Ona Mafalda knew from the start that her new song needed another voice, and not just any voice. The artist has just released Quiero, a track in which she teams up with La Bien Querida, one of her major inspirations, to build a luminous and emotional song that speaks, precisely, of that which we sometimes forget to say: thanks.
The collaboration was born in the studio, while the singer was working on the song with Dani, her producer. The first half of the track began to take shape between the two, but when the idea started to become clearer, the artist knew who should accompany her. «Es que tiene que estar Ana en esta canción. No la puedo terminar sin ella», she recalls. An intuition that ended up becoming a collaboration that, for her, was indispensable: «Sabía que no iba a estar completa sin ella».
A collaboration that arose naturally
La Bien Querida not only lent her voice to the track, but also took part in the second half of the composition. Both finished the song together in the studio, a process in which Ona Mafalda discovered one of the keys of Quiero: the chemistry between their voices. «For me, above all, it was the magic of our voices», explains the artist, who acknowledges that you never really know how two voices will work until they arrive at the recording. In this case, the result was especially satisfying for her: «Our voices are super well balanced together and work very well».
Ona Mafalda and La Bien Querida singing together
The choice of La Bien Querida is no coincidence either. Ana Fernández-Villaverde is a fundamental figure for Ona, whom she has regarded as a reference for years. Hence the nerves ahead of the release were even greater. “I collaborated with an artist, a woman I admire so much and who has always been a great reference for me,” she says. Now, she adds, the two are “very proud and very happy” with the result.
A Song to Say Thanks
Beyond the collaboration, Quiero is born with a very concrete intention: to put music to gratitude. The song is part of Ona’s new project, an EP of five songs that will see the light at the end of October and in which the artist seeks to convey a different energy. “They are songs that make us feel inspired, that make us feel empowered, that make us feel the desire to take on the world,” she explains.
It is also a shift in personal and artistic perspective. “I’m not at a moment anymore of writing sad songs,” she acknowledges. Instead, she leans toward songs that look toward the luminous and that can become a way to express what perhaps is hard to say aloud.
In the case of this single, the message is in the title itself. Ona wants whoever hears the song to think of the person they need to thank for being there: “I want the person who listens to dedicate it to the person they want to thank.” It can be a family member, a friend, a partner, or a colleague. After the first days since its release, the artist says the reception has been especially beautiful, to the point where there has been a curious reversal: “The lyric of the song is ‘Quiero darte las gracias’ and people are kind of thanking us.” A response that, for her, is “very beautiful.”
The union with La Bien Querida also serves Mafalda to reflect on the current moment in music, where collaborations have become a common presence. For her, the key lies in there being a real connection between the artists and that the meeting does not respond solely to a strategy to add names. “You can tell when collaborations are natural and arise from those connections between artists,” she defends. And this new song is, in a sense, the perfect example of that idea: a song that was born with one voice in the author’s head and that grew until becoming a shared work.
Ona Mafalda’s new phase will continue in October with the release of a five-track EP. On October 22, the artist will present the project live at the Sala Clamores in Madrid with her band. “I’m really looking forward to it, above all to present it, go out and play these songs and keep playing and playing,” she assures.
