Girl Ultra has finally dropped new music, and we can’t get enough of it.
Mexico City’s babygirl and escopio released her new EP EL SUR through Finesse Records on Friday (April 29), and she’s ready to show listeners who she really is — a DJ, songwriter, producer and versatile artist with a range that extends far beyond the limitations of a single genre.
The 26-year-old Mexican singer — aka Mariana de Miguel — is one of the leading R&B artists in Latin America and making it her own. De Miguel, also known as Girl Ultra, is interested in growth and experimentation.
Girl Ultra reveals an artist in transcendence — one who maintains the recognizable elements that brought tens of millions of listeners to her music- deep, rich vocals, slick lyrics peppered with English, catchy hooks. She also infused new layers and textures, such as crunchy guitar tones, and techno, and reveals a new attitude, new pace and new side. The song “Nada Que Hacer” references alternative rock from the early 2000s while “Jungla de Locos” fuses trip-hop with drum and bass. “Para q te cuerdes de mi” is influenced by UK garage.
In a press release, Girl Ultra said, “the origin of this album really came from the desire to diversify genres and expand Girl Ultra beyond just R&B.”
De Miguel grew up listening to rock and her formation as a musician included a disco and fund band, an infatuation with 90s R&B, and years spent as a house DJ. “I was waiting for the right time in which I felt prepared as a songwriter and a musician to be able to filter all of these genres through a single creative project,” she explains.
“The EP process included several months of experimentations and consideration of how to incorporate the textures of these various genres, which marked my adolescence in the south side of Mexico City. I also wanted to have time to have fun – to mingle, be secretive and fall in love.”
The EP El Sur is a name she chose as a homage to the south side of Mexico City where she was born, raised, and introduced to the confluence of genres that compromise her musical foundation. With more than 1 million streams, Punk embodies Girl Ultra’s new sound on ‘El Sur’ – fresh, energetic, and fast beat.
“I experienced a real change in energy these past two years and I think that is reflected in this new material,” Girl Ultra said in a press release. “It feels like there’s been so much contained energy during this pandemic time and that people now want to go out and jump and sing and push and dance and yell and slam into one another, and the increase of BPMs in some of my new songs caters to that feeling.”
“Amores De Droga,” another single from her latest EP dropped. It had an upbeat techno sound to it, as it portrayed an uptick in speed, pacing an R&B song. It focuses on the first time a spark initiates the heat and excitement of a romance.
This EP introduces a new shift of sound in Girl Ultra’s career, including the songs “Bombay,” “Cosas q nadie se ve” and “Para q te acuerdes de mi,” with their new upbeats.
Girl Ultra took part in forming the music herself along with it being produced by Kiddzie of Noah Pino Palo and ABC Dialect.
“This EP is a step in a new direction for me,” said Girl Ultra. “I started to feel like live R&B shows were contained by a certain level of BPMs and I was needing something a little more raw and aggressive. It seemed like the only way to achieve that was to crank up the BPMs on my music. Doing so feels like a breath of fresh air.”
In addition, Girl Ultra will kick off her nationwide tour next Wednesday (May 11) in McAllen, Texas and hit major markets like Dallas, Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston, Toronto and New York before wrapping in Charlotte, NC on Friday, June 10. You can view a list of tour dates with links to purchase tickets here.
Listen to El Sur below and let us know what you think of Girl Ultra’s music by either leaving a reaction at the bottom of the post or by sending us a tweet at @celebsecrets.
