Natalia Jiménez (Madrid, 1981) connects to the videoconference dressed as if she were going out to a cocktail party. And maybe she will, because she has a lot to celebrate. The singer wears a colorful hat, as has been customary since she led La Quinta Estación. “This one is from Nick Zucker, I shop in Los Angeles and I really like them, I don’t know, I always wear a hat.” Although she lives between Mexico and Miami, the capital of California, it is closer to her, when she made her debut in music 20 years ago, she had no suspicion that one day she would utter that phrase. She doesn’t mind at all that for many she is ‘Natalia from La Quinta Estación’: “Not at all, because since I am the owner of the group… I decide when she goes out for a ride in the Ferrari (laughs).”
The Anthology 20 Years Tour will bring her back to Spain on November 13 to open in Madrid and continue through Valencia, Seville, Tenerife and Barcelona. She returns as a Latin queen after conquering America, a feat reminiscent of those of predecessors such as Alejandro Sanz or David Bisbal, to name two recent examples.
“For me it has also been a surprise. I came here when I was 21 years old and I didn’t imagine that I wouldn’t return. I told myself ‘I have to start my life here’ and I did it: getting to know a new country, new people… It has been wonderful. I feel that Latin America, Mexico in particular, is something that many Spaniards miss: life is very good here, despite the political turbulence and so on, but life is good and the people are very nice. Furthermore, they love us Spaniards very much and I think the feeling should be reciprocal.”
Natalia has not only made a name for herself in the Latin music industry but is also a prominent member of the ‘star system’. His presence in the media is constant and as a coach and member of the jury of La Voz it is priceless: in six editions, he has achieved four victories (two of them in the USA) and a silver with his respective teams: “ I especially like La Voz Kids: children are malleable, it is much easier to train a child because they don’t argue with you, they don’t give you a but, and they don’t have as many complexes as adults. I also won a senior edition: older people are very funny and brave like children because they have nothing to lose. They’ve already done everything in life, good or bad, and they think ‘What’s left for me if it’s not having fun?’”
Today’s Natalia has not only had a solid musical career but has matured. With a six-year-old daughter, she sometimes thinks about being able to talk to herself, to the teenager who was beginning to compose songs: “I remember the moment when she wrote the lyrics and what she was feeling then. I compare it to the moment I live in now and say, Wow, how much I suffered before! (laughs). When she was young she suffered a lot in love. But I am proud of all the things I have done, of my decisions, right or wrong, because they have brought me here and to places I never expected. If I had to say something to the little girl who was starting out, it is ‘don’t give up, keep going, keep going. Believe in yourself!’. “That’s what he would tell me.”
With five solo albums and more than 2.2 million followers on Instagram, the most Mexican Spaniard since Rocío Dúrcal uses her fame to do good. Thanks to her call, the girl Luz Edith Hernández will have a better future: “People have helped us a lot; In the last three concerts we set up some piggy banks to be able to deposit money and now it is already in her account: she is blind, she has an autistic little brother and her mother cannot support them. If I see that someone in that situation is singing my song I Believe in Me, which talks about personal improvement and getting ahead, how can I not help them? Well, now they are going to go a few years without having to pay their rent.”
Another reason for celebration is the end of the battle with Cinco Estaciones, a band made up of former members of La Quinta Estación: “The Patent and Trademark Office has agreed with us: the trademark is not expired, it is ours, it is still in use and it is not They can use it.” Natalia and guitarist Ángel Reyero, both co-founders, continue to be masters of their destiny.
