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Flores bares her
soul; exploring her Indigenous Mexican-American heritage with vibrant
displays of visual and musical storytelling. She is an orator of her
ancestral reclamation, bringing praise to the importance of passing down
history through ceremonies of song and wisdom. In an age of superficial
music trends, Flores transcends the music zeitgeist through words of
poetic justice and meaning.
Raised in
the Chihuahuan desert of El Paso, Texas, she grew up within the Tigua
Indian Reservation that sits tucked away in what is the city’s oldest
district. Home to the Ysleta missions built in the 1500s, when the
earliest Spanish settlers arrived to convert the native people. Remnants
of colonization and the complexity of emotions it derives from the locals
is still palpable some 500 years later. Flores comes from a family of
Mexican farm workers, braceros and silver miners who faced discriminatory
Juan Crow laws, cruel immigration practices, assimilation and
exploitative labor. She finds it integral to build a conversation through
artistic expression, for the collective healing of generational traumas.
The
daughter of an activist mother who led the border movement “Ni Una Mas”
(Not One More) on behalf of “La Muertas de Juarez” against the continual
violence toward women in Mexico and South America. She was taught well by
the matriarchs before her. “My mother was a single mother, and her
mother’s mother, they were born swinging” she says. Flores’ project is a
testament to the power of women overcoming immeasurable obstacles and the
tenacity to stay true to your vision.
“America and
Spain alike, have depended on our labor for centuries. Often labor of the
poor, black and people of color. Yet, we are deliberately left out of the
scope of history, justice, or the education system. It’s time for
change.”
Being raised in
a household of women, as the youngest of 5, it was common to hear music
blasting every morning in her home, the likes of Chavela Vargas and
Paquita La Del Barrio. From piping trumpets of classic mariachi songs to
her mother’s love for modern jazz singers like Sarah Vaughn and Dinah
Washington. A paramount shift began early in her life when she
discovered The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, she kept it on constant
rotation. Her teens were spent borrowing her eldest siblings Rage against
the Machine albums and she began nurturing her love for lyricism and
depth. As an adolescent, she evolved into loving alternative artists such
as Radiohead and Frank Ocean. Flores’ musical palette is as culturally
diverse as her upbringing.
Having
released four songs independently, amassing over 9 million streams on
Spotify alone, with Pigeons and Planes calling her “the future of RnB,
and making it look easy.” Flores has spent 2020 crafting her debut
project. Touching on themes of immigration, cultural identity,
colonization, and gender roles. Her music tackles the issues at the
forefront of modern America and speaks for an often forgotten
demographic.
Unwavering
social messages and a voice to match, Flores aims to touch the hearts of
people like her and partake in the contribution to the new generation of
young brown women and men.
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