Ona Mafalda presents his first studio album, “Then” (Mafalda Music, 23). The title honors her new stage name. In addition to opening two Coldplay concerts in Barcelona (May 27 and 28), the artist has announced the official presentations of the album in Barcelona (October 11, Razzmatazz 3) and Madrid (October 13, Sala Changó).
How do you feel after the release of your first album, “Ona”?
I’m very happy. It is very strange because you have the feeling that there is something to do and then you realize that there is not. You feel that something is missing, that you have to work. You think “gosh, someone has to mix something up”, but no. It’s out and now I have to enjoy it.
How long have you been working on the project?
We started in December 2021, so a year and a half ago. It has also felt quite expressive. It’s crazy that he’s already out.
At the end of 2022 you announced your stage name change by adding “Ona”. Thus you begin a new stage in your career that has been reflected in the album. Were you clear or did it cost you to make the decision?
It was always clear to me that at some point in my career, I didn’t know when, something was going to change with my name. I like the idea of having two identifications: that of the artist and Mafalda. With this new project the right time to do it arose, but it was not so easy to find a new name. It was a few months back and forth, but then, when Ona came up, I knew directly that that was the name. People who don’t know me call me Ona and I love it.
“It was always clear to me that at some point in my career, I didn’t know when, something was going to change with my name.”
What distinguishes Ona Mafalda from the old Mafalda?
I would say that the new Ona is more daring, takes more risks, is not as afraid and goes with much more flow, like a wave.
Ona has two meanings, a tribute to your mother and her land (Mallorca) and, on the other, sound wave-wave.
My mother is Mallorcan and my grandparents speak Mallorcan at home. It’s a word I’ve always heard. When we started brainstorming names, Ona came up and it was very clear to me.
Has it acquired any other meaning for you in these months?
I have never thought of it that way. I believe that the new meaning is this new beginning. For me, Ona is this new stage and she will always be with me. That’s why I decided to call the album “Ona”, because it’s part of this new beginning. Then it will continue to grow and I think that is what the rest of my career will be.
Since we’ve talked about your mother. It has great importance in the album. You dedicate the song “My part” to him. What was it like writing a topic like this?
It was quite natural. I didn’t go into the studio thinking that I was going to dedicate a song to him that day. I wrote it with Yoly Saa and with Vicco. That day the three of us were talking about our relationship with our mothers and how lucky we are to have their support. We began to write the lyrics: “for giving me so much, healing wounds, silence crying on cold nights”. From there grew the rest of the song.
Before you wrote about yourself and now, in “Ona”, you talk about yourself. You introspect and come clean. The word pain accompanies the entire album, as well as other feelings and emotions such as love or melancholy. What has been the song that has cost you the most to release?
I would say “Breathe”. It was easy enough to write her, but difficult because it was something she wanted to show. On this album I’m being pretty honest with myself. There is like that conductive thread between pain, fatigue, anxiety and wanting to demonstrate that. There is also understanding that other people feel the same way. Maybe I could help them or connect them in a certain way.
I understand that you added a song to the album that was not originally included. Is it so?
Yes, just the one about “Disappear”. We did it in December, we finished it five months ago, and it was a collaboration with Khotton Palm. We were in the studio working on another song, but we dropped it and this one came out. That’s where it came from. I told him if she wanted to collaborate and he told me to go ahead, and that’s how it was born.
You have experienced a lot musically speaking. With drum’n’bass influences, singing only in Spanish, but without forgetting your origins. You adapt without problems to new sounds and with them you transmit other feelings. Are you going to continue in this line or do you prefer to continue experimenting?
I will continue experimenting. After all the Coronavirus, the confinement and the fact that everything was closed, you have to do things with more movement, I think. I was going to say happier, but not that much, because it’s true that my songs aren’t. [ríe]. That everything has much more movement, more drive, more desire. To be advancing and moving forward. I think it’s kind of the message of the whole album. Many things can happen in life, but everything can go forward and turn out well.
That trend is being created a bit among many new voices of not singing so sad and adding more movement to what you say.
Total, and it’s okay to be sad, because I’m the first one who can be. But you have to look at life with optimism and think that everything will turn out well.
Wrapping you up on this album we find people like Vicco, Gomz, ODDLIQUOR or Ganges. How has the creative process of having so many people participating in your album been?
It’s been amazing. I am super pro-creative community and I like collaboration. The album is called “Ona”, but in reality it belongs to all those who have been part of the project. Everything has gone at the time, because we were not always always organized in a room. The album started with me and Vicco. Then we already took the songs to improve them, add more things… That’s where different people start to come in. I think that those bits of each one are noticeable in the songs, and it makes me very excited. Now in Spain there is an incredible music boom and the community there is amazing.
You just commented on the community of artists in Madrid that you surround yourself with, because it is true that it is also very important to take a little from each person…
Yes, I also spoke about it on Radio 3 the other day. It’s not just that, it’s that we’re all colleagues, really. We all get along very well. There is support among all because we understand what it is to be artists, producers or whatever. We support each other.
The album will be presented at the Coldplay concerts in Barcelona (May 27 and 28), since you are their opening act. What is it like for you to present it at such a big event like this?
Pretty crazy, plus Coldplay is a band of a lifetime for me. In other words, it is a very special occasion. I’m nervous, but not in the sense of being afraid, but in the sense of dying of emotion. I want those days to come now.
How did it come to be?
We were talking to the Coldplay team and the idea came up that maybe it could be an opening act. But she stayed there. It wasn’t until Live Nation contacted us, saying the band liked the music.
Regardless of whether you’re at festivals, you’ll start your theater tour in October.
Yes, in Madrid and Barcelona. I feel like dying. Apart from writing, what I like the most is playing live. When you’ve been playing the same songs for so long, you already want to play the new ones.
