Of all the popular phenomena that emerged from the second golden age of Operación Triunfo, the case of Maria Escarmiento It has been, at the same time, one of the most difficult to predict and one of the ones that has best managed to capture the spirit of its generation. This ambivalence is produced by a pioneering taste for vindicating the most underground figures, both in names and in aesthetics (philosophically understood), which are part of the national scene of the moment.
In “Feeling it a lot” (20), for example, featured Pedro LaDroga, El Mini or Merca Bae, names that are probably foreign to the average listener of the national mainstream but are, at the very least, cult names on the underground scene in recent years in our country. . In “Witch things” which is the name of the album, he has collaborated with important artists of the new hyperpop sound that seems to become the trend of the new generation of young people born around the turn of the century and who, for lack of further definition, play around the emotions, electronics and speed. Both the name of the album and the list of collaborators follow the line set by Los Monsterz, the collective that has recently confused with three of the participants in the album –BLNCO, detunedfreq, Fran Laoren– and other prominent names of the moment such as Delgao. This line plays, on the one hand, with the hyperpop sound we were talking about and, on the other, with the magical-esoteric world, which doesn’t come to fruition on the album itself, but is original and successful.
Getting into music, Maria Escarmiento He has been able to find a quite interesting sound, whose main virtue is that it is consistent with his career and his spirit. Without being strictly purist, it is authentic, and breaks with the line of male artists – although not traditionally male – that dominates the genre. Maria Escarmiento is positioned with “Witch things” in a more than interesting place from which to observe what his next steps will be. However, we are not just talking about a bet on the future. His present, the album that he now presents, arrives loaded with three or four brilliant songs out of a total of thirteen where there are not many faults. Beyond the undeniable success of his version of “You can count on me”the classic of La Oreja de Van Gogh, the electronic bachata “you looked at me” it’s a hit he is too “I prefer”, jtogether with Natalia Lacunza, a song that shines with its own light. “I want to see everything blue” is one of those songs that you don’t expect to come together, but which is ultimately one of the pillars of the work. And her collaboration with Fran Laoren in “Too quiet” forms an initial pair with “Your details” that perfectly sets the lyrical and musical tone of the album.
hit unquestionably Maria Escarmiento con “Witch things” not only because it’s an intelligent and stylish album (a rare mix to see, unfortunately) but because in this exercise in style he’s managed to produce his best version to date.