Who is Nathy Peluso: The Latina Artist that is Breaking all Conventions

Nathy Peluso is a genre in herself, but if it needed to be defined, it would be a fusion of hip-hop, salsa, rap, trap, tango, jazz, blues, R&B and… really, whatever comes her way. And just as she mixes musical genres, she mixes languages. Does she sing in Spanish? Not really. Her lyrics are a strange mix of Argentinian slang, English, Catalan, Italian and plainly made-up words.

She is tall for a Latina: 5.5 feet high (1.7 meters). But her height is in no way what makes her presence unavoidable when she walks on stage, enters a room or appears on your Instagram feed: she seems hyperactive, always dancing, jumping around, twerking, making funny faces, and she’s always eating (she actually wrote a love song to a pizza) ????. It’s also the way she dances, the clothes she wears and, when she starts singing, her incredible voice.

And once you manage to understand her weird, made-up language, what are Nathy Peluso’s songs about? Well yes, pizza, for starters. We already mentioned that. But she’s also part of that female hip-hop wave that empowers women through her music: “Business Woman” is probably the most obvious example:

Me llaman porque soy una business woman

Tengo negocios que dirigir yo sola

Hago guita desde que nací bien piola

The TikTok challenge

“This made me feel like an empowered woman and I’m a man,” says one of the top comments on the YouTube video of Nathy Peluso’s contribution with Argentinian producer Bizarrap, which after only two weeks of its release had already 30 million views. Sexual empowerment is definitely another major topic in her music.

As soon as the “Music Sessions #36” collaboration with Nathy Peluso and Bizarrap came out, the TikTok generation started dancing to the chorus:

I’m a, I’m am a, I’m a nasty girl, fantastic

Este culo es natural, no plastic

Lo que toco lo hago bombastic

Todo’ eso’ gile’ a mí me la mastic-

Soon, the challenge had even more videos than the views on the original videos. More than 45 million TikTok videos were danced to this music, weather emulating the same choreography or giving it original twists.

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The singer even made her own versions, one of them next to singer and actress Lali Espósito, and actress Úrsula Corberó, who played Tokio in La casa de papel.

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Nathy Peluso: Calambre

Releasing a music video that generated a viral Internet challenge wasn’t even Peluso’s biggest accomplishment this year. While we were all trying to make the best of this pandemic by taking some online course or failing to stay fit, she was releasing her first album, Calambre and she was being nominated for two Latin Grammy’s: to Best New Artist and Best Alternative Song, for “Buenos Aires”, which she performed in the award’s gala, with Argentina’s rock legend Fito Páez.

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If that wasn’t enough, she performed her album’s main single “Sana sana” in Colors, where artists such as Billie Eilish have performed before.

And if all these hits, her singing and dancing skills, and unique style are sill not enough reason to watch out for Nathy Peluso, keep in mind her age: she’s only 25, going on 26 on Jan 12 2021, her birthday.

The ‘latinidad’ of Nathy Peluso

Being Latina is not the same experience when you’re living in Latin American than when you’re living in another country. While in Latin America you’re barely aware of your ‘latinidad’, it becomes key to your identity when you’re located abroad. And this is probably why many of the songs by Argentina’s raising singer Nathy Peluso are about being a Latina: she has been living in Spain since she was a kid and, from there, she has mixed and matched all possible Latinx rhythms and styles.

Many of her songs reflect that feeling US-based Latinxs know so well: the construction of an identity based on being from somewhere else, the continuous dodging or appropriation of stereotypes, the overcoming of obstacles such as racial discrimination, language guilt or accent barriers. Her most iconic song on this respect is La sandunguera:

Nathy Peluso: “La Sandunguera” + lyrics

Este es mi jazz latino

Este es mi jazz latino

Soy nena muy rica latinoamericana

De chiquita tenía bombachita de bandana

Lo que menos me importa es tu banana

Acércate que te enseño katana

Si me llamas al cell y te voy a rescatar

Te saco todo el juguito de mi ananas

Cocino boloñesa no me meto en macana

No quiero que a mi amiguito se lo lleven en cana

No quiero explicarte, no me da la ga-

No sé si yo estoy haciendo musica urba-

Lo único que sé es que me escucha tu pana

Abre tu ser, veo tu mente llana

Yo entiendo que diga que mi culo está muy bueno

Vení vos probame que te enseño mi veneno

La sandunguera yo soy la verdadera

Salsa y sabor oye más tu quisieras

Este es mi jazz latino…

La bohemia de la nena te trajo miel

Sabiduría y placer

No había nadita que hacer

Solo aprendí a crecer

Estoy en la montaña besando a la vida

Por todo lo que tengo, estoy agradecida

Mamita no quiero que estés herida

Que la familia nunca se divida

No me de la mano, no quiero tocarte

Tu plata postura está muy lejos de mi arte

A mí nunca con nada me podrás comprar

Acá te espero solo si querés ayudar

Al escribir yo siento la paz

Me importa un pepino que concha dirás

Yo hago música para el mundo

Mi mensaje es tan profundo

For all motherfuckers

Este es mi jazz latino…

 

Nathy Peluso: Bio

Her full name is Nathalia Beatriz Dora Peluso, but her stage name is Nathy Peluso. Born in January 1995 in Argentina, she spent her first years in Buenos Aires, before moving with her family to Spain at the age of 9.

As she has explained in an interview for La Resistencia, she did rhythmic gymnastics for 9 years, where they used to tell her that she was “too fat”. But, as she said to the camera during this interview: “La gorda está triunfando” [the fat girl is now succeeding]. Later on, she briefly studied Audiovisual Communications, Physical Theatre and Dancing.

After performing in bars and restaurants as a jazz singer since she was 16 and independently publishing her music on YouTube for years, she starting working as a full-time musician in 2017, after releasing Esmeralda. Soon after, with the release of her first EP, La Sandunguera, she started receiving invitations to participate in shows and festivals across Spain, Europe and Latin America.

On 2020, she released her debut album, Calambre, which included powerful songs such as “Sana sana”, “Buenos Aires” and “Natikillah”.

Nathy Peluso: “Sana sana”


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