Ana Torroja: “I’m preparing the first album I’ve written myself.”

Ana Torroja's image appears on the screen in a dark room lit by an overhead spotlight, which turns out to be the kitchen of her home in Mexico City, where she has lived for years. The veteran vocalist has plenty of experience working in the shadows—in her case, the memory of Mecano, which always haunts her—which hasn't stopped her from developing a multifaceted career, with chapters yet to be written. "I'm making an album, the first one written entirely by me with collaborators," Torroja announces with an undisguised smile, anticipating events about which she doesn't want to give any more details.

Her latest work to date was born from her friendship with Chilean Denise Lillian Laval, better known as Nicole, a singer she met while recording the program The Voice in the Southern Cone country. The result is "Desierto florido ," an intimate pop song signed by the Chilean artist, who speaks to the conversation from the other side of the American continent, in Patagonia. "I've always admired Ana. As a teenager, I used to sing her songs at the top of my lungs; my mother and I were fans," Nicole recalls, heaping praise on her partner, who quickly returns the ball by describing her musical partner as "the Marisol of Chile," because she started so young "although she's still going strong."

Both vocalists acknowledge the mutual crush they felt on Desierto florido , a love metaphor captured in a natural phenomenon in the Atacama region that, in years of abundant rainfall, transforms the driest region on the planet into a sea of ​​flowers. “When I talk about it, my skin crawls,” says Ana Torroja, who emphasizes the importance of connecting with the song to make collaborations a success. “I often reject them, not because it's not good or because I don't like it, but because I don't see myself, I don't feel I can defend it.”

“It’s not easy to make songs that resonate, but I’ve been lucky enough to make everything come together through my voice.”

First released in 2022, “Desierto florido” blends the voices of the two artists, who only needed to record the song twice to call it a success. “I have Ana's voice in my heart; your vulnerability is felt when you sing,” says Nicole, addressing her partner directly. The latter highlights the beauty of having two “recognizable voices, with different personalities and colors,” whose ability to unite is “through the performance. Nicole is one of those people who doesn't just sing a song, she tells it to you, which is also my way of approaching songs: I can't sing without feeling.”

Throughout her career, Ana Torroja has explored numerous musical genres without fear of losing her own identity. “My style is my voice,” says the vocalist, who nevertheless admits to feeling a healthy envy of those, like Nicole, who compose their own scores. “It’s not easy to create songs that resonate, but I’ve been lucky enough to make everything come together through my voice. I can sing a cumbia or a ballad, and it sounds like Ana Torroja; or a rock song, although I don’t know if I’d dare. But it would definitely sound like Ana Torroja.”

Her next project is an album in which she writes the compositions herself with the help of several collaborators. The work is still untitled and has no further details, except that it was born "song by song," without knowing where it was going because "you can't create in a hurry and under pressure. I don't like rushing, nor am I a slave to trends." Although she acknowledges that "as Dalí said, inspiration comes at you, but sometimes it doesn't arrive, or it arrives when you least expect it."

Nicole shares the same opinion, as she composes without feeling "the anxiety of keeping up with the industry's speed," she says. "The songs endure over time; when I'm no longer in this world, the songs will continue to circulate. That's why I take the time I need to feel the emotion. I don't feel the pressure of having to release a single every Thursday." This is the same idea that Torroja defends, and she is clear: "Whoever wants to come listen to me, come and find me."

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The two vocalists maintain a similar attitude toward collaborations, which are so overused these days. “They're very nourishing, but with nuances. Maybe I've done a lot because when I was in Mecano, I couldn't do any,” the vocalist notes with a laugh. “When I could, I threw myself into what resonated with me, but I don't accept just any collaboration; sometimes they're done for marketing,” although in her case, she admits to having learned a lot from sharing a studio. Nicole agrees, embracing collaboration because “in the end, you repeat your singing style, your melodies, your compositions, and singing or composing with someone else opens up new places within yourself.”

The union between Ana Torroja and Nicole reflects the rapprochement between Spanish-language music on both sides of the Atlantic, a process that bridges the gap that existed when Nicole, a teenager, visited Spain in 1994 to record her second album. “At the time, I felt like Brazilians or Mexicans, who love and protect their music so much. But over time, they've become much more open to interacting with Latin American musicians.”

On the other hand, Torroja, who broke the mold with Mecano, performing in places like New York in the 1980s, highlights the eclecticism of current Spanish music. “When we traveled to this side of the world, they welcomed us with open arms, but it was difficult for Latin American music to travel to Spain and Europe,” he laments. Now, however, “there's that feedback that I think is incredibly important; it's something the industry is experiencing, especially the Anglo-Saxon industry, which is the most important.”