GRAMMY and Latin GRAMMY-nominated artist Lido Pimienta shares her latest single ‘Aún Te Quiero’, the latest off her fully orchestral new album La Belleza set for release on May 16 via Epitaph.
Co-produced by Pimienta and GRAMMY-nominated composer Owen Pallett, “‘Aún Te Quiero‘ translates to ‘I Still Love You’”, Pimienta explains.
“I sing to the Lido of the past—to the people I once thought would be in my life forever. Friends, lovers, family. But falling-outs happen. We hurt each other. And yet, I’m a softie at heart—I still love all of them, even my enemies. There is so much I deal with as a mother and as a wife, there is so much about myself that I don’t recognise or connect with anymore, it happens to most of us caregivers, when we carry the weight of the home. We can’t always be there for everyone, and sometimes they can’t be there for us either, but the message remains, I still love us, beyond our expiry date.”
Listen Below.
Lido Pimienta – ‘Aún Te Quiero’ (Lyric Video)
In 2021, Pimienta and choreographer Andrea Miller became the first all-female team to compose and choreograph a piece of music for the New York City Ballet, Pimienta also being the first woman of colour to do so. This collaboration helped inspire ‘La Belleza’.
Working with Ableton and her MIDI controller and alongside producer Owen Pallett—a fellow Polaris Prize winner and composer and arranger for the Sampha, Lana Del Rey, and the Her soundtrack—Pimienta felt herself repeatedly drawn to the Luboš Fišer soundtrack for the film Valerie and Her Week of Wonders and music from the second century; two direct influences were the solemn liturgical hymn Lux Aeterna, a Gregorian chant that is performed at Requiems (the mass of the dead) and sixteenth century singing of the Castrati, i.e. choirs of young boys that were castrated so that they would permanently keep their high-pitched singing voices.
“If no matter what style or genre of music I make, the result will always be relegated to the World Music aisle—in stores, in the algorithm—then why not create something no one would ever expect from a Caribbean woman?” Pimienta asked. “Why not make an album that completely defies those categories?
What if I made an entirely orchestral record?”
‘La Belleza’ encapsulates why Lido Pimienta is the artist of our moment. Unafraid to explore the depths of her creativity, she produced a haunting, invigorating album that only prompts the question: What will come next?
PRAISE FOR LIDO PIMIENTA
“’Mango’” … features Pimienta’s stunning chill-inducing voice backed by little more than harp plucks, using suggestive images of eating the titular tropical fruit to create sensual innuendo. It’s beautiful, erotic, and most importantly, it sets off Lido Pimienta’s awaited new era.” – Remezcla on ‘Mango’
“The great promise of ‘Miss Colombia’, and of her new leadership in a predominantly white scene, is that brown girls will hear it and be inspired to surge to the front.” – Pitchfork
“A substantial cultural statement uniting Afro-Colombian roots with just enough synthesiser heft to place Pimienta’s music in the here and now” - New York Times
“Pimienta’s soaring vocal melodies resound like sunlight breaking through the clouds” - Rolling Stone, Song You Need to Know
“Pimienta’s effort is a taxonomy of love and oppression disguised as love, and it demands a more just world” – NPR Latino
“A coronation … In her singular fashion, Pimienta has drawn back the curtain on a vast world to be explored” – Stereogum
“Pimienta defies the norm of relations and individualism” – Billboard
“Strikingly colorful … powerful vocals” - Fader
Pre Save La Belleza HERE
1. Overturn (Obertura de la Luz Eterna)
2. Ahora
3. Quiero Que Me Beses
4. Mango
5. Aún Te Quiero
6. El Dembow del Tiempo
7. ¿Quién Tiene La Luz? El Perdón.
8. Tengo Que Ir
9. Busca La Luz
Connect With Lido:
