Natalia Lafourcade

Natalia Lafourcade stands out as a Grammy- and Latin Grammy-winning singer, songwriter, and producer whose international profile has grown steadily since her Mexican origins. Radio playlists in Mexico, throughout Latin America, and in the United States have featured her work consistently ever since the appearance of her self-titled debut in 2004. Her sound draws equally from the folk lineages of Mexico, Latin America, and Brazil while incorporating elements of indie pop, rock, and rock en español, resulting in an unusually wide stylistic range. Hundreds of millions of views have accumulated across her video catalog. Demonstrating continued restlessness, she issued the 2005 follow-up Casa under the name Natalia y la Forquetina, a rock band whose bossa-inflected indie pop defined that project. She further highlighted her range two years later by delivering the entirely instrumental Las 4 Estaciones del Amor. The 2016 album Hasta La Raíz earned a Grammy and secured five Latin Grammys, one of which was for Album of the Year. Its successor, Musas, arrived in 2017 after sessions with the guitar duo Los Macorinos and captured the Latin Grammy for Best Folk Album. While Lafourcade was on sabbatical, Musas, Vol. 2 surfaced in February 2018 and collected multiple Latin Grammy nominations. She resurfaced in 2020 with Un Canto por México, Vol. 1, which paired original, traditional, and classic songs with a mariachi orchestra and chorus led by Nando Hernandez. The companion Volume 2 followed in 2021. Two years later she unveiled the star-studded De Todas Las Flores, built entirely from new compositions.

Born Natalia Lafourcade Silva in Mexico City to an artistic household, she is the daughter of celebrated Chilean musician Gastón Lafourcade and pianist María del Carmen Silva Contreras. From childhood she expressed a clear intention to pursue an artistic path, studying painting, theater, and music in turn. Those musical studies produced fluency on flute, saxophone, guitar, and piano, alongside dedicated vocal training. Although she attended the Catholic middle school Instituto Anglo Español, she spent several formative years in Coatepec, Veracruz, with her mother, both of them immersed in music study. Among the contemporary figures she has cited as influences are Fiona Apple, Björk, Café Tacuba, and Zuco 103.

Italian producer Loris Ceroni, noted for earlier work with Alejandra Guzmán, eventually guided her early recordings at Le Dune Estudios in Italy; he oversaw most of the material Sony Norte later released as Natalia Lafourcade in 2003, while Aureo Baqueiro handled the remaining tracks back in Mexico. The resulting album mixed gentle bossa-nova acoustic passages with hard-hitting dance beats, often inside single tracks, yielding an eclectic collection of pop confetti sustained by strong songwriting and charismatic vocals. The record connected immediately in Mexico, spawning four hit singles—“En el 2000,” “Busca un Problema,” “Elefantes,” and “Te Quiero Dar”—reaching the top of the album chart and achieving triple-platinum status. Critical recognition followed as well: four Latin Grammy nominations arrived for Song of the Year (“En el 2000”), Best New Artist, Best Rock Solo Vocal Album, and Best Rock Song (“En el 2000”), plus a standard Grammy nod for Best Latin Pop Album.

In 2004 Lafourcade formed the four-piece rock band Natalia y la Forquetina, whose lineup included Alonso on drums and programming, Chanona on guitar and bass, and Yuno on accordion and keyboards. Filmmaker Fernando Eimbcke, who had directed the “En el 2000” video, asked the group to record “Un Pato,” a bossa-nova reinterpretation, for the soundtrack of his film Temporada de Patos. That track served as the band’s introduction. Working with producer Emmanuel del Real (Meme) of Café Tacuba and again with Baqueiro, the ensemble completed the full-length Casa, released in 2005. Driven by surging electric guitars, the album proved more streamlined than the debut yet still produced several hits, topped the Mexican chart, earned platinum certification, and won a Latin Grammy for Best Rock Album by a Duo or Group with Vocal. The band format also allowed Lafourcade to develop as a live performer, leading to a year-long tour across Mexico that concluded in August 2006. She then dissolved the group and returned to solo work with the classical EP Las 4 Estaciones del Amor in 2008, followed by the Grammy-nominated Hu Hu Hu in 2009 and Mujer Divina: Homenaje a Agustín Lara in 2012. Hasta la Raíz, issued in 2015, reached number one on the Mexican albums chart and number eight on Billboard’s Top Latin Albums list while securing two Latin Grammys, including Album of the Year and Best Alternative Music Album; its title track won both Song of the Year and Best Alternative Song. The 2017 release Musas (A Tribute to Latin American Folklore in Hands of the Macorinos) entered the Top Latin Albums Top Five, captured the Latin Grammy for Best Folk Album, and earned Best Long Form Music Video for Musas: The Documentary; it also received a standard Grammy nomination for Best Latin Pop Album. Musas Un Homenaje al Folclore Latinoamericano en Manos de Los Macorinos, Vol. 2—shortened by her U.S. label to Musas, Vol. 2—came next. After its release Lafourcade announced a sabbatical to recover from fifteen years of album-and-tour cycles. The project earned a Latin Grammy nomination for Album of the Year at the 19th Annual Latin Grammy Awards in 2018 and a Grammy nomination for Best Latin Pop Album in 2019.

That November she ended the break with a sold-out concert at Mexico City’s Auditorio Nacional, assembling many of the country’s leading musicians to raise funds for the restoration of El Centro de Documentación del Son Jarocho in Veracruz. For more than twenty-five years the center had preserved the region’s cultural heritage and supported singers, dancers, musicians, and songwriters of varied backgrounds until the 2017 earthquakes caused severe damage. The performance, later issued in May 2020 as Un Canto por México: En Favor Del Centro De Documentación Del Son Jarocho, prominently featured the modern soneros Los Cojolites, who had previously appeared on Hasta La Raíz, and included guest turns by Jorge Drexler, Carlos Rivera, and Panteón Rococó. The Grammy-nominated Un Canto por México, Vol. 2 arrived in 2021, accompanied by a deluxe edition and the short-lived Un Canto por México: El Musical.

October 2022 brought the full-length De Todas Las Flores, produced by Adán Jodorowsky, son of filmmaker Alejandro Jodorowsky. The set marked Lafourcade’s first collection of entirely new material in seven years. Written after a painful 2018 breakup, the songs incorporated contributions from Marc Ribot, Emiliano Dorantes, Sebastian Steinberg, Cyril Atef, and additional musicians. Un Canto por México: El Musical was named Best Regional Mexican Album at the 65th Annual Grammy Awards in 2023, while De Todas Las Flores shared the Best Latin Rock or Alternative Album prize with Juanes’ Vida Cotidiana at the 66th Annual Grammy Awards.