Digital Cover Vol. VI | Aitana

In HIGHXTAR. we celebrate the rentrée with our sixth Digital Cover with one of the best known national artists worldwide: Aitana. The 24-year-old artist has become one of the most revered musical figures of the pop scene.

After publishing the cover and releasing the previews ‘Los Ángeles’, ‘LAS BABYS’ and ‘miamor’ in collaboration with Rels B, the countdown begins for the most awaited album of the artist: alpha. A project with which she explores new sounds and with which a new Aitana is born.

The singer met with the HIGHXTAR. team to talk about her third album and her more electronic side. Taking advantage of the occasion, we carried out an editorial in which Aitana elevates the LEVI’S® garments that we customized exclusively for her.

HIGHXTAR (H) – A question we miss today: How are you, but for real?

AITANA (A) – I am really doing very well now. I will remember this year 2023 all my life for being a year of great change on a professional and personal level. My third studio album is coming out soon and I am very excited. It’s been three years since I last released an album, I’ve taken the time I really needed. I felt like releasing a project like this and put on hold releasing single songs as I had been doing for some time now. So I’m feeling great because on September 22nd ‘alpha’ is coming out, which is quite different to what I’ve done so far, and I’m nervous about the feedback from my fans although I’m confident they’re going to love it.

H – Since you left the Operación Triunfo academy, you haven’t stopped making music. Where is the balance between enjoying work and rest?

A –  I am a person who has always tried to find a balance between work and rest. I try to enjoy my work, but I try not to become obsessed with it. Even though I haven’t stopped much during all these years, my body sometimes asks for it. I am the composer of my lyrics, so sometimes I have to stop and live to be inspired. My team has always respected those gaps I find to disconnect. It’s more of an internal battle of ‘when’, but I’d say the work/rest thing is what I do best.

H – Now that you have returned to Madrid after the summer, do you think it is necessary to stop from time to time?

A –  For two summers now I have taken 2/3 weeks of ‘vacation’ to be with my family. My schedule is planned a year ahead, so I know more or less when I will have time to be with them. I think it’s important to recharge yourself with the energy of your people in order to keep going. I love being in the studio and doing concerts, but I also find it necessary to spend time with the people I love the most in order to be able to give the best of myself afterwards.

H –You’ve just announced that your long-awaited ‘alpha’ album will be released on September 22nd. How is it being received?

A –   The truth is that it is being incredible. I just post something about the album on social networks and in less than three minutes there are already 500 comments. It’s crazy. People want to be present and give their opinion on each advance and I think it’s great that they want to be part of the project and want to know what’s behind it. In the end it’s still a pop album, but with electronic influences and this new step makes people very intrigued by what’s to come. Also, all the pre-sale albums are sold out and that makes me think that people are really looking forward to it. I can’t wait for it to come out.

H – In the previews you have uploaded we discover a new version of you. How would you define this new Aitana?

A –  I think she is the same Aitana as always, but more mature. The years go by, and I’m certainly not the same as when I started when I was 18. Although I’m 24 now, and I’m still young, I notice my evolution within the industry. Falling down, healing and getting up is how you grow. Learning from experience seems to me to be the most important thing. So I don’t feel that I’m a new Aitana, but simply a new, more adult version, with more experience, who wants to have fun and be herself.

H – You started with pop and you are evolving towards new, more experimental sounds. Do you think it is important for an artist to constantly renew himself?

A – I think it’s important for an artist to do what he or she is really born to do. If you identify with a style and you are comfortable with it and you don’t feel like changing, that’s what you have to do. I think the failure is in trying to follow the pattern that works for other people, because the important thing is to listen to yourself and do what really makes you happy. I’ve felt like experimenting within pop music and that’s what I think I want to keep doing. I keep composing new songs that don’t follow the aesthetics of ‘alpha’, nor do I pretend to. I want to flow. I like to do pop and depending on the stage I’m in and what inspires me, my music will go towards some sounds or others.

H – What or who has influenced you to reach this darker and electronic side?

A – I have been influenced a lot by the music of the nineties above all. The hits of that time that were played in the clubs and you didn’t even know who it was from or what album it belonged to, but you sang it from beginning to end. Gipsy Woman’ or ‘The Rhythm Of The Night’, are some of the songs I’m referring to. I wanted to make tracks that would play in the clubs and make you dance. I wasn’t inspired by any particular artist or trend, I just asked myself ‘what do I want to do’? And I let myself go.

H – Why did you decide to call it ‘alpha’?

A – I knew I wanted to do something generational and I came up with a lot of ideas around Gen Z, which is the generation I belong to. But I realized that the album was more focused on the future, on what’s coming… the generation that’s coming after: the alpha. I also have a lot of fans who are younger than me, so speaking directly to them is also nice. Also the word itself has a lot of strength and fits perfectly with the line of the album that talks about sensuality, love and empowerment. ‘alpha’ also refers to the concept of ‘alpha woman’, a woman who has values of sonority and sisterhood.

H – The album reflects the different experiences and feelings you have lived through in the last few years. How have you evolved emotionally since this last stage?

A – Emotionally I am a different person. Especially in the stage from 18 to 35 (although I am 24 years old) you change a lot. You come out of adolescence where you experience misunderstanding, you evolve and you realize that only you can pull your own chestnuts out of the fire, you start to listen to yourself and to take care of yourself…. Obviously I’m in the middle of an emotional change because I’m still learning, and like life itself, one day I’m down, another day I’m up? Of course if I think back to my past self I was much more insecure and sensitive… now I know that if I’m here it’s because I deserve it and I’ve worked on it.

H – And musically, how has your style changed since you released your first single until now?

A – Not only has my singing changed, but also the way I compose and my musical references. I feel very proud of the songs I did at that time, for example my first album was very varied, you could tell it was pop, but there was no concept behind it. There were even songs in English. My first single ‘Teléfono’ also had a lot of repercussion both nationally and internationally. There is a lot of difference from what I was to what I am now, but I see it in perspective and I’m happy with every decision I made

H – What inspired you to create the album?

A – Basically I have found a balance between who I am, the melodies that come to me naturally influenced by today’s pop and the dynamics that were generated in the 90’s within the club scene.

H – How has the creation process been? Has it changed much from the beginning until now?

A – I started composing a lot of songs from the time I released ’11 REASONS’ until now. And there they were, in a messy drawer because I still didn’t have a clear concept of where it was going to go. ‘alpha’ although some parts have obviously gotten bigger, it focuses on me and how I’ve been feeling. I made the album in two months because I was so inspired and because I saw a very clear direction of where I wanted to go. So this could be an anecdote of the album ‘that the best albums don’t have to be made in 5 years, they can come out all of a sudden’.

H – Fun, freedom, fluidity… What did you want to convey with the imagery of this new stage?

A – Undoubtedly the three words you said define the imaginary quite well. You can’t miss empowerment, change, love and lovelessness either… No doubt there is room for letting what you feel without feeling judged, indecision, confusion, the validity of your feelings and thoughts… That’s why there are songs that are danceable but sad at the same time, because they represent the incongruence of what we say, how we feel and what we do.

H – In the video clip Los Angeles you give visibility to the different types of relationships that exist in society. What do you think of the concept of love today?

A – For me the concept of love is based on being with someone who makes you happy. I have grown up in a family where the LGTBIQ+ community has had and still has a place, which seems unbelievable, but not in all families it is the same. Members of my family are part of the collective. So since I was a child I have been taught that love is free. For me what is shocking is that there are people who still do not consider that each person is free to love whomever he or she wants. There is still a long way to go.

H – Define the bond you have with your family and friends in one word.

A – Love and trust.

H –What is your relationship with social networks? Have you ever considered giving them up for a while?

A –  The relationship I have with social networks is quite atrocious. What attracts me most about them is that in the end they are a direct bridge to communicate with my fans. But they have caused me a lot of anxiety. Being all the time depending on my cell phone as if it were an extension of my hand… I know it’s part of my job, but it’s something that is still hard for me to digest. Society has imposed this dependence on us without realizing it and it’s something that makes me very upset. Nowadays if you are not active in the networks you are left behind as an artist, the industry is pending on the algorithm, TikTok, the scope … Finding the balance between being present to be able to reach more people who listen to my music, but that it doesn’t become an obligation, is complicated.

H – Women artists are becoming more and more visible. What position would you say women are in within the music scene?

A – When you look at a Spotify top 50 from different countries 80% are men. That’s a reality. And it doesn’t mean that there are more talented men than women. Still, women keep climbing these lists and they are getting higher and higher. Karol G is touring in a way that many men have not achieved. This makes me proud as a woman, as it does Rosalía. On a conceptual level, scenography, lyrics… no man comes close to her. Even so, I think that more women should be made visible at festivals and in the press.

H – Many singers have created their own fashion or beauty brand, how would you like to diversify your personal brand?

A –  I really like to develop my creative side when it comes to fashion as I have been able to do recently with LEVI’S®. Selecting my favorite clothes and making them more my own. Being allowed to play with who I really am is something I love. Working on designing my own capsule with them is also a dream. In the end I wanted to study design at the time and now I think my two passions are aligning thanks to the brands that trust me.

H – Do you take more and more care of your image? What role does fashion play in your life?

A – Yes. I’m becoming more and more interested in getting to know new designers, emerging brands from different countries… I tend to be aware of trends, which does not mean that I follow them to the letter. For me the most important thing in fashion is to feel comfortable and at ease with myself.

H – How does your aesthetic change when you’re on stage and when you get off stage?

A – What I’m trying to do right now is not to change my aesthetic so much when I’m on and off stage. I want there to be a balance between how I dress in my day to day life and when I go on stage to sing. I tried to apply this on the last tour with looks designed by Pepa Salazar that I later kept and wear to dinner and parties. And this dynamic is the one I’m going to follow on the ‘Alpha’ tour with clothes that I can reuse when I get off the stage.

H – What was the first garment you decided to invest a lot of money in?

A – I really think they were LEVI’S®. I’m not just saying that because I’m wearing LEVI’S® . When I grew up watching my mother wear LEVI’S® jeans, I decided I wanted to invest in my own LEVI’S® too.

H –A mythical garment that cannot be missing in Aitana’s closet?

A – Jeans.

H – This year you are a LEVI’S® ambassador. When was the first time you had a 501?

A – I think I would be 13 years old.

H – Create a 100% Aitana look with LEVI’S®.

A – White T-shirt, LEVI’S® with rips, black belt, denim jacket with rips and black high boots.

H – A memory that comes to mind when you think of LEVI’S®.

A – My mom.

H – Tips to combine denim garments this season.

A – Well, with basic colors, but I’m also starting to like to combine denim with more fluorescent garments.

H – What is the last search you did on Google?

A – A Starbucks to buy coffee.

H – Have you ever searched for yourself on the Internet?

A – Of course. But like everyone else (he laughs).

H – What’s the weirdest thing you’ve read about yourself?

A – Something like I had bought a house, which I do now, but at that time it was unthinkable. Obviously I have had a lot of boyfriends according to the Internet.

H – A song you can’t stop listening to.

A – QLONA’ by Karol G and Peso Pluma. The truth is that I can’t stop listening to her new album.

H –A preview of ‘alpha’ that you would/can share.

A –  I can only tell you: “Ella bailaba mientras lloraba”.

CREDITS

Photography: Giovanni Fedele

Creative & Fashion: Alfredo Santamaría

Make Up: Fer Martinez

Hair: Jesus De Paula

Custom Designer & Fashion Assistant: Alfred Vivas

Postproduction: Pablo Rivera

Light and Photo Assistant: Marko Barrier

Light Assistant: Jaime Sánchez

Set Designer: Cito Ballesta

Set Designer Assistant: Jorge G

Video: Odyssey

Video Production: María Rodicio

Direction & edit: Kruman

DOP: Jorge Rico

Color: Lita Bosch

Sound design: Christian

Interview: Mar Piera

Produced by HIGHXTAR.lab.

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