On “Te Perdí” she sets herself free, showcasing the power in her voice each time she returns to the chorus. The first verse of the opening song is razor sharp: “ Desperté un día sin sentir/Ganas de querer seguir” (“I woke up one day/Without the will to go on”), she sings over a twinkling beat. “Hacia Dentro” and “Encontrarme” bookend the album, outlining Morrison’s transformation. Like a wave, her vocals can wash over you gently, but just as quickly, they can sweep you off your feet, pulling you to the depths of her soul. She feels out each song, ad-libbing textural elements and deploying flamenco vocal runs when the moment calls for it. She still dips into the delicate, feathery range she first became known for, but her newfound dexterity is something to marvel at - and while she honed her approach in Paris, it’s rooted in an instinct and intensity that can’t be taught. Her voice is nimble and deceptively strong.

Watch Bad Bunny and Gael García Bernal Get Steamy in ‘Cassandro’ “When I could actually hear the potential in my voice, I knew I wanted to do this.” When a vocal teacher told her she had only been utilizing a fraction of her range, it gave her the last push she needed to dive in. I’m tired of hesitating.” The biggest change, though, is Morrison’s voice. But I don’t give a fuck if I’m Mexican and I’m not ‘supposed’ to do R&B or pop. “I hadn’t been allowing myself to go there because of the expectations people had of me. “I wanted my music to sound like the music I listened to,” she says. She started introducing pop instrumentation to her indie acoustic style, developing the lush sound that would later characterize El Renacimiento. With the help of her teachers and classmates, Morrison felt safe to experiment. I realized I just needed to let go more.” “I thought I was pretty relaxed about my music, but jazz made me realize how square I was. “I felt like a pez en el agua” - like a fish in water, she says, laughing. And while she sometimes found her classmates growing frustrated when they couldn’t get something right, she was excited by the idea of making mistakes. “I was very mad at music because I felt like it was responsible for the pain I felt.” Slowly, she fell in love with creating again, rediscovering the thrill of collaboration and improvisation. In Paris, Morrison attended classes two to three times a week, sometimes meeting with her classmates to perform as an ensemble in the city.

If I had tried to make a song right then, it would’ve been a lie.” “I had nothing to offer, I was miserable. She wanted to deliver a shock to her system - a jolt that would make her feel real again. Never mind that she didn’t listen to jazz or that she hardly spoke any French that wasn’t the point. But in 2018, she finally said “fuck it.” With no album or tour on the horizon, she left for Paris with her now-husband, enrolling at a small jazz conservatory in the city’s suburbs. The scrutiny made her reluctant to take creative risks. She’s Patsy Cline by way of Tecate, Mexico: a poetic songwriter drawn to tragedy and romance, whose dulcet voice drips with the same raw emotion as Rocío Dúrcal’s.Ĭarla Morrison performs at the Greek Theatre on Los Angeles on May 12, 2022. Since breaking through with her Grammy-nominated debut album, Déjenme Llorar, in 2012, the 35-year-old singer has gone all in on her tears, her heartbreak, and her pain. El Renacimiento is the story of her rebirth - a lyrical recounting of her journey back to herself. It didn’t happen overnight, but slowly, she pieced herself back together. “It’s like I was always in character, going through the motions and doing what everyone wanted me to do.” She was just desperate to do something, anything that would make her feel less hollow. She didn’t have a plan, and she didn’t know if she would ever go back. In 2017, after nearly a decade of recording and touring, she quit. No, to truly appreciate her return to music, you have to understand that Morrison was ready to leave it all behind. You could go over the laundry list of major life changes - putting her career on hold, moving to Paris, getting married, relocating to Los Angeles, losing her father, discovering her voice - but it wouldn’t do justice to the tumult and triumphs that led up to her latest album. It’s been a long five years for Carla Morrison.

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