Ángela Aguilar could also be a chic interpreter of música Mexicana, a style that her household has dominated for generations.
But once I sit throughout from the 21-year-old singer at a eating corridor on Olvera Avenue, she exudes a commanding diva spirit that’s all her personal.
It’s a fierceness that surfaces most prominently when the dialog turns to the enterprise of music, her household’s legacy and her latest marriage to younger Mexican singer-songwriter Christian Nodal.
Relating to her newest album, “Nadie Se Va Como Llegó,” Aguilar’s 12-song set of romantic ballads, it’s clear the Latin Grammy-nominated singer is delving into music rooted in heartache — however she insists that the newest songs, coloured by the agony of unrequited love, don’t have anything to do together with her private life.
“I’m not singing to anyone, I’m not answering to anyone,” declares Aguilar. “I converse by means of music, however I’m not sending messages to anybody besides to let folks know of my love of Mexican tradition.”
That satisfaction for heritage additionally comes from being a part of a outstanding musical dynasty. Backed by the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra and director Enrico López-Yañez, Aguilar will carry out two nights on the Hollywood Bowl on Aug. 15 and 16 together with her well-known household, together with her hitmaker father Pepe and her brother Leonardo. Her late grandparents, Antonio Aguilar and Flor Silvestre, have been icons in each music and movies; her mom, Aneliz Alvarez-Alcala, the matriarch of the household, oversees the household’s Machin Data.
Alvarez-Alcala additionally guides her well-known daughter as a supervisor. It’s a job that, past the recording classes, performances and crimson carpet appearances, took a difficult flip lately as Aguilar was bombarded with criticism on-line about her marriage, her vocal model — and nearly the whole lot else in between.
“Turmoil,” Alvarez-Alcala says, was on the epicenter. “Folks have been very opinionated about her private relationships and it’s been very laborious for her. Our household has all the time been very cherished by the general public. These criticisms have been so undeserved and laborious. The way in which I see it, it made her stronger and extra appreciative of the great issues, moments and the individuals who love her.”
For Aguilar’s half, rising up in music was the norm, and her highlight has expanded with every venture. Childhood showcases with household led to a mesmerizing efficiency of “La Llorona” on the 2018 Latin Grammys, when she was met with a standing ovation. It was a seminal second that marked her place in music, past simply any nepo child or baby entertainer.
“I deeply admire her artistry and the affect she’s making in música Mexicana,” says Yvonne Drazan, vp of Peer Music’s Latin Division, West Coast. “She represents a brand new technology of girls reshaping the style with expertise, grace and imaginative and prescient.”
Drazan cites the vary of Aguilar’s newest album, which she says “felt like a modern-day ‘Romances,’ very like what Luis Miguel did, reintroducing timeless Latin requirements to a brand new viewers with a younger and contemporary strategy.”
Earlier than recording her newest album, which she govt produced, Aguilar took time away from the household enterprise to deal with the overexposure within the tabloids following her wedding ceremony to Nodal. In truth, it was her husband, she says, who inspired her to “take time to take pleasure in life.” The newlyweds traveled to Los Cabos, hung out alone and sang to one another in their very own area for inspiration — even when throughout a typical grocery retailer outing, as followers filmed their each transfer.
The sabbatical revived her ardour for music — and it was assist from household and mates that helped Aguilar discover her footing as soon as extra. The nice salsa singer Marc Anthony, who was in attendance on the Aguilar-Nodal wedding ceremony in the summertime of 2024, was the rationale that the Pablo Preciado-penned energy ballad, “No Quiero Hablar,” made it on the brand new album.
“I’ve identified Marc since I used to be 5 years previous, so I’m tremendous near him,” says Aguilar, who concedes that she doesn’t typically share her music with others. “One night time we have been having a celebration at Marc’s home, having a lot enjoyable and I bought the braveness to share with him some music. Two weeks later, I bought a message concerning the music, and I [was] considering he wrote me in error.”
The result’s a lovelorn duet that’s punctuated by the swooning harmonies of Anthony and Aguilar. “He labored on the music, modified the association and once I heard his voice on it … effectively, it [was] ridiculous,” she says.
Relating to being a part of her household’s unbiased label, Aguilar says it’s not straightforward — in some ways not being on a significant label goes towards the present of the music business, and that alone could make enterprise troublesome. In truth, she provides, her father has been on a mission to personal masters of each one in all his albums.
“My dad has been combating,” she says. “He’s the proprietor of 27 masters, however he has extra albums than that. And it’s related for my husband — he doesn’t have one grasp in his profession, and he’s one of many top-selling artists in Mexico.”
Aguilar recollects having a revealing dialog over dinner with an business supervisor in regional Mexican music. “It’s laborious to be round you guys and listen to your conversations as a result of for me,” he instructed her, “if I give my artist a watch, a automobile, they’ll shut up.”
Aguilar thinks typically of younger, inexperienced artists who didn’t have the privilege of being in a household of savvy entertainers — those that run the most important danger of getting cheated out of royalties. It’s why she’s plotting a basis that gives training and assist to burgeoning artists, in order that they don’t get exploited.
“When that individual instructed me how he works together with his artists, I used to be like ‘S—, that is loopy,’” she says.
As she builds on her main and producing roles in music, Aguilar can all the time rely on her personal artistic edge and her household’s legacy.
“Timber with roots don’t blow away,” she says because the interview involves an finish. Hovering close by is an entourage of about half a dozen folks, together with a make-up artist who’s primed to make Aguilar’s subsequent touch-up.
“These roots are embedded inside me,” Aguilar provides, “and that’s what retains me grounded, centered and actual.”
