Story Narration by Eve Hyman
Our Artist for Solitary NYC.
Lonely and sassy, Paloma Mami videos are timely escapes we can relate to at this moment. The game warscape tragedy of No Te Debí Besar. The bilingual graceful push-back on haters in Don’t Talk About Me. The posture of No Te Enamores’ sexy stance, where the longing is clear but a resolution seems improbable. WE FEEL YOU RIGHT NOW MAMI.
Because, let’s be real, it is a tragic Armageddon deserted landscape out here. Especially for us singles – masked up and intoxicated as we pass the long hours under the shadow of Covid. We are too much like a Palomi Mami song where love is avoided as a liability in the face of an uncertain trajectory. Each track contains heartache by design with Paloma as the beauty out of reach, impossible.
Her voice carries us through the sexy during solitary-confinement nights, soothing our sad feels because we are all in this together.
The Paloma Mami live show at Bowery Ballroom this winter was equal parts sexy sass and visual dreamscapes. The crowd was lit to the extreme. Loyal Chilean-American NYC packed the all-ages show, singing along and cheering their diva, phones raised for footage. That scene of shoulder-to-shoulder devotion is made impossible by current circumstances. Listening to Paloma Mami now and enjoying her tough-it-alone lyrics, the crowded February show seems dated in retrospect. Paloma Mami plays for you at home and watching her beauty on a screen seems just right. She knows our pain, she lived it pre-pandemic and waited for us to catch up. Paloma Mami envisioned this world of lonesome fire so now we have a soundscape to keep us company in the pandemic. Her voice carries us through the sexy during solitary-confinement nights, soothing our sad feels because we are all in this together.
We know the world of her videos like No Te Debí Besar, the collaboration with Madrid rapper C. Tangana that takes place on dark city streets. We can relate to how the future there is stark, unexpected and dangerous. Entro como un matador, preparado para lo peor. Tu cariño es como un mal dolor.” The sci-fi nightmare includes a car race and shows off young Paloma as beautiful, untouched and confident. The temptress gets out unscathed while her enamorado crashes and burns.
“Get lit and have some fun and meet no one, my heart is gone you know that I’m not steady.”
Paloma explains what we are living – not seeking love but rather adrenaline.
In 2018’s Not Steady, Paloma explains what we are living – not seeking love but rather adrenaline. “Get lit and have some fun and meet no one, my heart is gone you know that I’m not steady.” “You call I tap don’t pick up, you know I don’t give a fu-uck, I think it’s done already.”
Twenty-year-old Paloma Rocío Castillo Astorga grew up in Spanish Harlem. When she was sixteen her parents split. When her mom went home Paloma accompanied her to Santiago, Chile. She brought all her NYC isms in tow and was soon on television winning a national talent contest. After collaborating on a single that caught industry attention, she landed a deal with Sony Music Latin as their sole Chilena artist. In every video there are cars, immaculate hair and nails and body that prances by males, leaving them gasping on a hook. Paloma sings about cutting off a dude and forgetting him fast. But she isn’t flippant or haughty, rather she seems to wish it had worked out. In Fingías she laments the end of love, explaining how his lies sealed their fate, ensuring he’d lose her. How she cried and missed him but decided she’d never go back and chose lonely over cheated.
Escape into 2018’s track entitled Mami that has us veiled in shimmering scarves, covering our faces and dancing through desolate backdrops. Paloma Mami rides around the barren landscape standing in the sunroof like MIA’s Airplanes was filmed during Covid. Haunting melodies suggest a trip through the Arab world and bilingual lyrics remind us of shifting cultural barriers. We are all of us masked in deserts and empty mosque spaces now.
Paloma Mami music reflects our global present-day where we suffer together. She reminds us it’s okay to live tragically. So long as your fashion game stays strong and you savor every moment of sexy.
Words by Eve Hyman
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