Ximena Sariñana Talks Her Latest Album, ‘Amor Adolescente’
Story written by Marivette Navarrete
Ximena Sariñana released her latest album, ‘Amor Adolescente’
“With this album, it's definitely a tribute to a lot of the albums I grew up listening to, like The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, where you have a lot of testimony of actual teenagers talking about love – we sort of wanted to do that as well.”
Ximena Sariñana found herself recollecting her past, falling deep into her memories of adolescence to reminisce on feelings of love. The nostalgia was heavy. As she explored this period of her life, the 36-year-old Mexican songstress realized our emotions are at their most intense in our adolescence. Our experiences in how and who we love, or our understanding of love, begin to take shape.
This introspective of her youth, young adulthood, and old loves inspired her fifth studio album, Amor Adolescente. It is a celebration of love in all its forms: self-love, platonic, long and short romances, familial, the painful ones, those that are strictly physical, and those that endure.
Released in October 2021, the album incorporates a fusion of eclectic sounds and Sariñana's stories of love and relationships. Throughout the album are monologues from today's youth, reflecting on their perspective of modern-day love.
We sat down with Ximena Sariñana to talk about the inspiration behind Amor Adolescente and her musical influences, like Ricky Martin, who she's paying tribute to with a newly released cover of one of his classics!
(M) Marivette for The Mujerista
(X) Ximena
(M): Can you share a bit about how your musical journey began? At a young age, you acted in telenovelas. How did the jump into music happen? Were there concerns from your parents for you to enter the music industry, especially as a Latina?
(X): Well, I guess music was always for me like acting, and music was in the same world in my universe as a kid. They [acting and music] were just forms of self-expression. The first thing I ever did was musical theater, so for me, it was the perfect combination. It's just you know a way that you can tell life stories. Both my parents were filmmakers, so it was normal for me to start in the acting world first. But when I decided to transition to music, my dad was a frustrated musician, and music has always been a big part of his films and a big part of his life in general. They were both supportive as people that create for a living. They knew it was going to be something similar. And fortunately enough, I found a lot of people that supported me along the way, you know? Musician friends, and a record label manager were really supportive from the start.
Ximena Sariñana
M: In October, you released your fifth and latest album, Amor Adolescente, through Warner Music Mexico. Can you tell us about this album?
X: Well, it's a very nostalgic album. It talks a lot about that era of my life. I think when you're a teenager, it's when you most experience love in its most purest form. You're not really thinking about it. You're just overwhelmed with feelings, and we have a lot to learn from loving that way where you know it's very free. It's a very free feeling. You're not necessarily thinking about the future. You're not thinking if that's the right person to love. You feel intensely the same for your best friend, your pet, or a genre of music you just discovered, for dance, for a crush that you're crushing on, or for platonic love. So I think it's a very free way of loving, and I think that there's just so much to learn from it.
M: What were the influences and themes? What is the overall message for listeners, especially with an album title like Amor Adolescente?
X: With this album, it's definitely a tribute to a lot of the albums I grew up listening to, like The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, where you have a lot of testimony of actual teenagers talking about love – we sort of wanted to do that as well. It's very interesting because I haven't been a teenager for a long time, so we decided to involve actual teenagers, people [who] have gone through adolescence fairly recently, way more recently than I have. It was just so interesting to have that kind of dialogue between how I remember my teenage years and what teenagers are experiencing now. It's amazing how open their minds are, and I love the concepts that they're already dealing with, like self-love, how to love without machismo, prejudice, free love, and same-sex love.
M: Your music features an eclectic mix of sounds like jazz, blues, funk, pop, rock…But how would you say your Mexican heritage has influenced your music and/or writing?
X: Well, at first, it was really hard for me to identify where my Mexican background fit in. But then I started realizing that it's not only that I am from Mexico, but I am from Mexico City. It's one of the biggest cities in the world. We're exposed to all kinds of music. It's an amazing, amazing city, kind of like New York City or L.A. So I understood really quickly that my music was going to be as eclectic as the city I grew up in. And I think this last album is probably the one where I experimented with my Mexican roots the most. I have a song with Flor de Toloache, "El Amor Más Grande," a mariachi arrangement reminiscent of Juan Gabriel and that sort of artist.
Honestly, it's not music I grew up with because my parents were more into Anglo influences and jazz…But growing up in Mexico, it's something that is sort of...you're born with it because you hear it at all parties. You'll hear it in your neighborhoods, in restaurants, and everywhere. In that sense, I think this album has the cumbia and mariachi; it has a little bit of bolero. This is the first album I experimented with this.
M: Switching gears a little bit, but sticking to this concept of nostalgia and love. You recently released a cover of the hit Ricky Martin song "Te Extraño, te olvido, te amo" via Amazon Music, which also explores the memories of a past love. What made you decide to cover this popular song?
X: Well, it's funny because the way that it all came about...I'm really good friends with the Amazon Music person in Mexico. We have known each other for a long time. We talked about adolescence and the music we used to listen to in our teenage years, like this [Ricky Martin] album [A Medio Vivir]. I started talking about how important Ricky Martin [was] and how that album [A Medio Vivir] was in my teenage years.
I remember when I was 15, I was being more selective about the CDs I would keep because I was a little bit ashamed of my collection. After all, there was Backstreet Boys, Britney Spears...no filter. I wanted to start being like, no, it's not cool to have a Spice Girls album...being very judgmental about [my] musical taste. When I got to Ricky Martin and Laura Pausini, I was like, I just can't let these albums go! They've gone through so many ups and downs with me and many memories; they're just such great albums! And I just held on to them, and I don't know if I hid them in a drawer or something. And then, when I was studying music, many of my peers were like, "Oh my God, this Ricky Martin album! Oh my God, this is one of the best Spanish-speaking albums of all time!" We were sort of talking about it with my friends, and I was like, that would be an amazing album. Any songs of that album would be amazing to cover. That's sort of how the whole thing came through.
M: Was there ever a moment where you felt pressure to cover it in a way that would not disappoint fans of the original but still remain authentic to you and your sound?
X: I don't like to put myself [under] any pressure when it comes to cover because I think it really has to be your own interpretation, and for me, I just had all this imagery. I've always loved string arrangements, and I thought this is one of those songs where I really just wanted to fly with the strings and let them take sort of like the full protagonist of the song. Once I had the strings, everything else just sort of fell into place, and I think it's a really beautiful tribute to Ricky.
M: We have time for one more question – we had so many! With The Mujerista, we like to use our platform to uplift and support the Latina community. So, can you share with us some of your favorite up-and-coming Latina musicians that we should listen to?
X: Well, I love Girl Ultra – she's one of my favorite artists in Mexico City. She's doing amazing! I love Vanessa Zamora. Her last full-length album is wonderfully produced by Marian Ruzzi, who is also the producer of my album [Amor Adolescente]. I like Loyal Lobos a lot! I think she's wonderful, and I'm really excited [about] what she's going to come up with next. I love Silvana Estrada! I think she has a great voice, just pure dominance of herself at such a young age, and that's very inspiring to see.