Natalia Lafourcade is sitting on a bench with her guitar in hand in the middle of the Blue Ribbon Garden, situated atop the Walt Disney Concert Hall. It’s a dreary Saturday in early May and the Grammy-winning singer-songwriter from coastal Veracruz, Mexico, is wearing a tan coat over her long orange dress to shield her diminutive frame from the frigid wind. In front of her are two microphones; she’s calmly awaiting the go-ahead from the video crew standing about 15 feet away to start playing.
In an interview from Salzburg, Gustavo Dudamel talks about what Los Angeles means to him and addresses the perception that he’s no longer focused on the city that launched his career.
Upon getting her cue, Lafourcade strums the opening notes of “Pajarito Colibrí,” a comforting folk ballad from 2022’s “De Todas las Flores,” her most recent album, that serves as a plea to a hummingbird — or, really, anyone listening — to take flight and fulfill its purpose.
“Todo va a estar bien, pajarito colibrí, ya no tengas miedo de vivir,” she sings in a powerful lyric soprano voice that fills the air and drowns out the nearby downtown traffic. “Todo va a estar bien, pajarito colibrí, tú llegaste al mundo para ser feliz.” (“Everything will be all right, little hummingbird, don’t be afraid to live./ Everything will be all right, little hummingbird, you came to this world to be happy.”)
As if summoned, a chorus of songbirds resting in the garden’s trees begin to accompany Lafourcade, turning a music video shoot to promote her upcoming Hollywood Bowl shows (Sep. 6-7) with Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic into the kind of otherworldly performance her fans have come to expect.
Over the last two decades, Lafourcade, who turned 40 in February, has established herself as one of the most revered and celebrated artists from Latin America, a custodian of Mexico’s rich songbook who has contributed extensively to it. Her 10 studio albums have earned her 17 Latin Grammys — the most for any female artist — and four Grammys.
Lafourcade emerged on the scene in 2002 with her self-titled debut album, a fusion of rock en español, pop, jazz and bossa nova that produced hits like “En el 2000” and “Busca un Problema.” In 2012, she released “Mujer Divina,” a groundbreaking record that paid tribute to Mexico’s bolero king Agustín Lara through modern interpretations of his most popular love ballads. To make it, she enlisted the help of collaborators like Venezuelan American indie folk singer Devendra Banhart, Emmanuel del Real of Café Tacvba fame and legendary Brazilian tropicalia guitarist Gilberto Gil.
When Mexican singer-songwriter Natalia Lafourcade launched her eponymous first album at the age of 19 in 2003, it hardly seemed like the sort of contender to top the charts.
“Hasta la Raiz,” a landmark album that put Lafourcade’s intimate lyricism on full display, came three years later. The LP’s eponymous single, an ode to a former lover built on a huapango riff, is arguably the singer-songwriter’s most beloved track. Also featured on the record is “Nada Es Suficiente,” an electropop cumbia about feeling dissatisfied in a relationship (the track translates to “nothing is enough”) that became an even bigger hit after Lafourcade re-recorded it with cumbia sonidera masters Los Angeles Azules — that version has been played more than 2.1 billion times on YouTube since its release. She followed up “Hasta La Raiz” with two volumes of “Musas” (released in 2017 and 2018), a collection of covers of traditional Latin American staples and original material recorded with guitar duo Los Macorinos.
In 2019, Lafourcade performed at the Hollywood Bowl for the first time. Accompanied by Dudamel and the L.A. Phil, she regaled attendees for nearly three hours with a set list that jumped from son jarocho to rock en español to cumbia. In a career of many highlights, Lafourcade calls that concert one of her most cherished moments as an artist. It was an experience she suspected she would replicate one day.
“I felt like I was struck by a lightning bolt that anchored me to the land beneath my feet. In that moment, I knew I would return and that I would find someone with whom to connect with,” she said, alluding to Dudamel.
“That was an iconic night, one of the greatest in the history of the Hollywood Bowl. The Beatles, Jimmy Hendrix, there’s so much history in that place and up there is that night with Natalia Lafourcade,” said the Venezuelan-born conductor, who has made a concerted effort during his tenure as head of the L.A. Phil to incorporate Latin music into the orchestra’s programming.
“It’s a privilege for us to play with her,” he added. “Los Angeles is a very Latino city, a very Mexican city. To have an amazing representative of that Latino identity play at the Hollywood Bowl is very important and necessary.”
Lafourcade has put out three studio albums in the five years since that memorable concert: two volumes of “Un Canto por México” (released in 2020 and 2021), homages to her home country that feature covers of classics like “Cien Años,” “Ya No Vivo Por Vivir” and “La Llorona,” along with reinterpretations of her own songs; and “De Todas las Flores” (2022), her first record of completely new material since “Hasta la Raíz.”
“De Todas las Flores” was a pandemic project that took two years to complete. Stuck at home in Veracruz and forced to spend time with herself, Lafourcade revisited fragments of incomplete songs recorded on her phone and reached out to French Mexican musician and producer Adán Jodorowsky — son of filmmaker Alejandro Jodorowsky and her former neighbor in Mexico City — to help her flesh them out. The end result was Lafourcade’s most vulnerable and reflective album to date, one that begins with the acknowledgment that we come into this earth alone (“Vine Solita”) and ends with a farewell to a loved one who has died (“Que te Vaya Bonito, Nicolás”). In between, there’s songs about loving (“Mi Manera de Querer”), healing (“María la Curandera”) and letting the wind take you where it may (“Viento”).
The album was well received, earning Lafourcade three Latin Grammys — record of the year, singer-songwriter album and singer-songwriter song — and a Grammy for Latin rock or alternative album, an award she shared with Colombian rocker Juanes.
“I feel like this record was a teacher that taught me about life, about death, about cycles, about time. It also taught me about patience and calm, about resting and flowing and giving myself flight and abandoning myself,” she said.
“I remember shortly after releasing ‘De Todas las Flores’ I told myself that I can’t allow seven years to pass before I put out another record. Now, I’m not so sure. This year I turned 40 and the great question became ‘And now, to where?’ I think it’s wonderful to be able to ask myself that question knowing well what my journey has been.”
For now, Lafourcade is focusing on her upcoming concerts with Dudamel and the L.A. Phil — in addition to the two dates at the Hollywood Bowl, she’s scheduled to perform with the orchestra at Carnegie Hall in New York City next month.
“The times we have collaborated have been about bringing our two worlds, our two universes together and seeing what magic, synergy and alchemy it brings,” she said, adding that the set list for these shows would be composed of songs most symbolic of her more-than-two-decade journey.
Beyond that, Lafourcade hinted that she’s begun working on some projects she hopes come into fruition in 2025, though nothing is concrete.
“I’m not in such a rush,” she said. “I’m trying to take things at my own pace. I’ve finally realized that going at my own rhythm has worked for me.”
The Latinx experience chronicled
Get the Latinx Files newsletter for stories that capture the multitudes within our communities.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
