Marilia Andrés spoils the initial joke for us, something like “wow, in the end it seems that she does dance aloneâ€. Although she has been following her own path for longer than as half of the Ella Baila Sola duo, one of the best Spanish pop gave in the 90s, she understands it differently: she has always been accompanied by her . Even now. Great-granddaughter of a language eminence like Julio Casares, she was pushed almost evolutionarily to compose and sing her own texts. Together with Marta BotÃa, the songs of that duo are still heard everywhere. She is now releasing her own third album, Dance with me, and tells us how she lived those days and how she lives the present.
You have just released your third album, Bailar conmigo. It seems that, indeed, she does not want to dance alone…
(Laughter) There is a reason for that song and it is a common denominator: sharing the path in a search for freedom. All the songs in some way talk about it, about learning moments in life, about overcoming and moving towards freedom. When I saw all of them together, I found a connection with the origin, with the root of where I come from and that is why there is folk, joy and dreams. It is a connection with myself, I dance with myself and share with others. It is a nod to the dance that we started years ago; I have never felt alone. I have a fantastic team and I am aware that this record would not be the same without them. Both in the past and the present.
Subir una montaña (2013), Infinito (2017) and now, the third solo one, in 2023. Why are there so many years between albums?
The pandemic has influenced, all the unexpected and the uncertainty that we have experienced. Also that there was an anniversary to celebrate in 2021 [the reunion of Ella Baila Sola 25 years since its creation and 20 after its dissolution] and I wanted to do it because I have a lot to thank people for. I would never have guessed, composing at the age of 20 at my parents’ house, that they would have gone this far. This is added to the fact that I have chosen a path in which there is no requirement for dates by a multinational and that gives me a lot of freedom. There are also many songs that have not seen the light of day; behind each album there are a lot of projects, songs and ideas that are discarded but are necessary to find what you are looking for.
Ella Baila Sola’s lyrics today sound more empowering than those of other artists in those years. If Marta BotÃa said in an interview that she never felt particularly feminist, you have participated in the Ellas festival and in the Save Gender Museum.
How do you perceive it?
It has always struck me how throughout history the artistic work of women has been ignored and denied in all sectors. My grandmother was an abstract art painter at a time when women did not paint anything in any sense and that concern to open paths is in me; I composed Woman vase very very young, perhaps she was not even 20 years old. There is still a long way to go, it shows everywhere, as if a woman is qualified by her clothes and not by what she is counting.
Who has influenced you the most in your career? When did you know you wanted to sing?
I have a very clear memory: when I was about seven or eight years old, when important decisions are made (laughs), the songs I heard on the radio, in Spanish and in English, gave me something that I couldn’t define but I did feel that it was very important. . I started writing songs when I was eleven years old. It seemed to me the greatest thing that had happened to me in my life. A discovery, like “I’ve peaked at eleven” (laughs). My grandfather really liked what he wrote and for a girl that was very important. My grandmother was an abstract art painter, she came to exhibit. And my uncle Cristian Casares created the Cómicos de la Lengua car, with which they went from town to town representing the classics. Naturally, my great-grandfather Julio Casares, an unrepeatable man: in addition to being a linguist and speaking 16 languages, he was a diplomat, musician, carpenter, essayist, RAE academic… Someone from the Renaissance and his love for words has come to me, although it is enough for me to be proud. to write popular songs; I’m light years away from him.
What do you feel when the radio, at a party or a bar sounds like Amores de barra or We cast lots?
I am always surprised. I find it very pretty; I feel grateful to whoever chose those songs to play. It happened to me the other day: I went to a radio station to present this album and sitting on the point of the interview, I got very excited. It was with We are waiting for you.
Now, with three albums out of the duo Ella baila solo…
Wait a minute, I want to specify one thing: we dissolved the duo in 2001. It’s not that I left, but that we dissolved it. She dances alone, which will be Marta and Marilia, they finished that year and she hasn’t existed anymore. In 2021 we celebrated our 25th anniversary, although the headlines spoke of “the return”, but it was only to celebrate that anniversary with all our affection. I neither left nor was it unilateral, on the contrary: we all did everything possible to continue, to maintain it, until we mutually decided to end; we agreed that the creative circle had come to an end.
It was said that the relationship between you had soured: that if jealousy, envy…
When Pereza broke up, did anyone wonder if there was envy? We made the best decision we could with our age, in our early twenties, and in the situation we were living in. We couldn’t continue the creative circle, it happens to all bands. In life things happen that at the moment you get out of it as you can and with time and perspective perhaps you understand it in a different way or on the contrary, you see what you have learned thanks to the path you chose. The anniversary was very beautiful, for me it was celebrating something from another place, from the love and gratitude at another time in life.
You sold out Starlite. Do you rule out repeat?
Starlite is a wonderful, international festival that takes place in a unique place: playing in a quarry is like playing in the middle of the earth. I felt very proud to be able to share the stage with artists of such stature and experience the reception of the public. people really wanted a reunion that I think continues: the songs are still there. Hopefully we connect the same with the new songs. Life has many changes, I don’t rule anything out and my attitude is to be open to life and now life leads me to present this record.
Does the last name bother you, that ‘Marilia de Ella baila solo’ thing?
No, nothing weighs on me because it is reality; They are songs that I have composed since I was little and it is a highly recognized work. I am very grateful to what all this path has meant to me; in fact, in my concerts I include those songs, so that stage is still there but for me as a writer and artist, it is behind me. My project, Marilia, is different and continues to advance.
