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Though she is often compared to her contemporary Olivia Rodrigo, Joaquina’s teen angst hits a different, solemn tone. Her first EP, “Los Mejores Años,” is a testament to her meticulous approach to writing lyrics and recording music. In an industry where many different people often play a role in the construction of a song, she stands out because she oversees every step of the process.
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Joaquina became the youngest winner — she’s 20 — of the new-artist award at the 2023 Latin Grammys. The Venezuelan-born, Miami-raised singer-songwriter is poised to be Latin music’s next big thing.
We caught up with Joaquina ahead of her upcoming guest appearance at Andrea Bocelli’s 30th-career-anniversary concert in London. The following interview has been edited for clarity and length.
How does it feel to be the youngest winner of the Latin Grammy for best new artist?
It’s such an honor. It’s such a blessing in the beginning of my career to have something like that. I feel like it celebrates the beginning of an artist’s career, like a push from your peers. I’m very grateful.
Based on your EP, where you include some of your thought process, I feel like I was getting an inside look into your brain. Do you think reflecting on the process is a unique part of your artistry?
I don’t know if it’s unique. I’m sure lots of songwriters feel that way. My safe space is just writing my music like in the studio or in my room by myself. Nothing beats just being by myself, disconnected from the world and just pouring everything into my writing. I really enjoy the music-making process. I’m very bad with organization, but I have folders where I have different stages where a song can breathe and live, like a demo folder, mid-production, production mix.
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Based on your demos, it sounds like you’ve always been reflective as you were growing up and talk of filling up notebooks of thoughts. Where does that feeling to reflect come from? Tell me a little bit more of what goes through your head.
Both of my parents are journalists. I grew up in a home where, inevitably, I saw them being very communicative. There was never any taboo in my house. I give thanks to God for this and to my parents. They always allowed me to express my feelings in a correct manner. I always saw my parents writing and reading and communicating, and they’re both very smart. I think that it was always very natural to me. I think I’ve just always kind of lived a lot inside my own head. So I’ve always found the need to word-vomit everything else somewhere.
I want to talk about your new single, “Pesimista,” which is a little window into your next album. Walk me through your thought process?
“Pesimista” is a song that I wrote last year in a hotel room in Madrid. It was the first time that I had gone so far away from my house for music, like singing at schools, auditoriums, cafeterias, and it just hit me, like, I’m really doing it. I remember sitting in the hotel room being far away from my house, family, my city, missing this specific person and I was like, damn, everywhere I go, I just imagine you here with me. Like, being far away from you has made me realize that if I would lose you completely one day, it would kind of break me to pieces.
What can we expect from the first album that you’re releasing?
It’s mid-process right now. I’m 19 so I’m at a very transitional kind of chapter in my book of life. I’m not old but I’m not super young. I’m kind of just in the middle, and it’s very awkward. It’s a lot of conocimiento, like getting to know myself more and more.
Can you tell me what it feels like to be performing at Andrea Bocelli’s 30-year career celebration in London?
Honestly, it’s such a blessing. It’s huge for me being with someone as legendary and iconic as him and being the only Latin person. I’m prepping myself for the occasion, respect and responsibility that it deserves. I can’t even wrap my head around it.
It wasn’t that long ago that you also graduated from the Art House Academy and the Abbey Road Institute by Maestro Julio Reyes Copello. How does it feel like to work with someone who’s worked with other very popular artists?
That changed my life. Before I was kind of just in school making my music during the pandemic and releasing some of my songs on YouTube. I got the chance to meet him and send him one of my demos, and he liked it and I was like, what the heck? I got invited to be in the program, studied production and sound engineering and also artistic development in his program and ended up forming such an amazing collaborative friendship hasta el día de hoy. It means a lot to me to have someone with his wisdom and trajectory.
What expectations do you have for yourself and what do you hope that your career looks like maybe in the next 10 years?
It is pressure, but someone once told me pressure is a privilege, and that stuck. When I started doing this professionally as my job, I was 15 and just starting to release my songs. It was more of a hobby back then, but I remember talking to my friends and being like, all I want is to have pressure and have a team next to me that believes in my music as much as I do. Nobody else saw it in me besides my mom, dad and sister. It was my biggest dream to have people that cared. Once I won the Grammy, it was so much pressure, but I am still the same person going down the same path. My purpose has not changed at all.
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