St Vincent opts to revisit her critically-acclaimed album ‘All Born Screaming’ with an unusual new project, paying homage to her Spanish speaking side with a re-release translated entirely into Spanish. ‘Todos Nacen Gritando’ is not only a mirror image to her prior work, she also attempts to mimic its ambiguities.
St Vincent, AKA: Annie Clark, revealed in an interview with Rolling Stone earlier this year that since becoming an artist touring internationally she has “felt a deeper affinity” for the Spanish language, prompting the songstress to entirely translate and re-record her already successful and almost entirely self-produced album ‘All Born Screaming’ into Spanish.
“The origins of ‘Todos Nacen Gritando’ can be traced back to some of the most memorable shows I’ve ever played, in Mexico, South America and recently Primavera Barcelona in 2023. Though separated by time and geography, and across a diverse range of settings and venues, these crowds were united in their passion—singing every word to every song in perfect English. It was truly inspiring. Eventually, I asked myself: If they can sing along in a second or third language, why can’t I meet them halfway? So I enlisted my best friend and occasional collaborator Alan Del Rio Ortiz to work on translating these lyrics, tweaking here and there for melodic reasons, making every effort to stay true to the song at hand without sacrificing accuracy. After much rewriting and re-singing every vocal track on the album, the result is ‘Todos Nacen Gritando’, equal parts labour of love and tribute to the people who inspired it.”
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The release of ‘Todos Nacen Gritando’ coincides flawlessly, and likely internationally, with Clark’s appearance at music festival ‘Corona Capital’ in Mexico, making for the perfect opportunity to debut some of it’s tracks live. Additionally Clark will return to South America in 2025 where we can only assume Spanish-speaking Columbia and Mexico will be spoilt with a range of ‘Todos Nacen Gritando’s songs making the cut for the setlist.
Clark began the album roll-out debuting tracks: ‘El Mero Cero’ (Big Time Nothing), ‘Pulga’ (Flea) and ‘Hombre Roto’ (Broken Man). ‘Hombre Roto’, of which the Spanish language shift subtly benefits – amplifying St Vincent’s signature sultry singing voice with a range of rolled-Rs and a countdown of “uno, dos, tres” – simple yet undeniably more sexy than it’s English-sang counterpart.
‘El Mero Cero’ isn’t the first album of its kind to be re-released in an alternative language, 2021 saw Lorde honour her Kiwi heritage with Te Ao Mārama. As well as pop-ruling swedes; ABBA opting to release their Eurovision winning hit Waterloo in Swedish, French and German (as well as English) before releasing an entire re-recording of their ‘Gold’ greatest hits in Spanish. And, most notably, who could forget David Bowie’s re-recording of hit single ‘Heroes’ sang entirely in German to celebrate the collapse of The Berlin Wall? It’s more than safe to say El Mero Cero is in good company when it comes to music originally sang in English translated to a different language.
One major stand out feature of this re-release is it’s seamless transition from the English to Spanish whilst still flawlessly adhering to the rhyme scheme and general message of each of its previous records. However it is, standout track, ‘Tiempos Violentos’ (Violent Times) which is significantly transcended in quality by its translation. The track’s trademark atmospheric violins and brass contributions, emulating the dark but glamorous feel of a song straight out of a Bond film, are subsequently complimented by Clark elongating the typical short vowel sounds of the Spanish Language reflecting the tense disposition of the song’s sonics.
‘Todos Nacen Gritando’ may have been conceptually intended as an ode to Clark’s Spanish-speaking supporters however the use of the Spanish language is additionally complimentary to the soundtrack of an already triumphant album. A commendable and well-thought out re-edition.
7/10
Words: Lauren Hague
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