Today's Song of the Day, as chosen by DJ Chilly and Albina Cabrera, hosts of El Sonido on KEXP, in honor of Latinx Heritage Month, is "Fumar de Dia" by Marilina Bertoldi, from the 2018 album Prender un Fuego on Pelo Music S.A.
Argentinan artist Marilina Bertoldi got her start as the frontwoman for the hard rockin' group Connor Questa, but since going solo in 2012, she's been exploring a range of sounds, landing the Best Rock Album of the Year award at the 2016 Latin Grammy Awards for her album Sexo Con Modelos. On her most recent release, 2018's Prender Un Fuego, she took inspiration from "Sheryl Crow, INXS, the soloist Cerati...," she told Pagina 12. "I make music for myself, one day I understood it and I don't feel bad saying it," she continued. "I don't make music for the public because in fact it is difficult for me to define 'my public'. I do what I enjoy and put it there, available."
On today's Song of the Day, which translates to "Smoking During the Day," Bertoldi channels the transformation of her home into a change of attitude, as captured in the accompanying music video where she's cleaning out her fridge, changing outfits, dancing across the room. She explained in an interview with IndieHoy:
“It was one of the last three songs I wrote, when the album was almost closed. I was understanding the focus of everything and I was missing the key songs that would consolidate that concept. I always compose at night and I dedicate myself to dealing with the arrangements, sound and structure of each song, but that day I decided (after a few puffs) to sit down and portray what the day woke me up, since the rest of the album is much more night. And this is how this song was born, which came out together with the lyrics that is a conversation with different recipients, the theme is mutating. The energy and anxiety that the day generated in me did not allow me to maintain focus and that is how this song was born, which has a color that does not appear again on my album (or on any other album). I immediately loved it, it is a song that is very little who it was, and at the same time it is very what I am beginning to be. I am in the middle of a big change in my life and this composition is the tip of the spear towards that inevitable destiny. "
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