Colombian singer-songwriter Elsa Carvajal, the creative powerhouse behind Elsa y Elmar, wants the world to know that being vulnerable isn’t a weakness — it’s a mark of strength. The six-time Latin Grammy-nominee has built a career on her intimate, genre-less style of composition. In her latest album PALACIO, Carvajal archives life-changing moments and unravels the raw, unfiltered emotions that erupted during the tumultuous final years of her twenties. Carvajal sat down with Remezcla to share more about her newfound embrace of imperfection and how her journey of self-discovery helped form the project’s expansive emotional world.
PALACIO is a transparent portrayal of heartbreaks, ghosting, cheating, loss, unfiltered joy, and feminine liberation. The singer worked closely alongside Grammy award-winning producer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Julian Bernal to bring the stories embedded within each track to life. “The process of seeing myself is what made me create this universe, it’s like a mirror for me. Every topic I write about are feelings and situations everyone goes through,” she shares. “I want people to be able to see themselves when they hear this album and find strength in being in touch with their innermost worlds.”
After the release of her previous album, ya no somos los mismos, Carvajal took the opportunity to reflect on who she is both as an individual and an artist. “I realized that in the past, I collaborated with other creatives for my art and image and they ended up speaking for me, but not in a bad way,” she explains. In the process of introspection, Carvajal playfully created art using different mediums such as working with ceramics, painting, drawing, bedazzling, hairstyling, and splashing color into everything she creates and owns, including her lavender braided hair.
Carvajal also found inspiration in the culture, markets, and artwork found in Mexico City, where the singer has lived for eight years. “In this project, I decided to create who I would look like. Lavender is my favorite color, my braids come from always wanting to grow my hair out, but in tandem, it represents time and lineage,” she says. “The internet also blows my mind because it’s ever changing. I love to explore glitches, errors, and distortion, as you can see in the cover art. So it was a process of not hiding my light and my color.”
In this project, Carvajal was not afraid to make mistakes. In the interlude, “gracias smyav lqm,” listeners will encounter heavy distortions and broken vocal audio, meant to exude the beauty that lives within life’s chaos. Unlike the carefully orchestrated production behind ya no somos los mismos, Carvajal wanted to embrace spontaneity. This time, she decided not to equip a full team of composers and producers nor schedule studio sessions around the world. Instead, she chose to record the entire album from Bernal’s home in one day. “I thought, ‘What happens if I’m not so perfect this time?’ So I told Bernal, ‘Vámonos, capturemos el rawness of life. We have three takes to record each song, that’s it,’” Carvajal says. “At the end of the song ‘Ké MaL,’ [Bernal] made a mistake with the guitar and begged me to re-record to fix it. I said, ‘I don’t care, that’s how it has to stay. You can’t fix it, la vida tiene errores.’”
The process of seeing myself is what made me create this universe, it’s like a mirror for me. Every topic I write about are feelings and situations everyone goes through.
She found herself gravitating toward themes of ego and conquering fear, which are captured within the song “GIGANTE.” Here, Carvajal examines the sacrifices that come with hyper-focusing on success. “Who doesn’t want to be a giant? Whether it’s in music or in a professional career. But that process of becoming larger than life also involves sacrificing our time and peace,” she explains. The process of creating “GIGANTE” ironically became a full-circle moment for the singer. “This song was tough… When I made it, I worked with a composer who works closely with C.Tangana, and I wanted to impress him. During the session, I had a complete creative block. I couldn’t create anything impressive. Then the idea hit me, and I thought it was so funny that I’m writing a song about this idea of being a ‘giant’ in an attempt to impress my own personal giants. ¡Bromas del universo!”
PALACIO is both an intimate portrayal of vulnerability and a celebration of milestones. In addition to welcoming a new decade and enjoying the process of learning more about who she is, one of Carvajal’s biggest milestones was in realizing that she’s been making music as an independent artist for 10 years.
But despite being a Latin Grammy-nominated artist, the singer doesn’t rely on awards for validation. “Of course it’s nice to receive awards and be recognized by the industry, but for me, it’s a short lasting feeling. What gives me long-lasting fulfillment is being able to make music on my own terms and having an audience to share it with,” Carvajal notes.
PALACIO is out now.
