Last year, Becky G released Esquinas – a tribute to her Mexican grandparents that was meant as a one-off foray into the comforting contours of música mexicana. But as anybody who’s marginally familiar with the songs of Grupo Frontera or Carín León will tell you, this particular genre offers a bottomless reservoir of longing and soul. Not surprisingly, Becky felt so comfortable inhabiting that world, that she stayed for another round. It would be easy to call Encuentros a sequel, but the specifics of its emotional experience are different. At 27, the singer from Inglewood, California sounds at her most vulnerable on this sprawling fourth album, but also in full control of her arsenal as a gifted vocalist and songwriter.
It is probably a blessing that Becky had the time to experiment with reggaetón and straight-ahead pop before delving into música mexicana. Right from the hazy, reverb-heavy intro to sad sierreño gem “Xlas Nubes,” she brings a cosmopolitan approach to the table. On “Como Diablos” Becky throws a few choice curse words with the authority of an authentic mexicana – the visual was shot in Monterrey – but a track like “Bandido” is the work of a songstress who investigates the breadth of 21st century pop with abandon. Produced with admirable restraint by Justus West, the track paints a stark picture with rugged guitar lines, electronic loops, and a stunning harmonic progression in the middle verse.
If Esquinas found strength in high-profile features, here the collaborations are kept to a minimum. On “Mercedes” – a fun, brassy corrido tumbado about the scent of Chanel and sex in a Mercedes – Becky bursts in with gusto after Óscar Maydon’s vocals. But the album resonates more deeply whenever she sings by herself. She channels the ageless cumbia bounce of Selena on the endearing “Otro CapÍtulo,” and follows the threadline that drove Mexican love songs from the Fifties tenderness of Trío Los Panchos to the plush Eighties charm of José José on “Última Vez” – a gorgeous post-bolero.
Just before closing the album with a mariachi demo of “Por El Contrario” (a hit off Esquinas), Becky delivers a spoken outro in flawless Spanish, explaining the healing that she felt while connecting with Mexican music. Her artistic instincts are on the money, and the question of being “Latina enough” (an unnecessary doubt that plagues so many young artists born in the U.S. of Latin American roots) becomes utterly irrelevant. A meaningful meeting of cultures and sensibilities, Encuentros is a contemporary música mexicana classic.
