Ana Tijoux (Anamaría Tijoux Merino, 46 years old, Lille, France) has turned the losses into a well to go to for water. The death of her sister in 2019 and other farewells to her made her reflect on the mark that loved ones leave even when they are not there. “The education we have does not prepare us for losses,” the singer showed in a virtual meeting with EL PAÍS readers. First there was grief, but then came the joy of memory, of shared laughter. So from that duality between death and hope an album was born, Lifewhich is published in January and marks the return of one of the references of music in Spanish 10 years after his last work.
Tijoux had not released a record since 2014 (Come), although composition is always present in her life, even if she doesn't realize it: “I thought, naively, that I hadn't created it in a while and the other day I started listening to a bunch of songs that I haven't released.” . In addition, this 2023 he has published a book, Take out your voice, a title that he already gave to one of his songs and that could define his career, marked by political and social activism. But it has been in recent months that the letters have been precipitating more clearly to form Life. He assures that it is his most joyful and danceable work.
Although it has not yet been published, some advances are known, such as Tanya, song dedicated to his sister. Her energy is the substance of a song that honors her and combines nostalgia with vitality. “Losses and death always have that counterpoint,” she reflected during the meeting, which is part of the exclusive activities of EL PAÍS +.
This serene and brave posture threads the entire album, as in another of the songs that is already available, Child. Tijoux was watching the news and it seemed to him that in the midst of so much violence his children (he has two) needed a song “so they wouldn't lose hope,” so he composed these lyrics: “Onwards up, let's go girl, let's go there / take the bridge cross the river that this water will give you / rain, laughter, life, my girl / do not lose your laughter my girl, my girl. Although her daughter was specifically her starting point, the singer realized that it was also a song for herself.
If the girl who was Tijoux saw her now, she believes she would make fun of her. “Maybe I became what I didn't want to become,” she said. The world of adults seemed very boring to her and, while she has lost the simplicity of childish play, she has not lost her curiosity. This is the one who has always guided her in search of rhythms that go beyond the hip hop that catapulted her.
Although little Anamaría did not imagine her future, the truth is that Tijoux has managed to be a reference in music. Magazine Billboard has chosen her as the third best rapper in Spanish in a mixed list in which she is the first woman to appear. She appreciates his recognition, but it causes her some “conflict.” She finds it difficult to position her references in a list or choose one genre over others and she adds that “in educational terms” perhaps the classifications are not a good example.
The awards, the media exposure and the vulnerability to which this leads her are carried with humor. Try not to let everything be “so serious”. She does not flee, however, from the responsibility that she assumes that social movements take her songs as their flag: “One makes mistakes, but I think that the task of growing together is very nice.”
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