Singer, songwriter, and now producer Ángela Aguilar continues to carve her own path in música mexicana as the youngest of the Aguilar dynasty. In an interview with Billboard, the 21-year-old star spoke candidly about producing her own music for the very first time and launching her producer era with Nadie Se Va Como Llegó, her latest album released May 28.
“It made me really appreciative of my father and everything he’s done for me,” Aguilar says, speaking of her legendary dad Pepe Aguilar, who had produced the her music prior to her new LP. “Have you heard of when someone pushes you into the pool so you learn how to swim? That’s what my dad did. He really said, ‘I have to focus on my album, I have a bunch of things to do, I don’t have time, why don’t you start looking for songs?’ And I was like, ok.”
The new album includes a song with Marc Anthony, the only collaboration on the 12-track set. Aguilar shares the “honest” version of how that collab came about.
“We were at a party, and when I say party, my husband [Christian Nodal] and I don’t have friends so it was just Nadia [Ferreira], Marc, me and my husband, and we were just having fun and drinking and showing each other’s projects,” she says. “Two weeks later, I received a message from tío Marc and it said, ‘Comadrita, is it ok if I bring it down two tones?’ I had not only sent him the arrangement, but the lyrics, everything. I was like, ‘At what [part] of my party did I think Marc Anthony was going to sing with me? At what part of my party did he actually sing with me?’ It was amazing.”
For the album, Aguilar — the granddaughter of the legendary Antonio Aguilar and Flor Silvestre — recruited a handful of Mexican women to help write songs, which was intentional. It’s what she’s committed to do after being “the only woman in the studio” in the making of her previous albums, and other projects she’s been a part of.
“I was recently part of my husband’s songwriting sessions and it was just me and my friend Amanda Coronel. We thought, this is strange. It’s very important to have this platform and give women a voice,” she says.
The new album comes just months after Aguilar was honored at Billboard Women in Music with the Breakthrough Award, where she gave a passionate speech about immigrant rights. “It’s very taboo to talk about things like that in awards and just anywhere,” she says. “And people tell you not to do it but again, I have a responsibility as a Mexican American to speak about injustices that are going on because it directly affects my people, people that go to my concerts and consume my music. There’s nothing worse than to not have a voice and to have people speak for you.”
Watch the interview above where Ángela also talks about an upcoming new tour and her ever-growing family that includes five new pugsitos. “The are the most precious little babies. We now have 20 dogs in total, 40 horses and I’m working on [adding] a few miniature cows, too.”
