, as soon as he heard Sofia’s music, he was stunned — and he decided he wanted to be part of the project. “It hooked me in for the first moment,” the Argentine multi-hyphenate tells Rolling Stone in Spanish. “I thought it was completely original, with so much strength, with a strong female perspective, and very, very personal. Everything Karina does is very real and raw, and there was also this search into a new sonic landscape, as well.”
For Sofia, who has been fusing Mexican roots and rock in her music for a few years now, the idea of bunkering down in a studio and cranking out the album was a little new. “I had only worked where you record [a song] by session,” Sofia says. She likens the experience of recording the whole album with Santaolalla as a bootcamp. “I would walk out of the booth, covered in sweat,” she says with a laugh. “But it was like a master class: the process of composing, recording everything.”
She had a clear idea of where the story was going. “It’s about a woman who, in loving someone more than herself, has to find the road to herself again. That’s why there’s this idea of ‘la reina’ (‘the queen.’) When you’re a queen, no one can take that away from you. Self-worth is something we carry inside of us.” That message comes across on the album’s stunning 11-song arc, starting with the feisty “Diamante.” On the track, Sofia sings about finding inner fortitude and continuing on.
The album ends with the standout “Mas Alto,” which Santaolalla helped write and also performs on. The song makes for a vulnerable close as the LP’s protagonist reconciles with all she’s been through. “That [song] was the biggest lesson of all,” Sofia says. “It took a lot of time to write, the themes are a little more serous, and it’s really emotional. And Gustavo, without him knowing, taught me a lot through his letters because I resonated with so many things he wrote.” He was there to help her tap into a more vulnerable side. Sofia’s partner directed the video for the song, which was recorded over seven days in Puebla to capture Las Voladoras de Papantla, an ancient Mesoamerican festival held in the region. “We had to get their permission and felt so privileged to include them in this story,” Sofia says.
Santaolalla says that to him, the experience of working with an artist like Sofia was enriching. “So much of this project is expressed with total honesty, because it’s something that people are asking of artists,” he says. “To me, this is an incredibly brave album.”
“It’s about power,” Sofia adds. “Anyone in the world who needs a little inspiration or a little empowerment to free themselves from something, this is for you. It doesn’t have to be just for a woman or this kind of person — it can be anyone who needs that power to draw from.”
