Maria Jaume: "I miss Mallorca more and more each day"

PalmThe Mallorcan singer Maria Jaume published this Friday San Domingo Forever (Halley Records), a tribute to her hometown, Lloret de Vistalegre, and its patron saint, Sant Domingo: "I miss Mallorca more and more each day," she stated in an interview with Europa Press. This is her fourth studio album and is her "most personal" and most conceptual to date, with 15 songs that blend pop and traditional sounds, using the town's main festival night as a common thread, the singer explained.

"It's an album that aims to represent what village festivals are all about, in a very personal, very specific way, but at the same time evoking a great universality. At a village festival, everyone can feel welcome and included, whether they're from Mallorca or anywhere else," he added. The album blends very personal and introspective moments with others of celebration and fun, just like in the village square: "You end up with the people you love most and others you'd rather never see again."

Pop with a message

The artist pointed out that she and her producer, Lluís Cabot, were very clear that they wanted to make a "pop and universal" album, but one that started from a very specific story rich in images and symbolism.

"More and more people are doing it, for example Bad Bunny: it's very universal music, but he's talking about his home and a problem in his community. I'm interested in a style of pop that's very fresh and that you can put on anytime, but that has a message," he added.

Evolution nostalgia

The singer has said she feels very different now than when she started her career—she composed her first album at 18—and believes her music has evolved as her tastes and knowledge have changed: "I started without knowing how to write a chorus, but I feel more and more comfortable making music. I think I've finally found my way."

Maria Jaume currently lives in Barcelona, ​​where she says that as a teenager she longed to leave: "Being from a small town is incredible, but you also feel a bit suffocated. Barcelona welcomed me warmly and allowed me to dedicate myself to music, but now I miss Mallorca more and more."

"Now that I'm older, and my career path is clearer, I see more clearly that I don't want to leave Lloret, that I want to reconcile with the teenage Maria who wanted to leave," she added.

Collaborations and live performances

The album includes collaborations with the Catalan artist Ouineta (This is for you), with whom he says it was organic, quick and easy to work, as well as with Ortiga (Cartos Bone): "It was really cool to find this concept of Mallorcans and Galicians leaving their homeland and going to the capital to earn a living and then returning."

San Domingo Forever closes with Jota Final of the Festivities alongside Miquela Lladó, singer of the group Música Nostra, which revives traditional Mallorcan songs. "In the end, there's a lot of folk on the album, but very deconstructed; I wanted to finish with a traditional jota. It was an honor to have Miquela join me," she explained.

Maria Jaume will present the work live at the Auditori de Girona on March 21st and will then begin a tour of Catalonia and Mallorca that will include stops in Manacor, Barcelona, ​​Inca, San Juan, as part of the latest Mobofest, Cornellà del Terri, Vic, L'Arboç, Vilanova i Geltrú, Salou, Talarn, Lloret de Vistalegre and Maó.