Six years after her first solo album “Salió el Sol” (2018), which represented Paraguay at two international festivals in Colombia and Chile, Bárbara Cácares is releasing her second album, produced by herself, this time with a different concept and rhythms compared to her first pop-rock album.
The multifaceted Paraguayan artist and singer-songwriter is also performing a magical launch show to showcase her new album “De vuelta a mí”, on Saturday, August 10th, at the Bosque de los Artistas. The songs will be available on all music platforms starting Monday, August 5th.
In these new songs, we hear Latin rhythms and deep, introspective lyrics, inviting the listener to journey from the surface to the depths of their being, embracing both light and shadows, and accepting their essence. The launch show promises a multi-sensory and energetic experience, with a high-quality artistic and production team.
Speaking with The Asunción Times, Bárbara explains her musical background, the influences on her new style, and the meanings behind the songs on her latest album.
Bárbara’s musical journey began at a young age, where she trained and performed in a wide variety of artistic disciplines, including Classical and Popular Singing, Classical Piano, Figure Skating, Audiovisual Communication, Acting, Modeling, Musical Theater, Contemporary Dance, and Flamenco.
After a long hiatus from her solo career, Bárbara returned with new music. Her single “Tu Juego,” released in November 2023, showcased her versatility in genres, leaning more towards Latin styles. Then, on March 8, 2024, she introduced a very somber reality with her experimental song “Si no vuelvo…” which narrates a case of kidnapping and femicide.
Bárbara describes her new songs as “inviting the listener to journey from the surface to the depths of their being, embracing both light and shadows, and accepting their essence”.
The first song on the new album is “Tu Juego”, which we have previously heard in its Full Version as a single. This song is the first stop on the journey proposed by this conceptual album, as it describes a situation where we recognise that something external overwhelms us and accept our weakness in the face of that pattern.
Next is “Morir de Pena”, the second track of this experience, which Bárbara describes as “a fusion of rumba that expresses that moment when we say ‘enough’ to what we don’t deserve and what harms us.”
The third song is “Suelto el Dolor”, which invites us to a healing dance with a liberating mantra.
When everything seemed to be overcome and more joyful, “Fuego”, the fourth song on the album, appears. It “describes how lessons we thought we had learned resurface, and it’s up to us whether we’ll get burned again by that ‘fire'”; the deep, wild sound conveyed through its fusion of chacarera and zamba conceptually refers to the primal impulses of human beings.
After the fire comes the “Huracán”, an experimental, sexy, and deep cumbia that expresses chaotic emotions, like a “hurricane”, encouraging us to let ourselves flow with intense passion, without fears. With a powerful and deep bass and a rhythm that makes the body move, the piano plays a crucial role here as it represents this climatic phenomenon that breaks all structures, flows freely, and increases in intensity throughout the song.
Then the calm comes after the storm and “Ver Bien” plays, featuring only a voice and a piano in a very introspective moment of the journey, allowing us to view things from an elevated perspective.
The journey of this album ends with “De Vuelta a Mí,” which Bárbara describes as “a joyful murga fusion full of voices and percussion, representing that moment of reunion with oneself, embracing our essence with both its light and shadows. Accepting that all experiences, whether good or bad, were necessary to reach where we are and being grateful for that.”
To get tickets to the album launch party at Bosque de los Artistas on Saturday 10th August 2024, and to get links to the new album, you can follow Bárbara on her social media – Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok, all using the handle @barbaraok.py
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