Panamanian singer-songwriter Sofia Valdes talks about self-titled debut LP and her roots.
It’s not that she has an irrational fear of performing or anything like that; Valdés’ career as a musician is more fated than most. She’s the great-granddaughter of two legendaryicons, Cuban musician Miguelito Valdés and Panamanian singer Silvia de Grasse, who both died during or shortly after separate onstage performances in 1978.
Even as Valdés, 24, recounts her ancestors’ tragic endings, she’s youthfully animated from the balcony of her boyfriend’s apartment in L.A. She talks with her hands and widens her hazel eyes, complemented by the green Ralph Lauren plaid sweater she is wearing. “They gave so much that at some point they forgot about themselves,” Valdés says about her great-grandparents. She lowers her voice: “I want to give my all to music, but I don’t want to lose myself in it.
Of the newly released songs, “Tacones Por La Puerta” hits the hardest as Valdés directs tough questions to her matriarchal family over Verocai’s haunting string arrangement. The effect is reminiscent of Leonard Cohen’s “Chelsea Hotel #2.” Valdés sings “,” which translates to, “Why don’t you see me? / If I do everything you ask of me/ I live tired in your hands.” She ends the song with the somber realization that she’s more like her mother and grandmother than she realizes.
Now, the singer-songwriter shares a place with roommates in Lincoln Park. “When I got my first bedside table, it was so emotional for me because I was like, ‘This is mine,’” Valdés says. “There’s nothing that makes me happier.”The pressure to find housing was compounded by her desire to succeed in the music industry. She didn’t want to disappoint her family back in Panama who have pitched in emotionally and financially as Valdés built her career.
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