ST. VINCENT RELEASES “PULGA,” A NEW SPANISH LANGUAGE VERSION OF “FLEA”

ST. VINCENT RELEASES “PULGA” A NEW SPANISH LANGUAGE VERSION OF “FLEA”

Photo credit:  David William Baum

Listen To “Pulga” Second Single Released in Advance of Todos Nacen Gritando

Todos Nacen Gritando, The New Spanish-Language Version Of Her Wildly Acclaimed Album All Born Screaming, Will Be Released November 15th
 
Read St. Vincent’s Rolling Stone Interview About The Inspiration Behind The New Project

St. Vincent’s World Tour Heads To Spain Next Week; She Is Also Set To Play Mexico City’s Corona Capital (November 16) And Bogota’s Estéreo Picnic (March 27-30, 2025)

“Serás mío para eternidad.”

So states St. Vincent with fiery resolve on “Pulga,” the second single to preview the upcoming album Todos Nacen Gritando. Featuring St. Vincent on vocals and all instruments except drums and bass—handled respectively by Dave Grohl and Justin Meldal-Johnsen—“Pulga” is raw desire made manifest atop a foundation of thundering grooves and searing guitar figures.

In a completely unexpected move, St. Vincent translated her entire All Born Screaming album into Spanish. The Spanish language album Todos Nacen Gritando will be released November 15 via Total Pleasure Records in partnership with Virgin Music Group.

The echoes of tens of thousands of fans chanting her lyrics across Latin America and Spain moved Annie Clark to pay tribute to her Spanish-speaking fans and the Spanish language she loves so much. “It was really inspiring,” she says, recalling experiences like the crowd reaction to her set at Primavera Sound 2023. â€œAt the end, I asked myself, ‘If they’re able to sing in a second or third language, why can’t I do the same thing?”

That is how Todos Nacen Gritando’was born. Clark herself, who has recently honed her Spanish language skills, defines this meticulous reinterpretation as one of the biggest challenges of her musical career: “It’s been a much more complicated process than anything I’ve done before.”

No small statement for an artist with a 17 year music career and 3 Grammy awards including “Best Rock Song” in 2019 and “Best Alternative Music Album” in 2015 and 2022. She has co-produced previous St. Vincent albums with Jack Antonoff and collaborated with artists from Taylor Swift to David Byrne. St. Vincent fronted Nirvana for their induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, was selected by Paul McCartney to contribute to his ‘III-Imagined‘ album and invited to play live with Metallica.

“What surprises me is that music is not separated from life in Latin America. In the United States everything is commercialized, music is a commodity, an accessory. But in Latin America music is life itself, and you can feel that.” This reflection by Clark makes even more sense when life, death, loss and love were the main themes of the album All Born Screaming, lauded by critics for its emotional and musical rawness. 

The stark nature of the album —her first fully self-produced record— found in Spanish a way to enhance its visceral original vocal performances. “There are things that I sing in Spanish that maybe I would feel self-conscious singing in English because they feel so sincere… it was a fascinating experience to find how to convey the feeling, but also discover a new way through words,” she explains.

To ensure both emotional and linguistic accuracy, St. Vincent enlisted the translation skills of her best friend and occasional collaborator, Alan del Río Ortiz, “Alan has been my friend since we were 15, we grew up together. He would translate the songs and then we would go over them.”  Ortiz played a crucial role in retaining the passion and sentiment of the original material while transposing it all into another language. “Sometimes he would tell me, ‘That’s not a Spanish expression, you could say this or that.’ So we would look for other ways of saying things.”

This tribute to her Spanish-speaking fans is, in a sense, a natural outcome for Clark, who spent much of her early life in Texas. Growing up with Almodovar’s films as a child, confronting the revelatory darkness of Goya’s paintings at the Prado Museum in Madrid, â€œtasting the best food in life” in Mexico City, dawning on New Year’s Day dancing cumbias on the beaches of Merida, or getting lost among the streets of Buenos Aires, are memories that have become fixed in her head and heart, substantial in weaving her unique relationship with Spain and Latin America.

Latin American music has also been a vital part of this relationship. “I’m a big fan of Bomba Estéreo and Calle 13. I also love Rosalía and Arca. Brazilian music too, like Caetano Veloso. It’s the best…it’s different from how it feels in the United States. It’s joyful, a real part of life,” Clark says.