For Mariana de Miguel, the best school for her career in music was the “stinking and horrible clubs in Mexico City,” watching her friends how they produced, how they created and how they played.
“I never went to school,” said Mariana, who is known artistically as Girl Ultra. “I left high school and started playing […] Look for tutorials, learn to listen, observe, that’s how I learned and it was my methodology.”
In his mind, moreover, there is an immense archive of music from every genre and every era imaginable. Her father, above all, was responsible for teaching her to appreciate music without judging it.
“His dream was to give his children a musical education and he really got into it,” Mariana said. “He likes rock in Spanish, Argentine rock, classical music, Ennio Morricone.”
So when this R&B performer wants to create a song, she just has to think of a rhythm or an instrument that she heard in one of the thousands and thousands of songs she has in her head and materialize it.
Mariana was part of a band when she finished high school. At the same time he began working as a DJ in Mexico City; Some time later “I felt the need to go out alone” and the group separated. It was also the beginning of his solo career.
The 28-year-old singer is currently promoting “blush,” an EP inspired by the intersection between club music that mixes with garage and 90s rock.
“For me blush was like a playground,” he said. “It reminded me that I can have a lot of fun in the studio; I did it in Mexico City, and it was the sweet spot between two sounds that converge, like emo rock, but at the same time there is the UK garage and the club scene.”
The theme, she explained, “is something very linked to my perspective of female beauty and how it has evolved.”
A few days ago, Girl Ultra finished an extensive tour of the United States, where she performed some solo shows and also opened concerts for Chromeo and The Midnight. In fact, the first band, which performs electro-funk, is producing Girl Ultra’s next album, which will be released in 2025.
Now he is promoting the single ‘blu’, which is accompanied by a video clip that he recorded on the streets of New York. In it, Girl Ultra reflects on the complexities of youth and existential anxiety, recurring themes in this artist’s songs.
“I write for myself,” he said. “It’s not an alter ego, it’s a part of me, and that’s why people identify with it.”