Hispanic Heritage Month: Five Hispanic Women Musicians to Watch
From September 15 to October 15, we celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month to recognize the achievements and contributions of Hispanic Americans who have inspired others. This year Girls That Create shines the spotlight on five Hispanic women musicians with various, beautiful styles. Check them out below.
Five Hispanic Women Musicians to Watch
The Marias
The Marias is a psychedelic soul band based out of Los Angeles. Lead singer Maria Zardoya was born in Puerto Rico and grew up in Atlanta before moving to L.A. It was there she met partner and drummer Josh Conway. Together they began recording music in both English and Spanish. This past summer, The Marias released their first full-length album, Cinema, to critical acclaim.
Kali Uchis
Kali Uchis released her debut mixtape, Drunken Babble, in 2012, followed by her debut EP, Por Vida, released in 2015. Uchis’s father moved from Pereira, Colombia, to the United States, where he met her mother. In high school, Uchis learned to play piano and saxophone. A wide range of music inspires her style, from doo-wop and soul to Latin pop and Perreo. Uchis’s first album, Isolation, came out in 2018 to wide acclaim. She followed it up with Sin Miedo (del Amor y Otros Demonios), a Spanish album that was recognized on The L.A. Times and Variety‘s lists of the best albums for 2020.
Ambar Lucid
Singer and songwriter Ambar Lucid was born in the suburb of Little Ferry, New Jersey. Her mother is from the Dominican Republic, and her father is from Mexico. When Lucid was eight, her father was deported, and she didn’t see him again till she was 18. Lucid created the documentary Llegaron las Flores about the experience of separation and reuniting with family. She started singing at five and eventually began posting YouTube covers. Her debut album, Garden of Lucid, came out in 2020 with lyrics in both English and Spanish.
Maye
Maye was born in Caracas, Venezuela, with her family moving to Miami, Florida, when she was young. Her father, a singer-songwriter, won a Latin Grammy Award for Best Tropical Song in 2004. When Maye began writing music, he encouraged her to write in Spanish. Her second single, “Tu,” has over 21 million Spotify streams (former U.S. president Barack Obama named it one of his favorite songs of 2020).
Maia Reficco
Argentine-American Maia Reficco started her career as an actress and has starred as “Young Eva” in the Encores! production of EVITA at New York City Center. Last year she released her debut single “TUYA.” You can now see Reficco on HBO’s American teen drama/mystery thriller Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin.
Compiled by Mia Bustillos
Top image by Marcelo Chagas from Pexels