Name: Jimena Angel
Nationality: Colombian
Occupation: Singer, producer, guitarist, DJ
Current release: Jimena Angel's new single "Selflove," featuring a remix by Yuksek, is out via Party Fine.
Recommendations for Bogotá, Colombia: I live between Bogotá and La sierra Nevada de Santa Marta. In Bogotá, I recommend to go for dinner and to party. Bogota is known for its varied and high quality gastronomy. As for partying, Colombia is a very diverse country musically speaking and Bogota is the epicentre of what emerging bands are doing and showcasing accompanied by amazing DJs and parties.
In the Sierra you have to go to the beautiful beaches and jungle of the Tayrona Park. <3
Topics that I am passionate about but rarely get to talk about: I’ve always liked astrology and tarot—long before they became trendy. When I first got into them, they weren’t popular at all; in fact, they were almost taboo.

[Read our Yuksek interview]

If you enjoyed this Jimena Angel interview and would like to stay up to date with her music and live dates, visit her on Instagram, bandcamp, and Soundcloud.



Where does the impulse to create something come from for you? What role do often-quoted sources of inspiration like dreams, other forms of art, personal relationships, politics etc play?

The impulse to create changes depending on the way I start with the process. Sometimes I am just singing a melody and then I continue to add the words that fit. It is very instinctive. I let the words come in as they appear – just like a kind of improvisation.

Other times I start studying an instrument (guitar, drum machine or synth) and that leads me to some kind of feeling that tells me what to talk about.

I mainly talk / sing about what is happening in my life … what I am experiencing or witnessing, like love, personal growth and problems within my community or country.

For you to get started, does there need to be concrete ideas – or what some have called a 'visualisation' of the finished work? What does the balance between planning and chance look like for you?

As I am a very instinctive person, I don’t really plan what I am going to do.

I just follow methods to get the inspiration that leads me towards the goal I have in mind, like for example … studying some highlife guitars if I want to do something similar, or studying the drum machine that closes out a new track.

The result is usually quite different from what I started with. But it is part of the way for me to get somewhere.

Is there a preparation phase for your process? Do you require your tools to be laid out in a particular way, for example, do you need to do 'research' or create 'early versions'?

The preparation to create, would be studying, listening to music and having all the equipment of the studio connected and ready to play.

Do you have certain rituals to get you into the right mindset for creating? What role do certain foods or stimulants like coffee, lighting, scents, exercise or reading poetry play?

For me to have a good day in the studio I like to have a slow morning, giving me time to do some breathing exercises, meditation. If there is enough time, I like to exercise (dancing or riding a bicycle). And a good cup of coffee is quite important!

The lighting in the studio is based on colourful lamps with warm light. I don’t like the direct light from bulbs and yes … sometimes lighting a candle and some incense or an essential oil is nice.

I like all of these, but none of them are strictly necessary to create … sometimes even under the worst conditions, a great song has come out.

For "Selflove," what did you start with? If there were conceptual considerations, what were they?

With “SELFLOVE” I just started singing the melody and lyrics, and afterwards I did the production of the song. It was as simple as that.

Tell me a bit about the way the new material developed and gradually took its final form, please.

With “SELFLOVE,” it was a crazy process … I was listening to some “bullerengue” released on Palenque Records and then I went into the shower, where I started to sing a melody inspired by what I just heard.

The first words came instantly … “Yo soy mi madre”, que soy mi propio padre… ” (I am my mother, I am my own father).



I started to feel empowered as I sang, so I knew the way the lyrics where gonna go … talking about taking care of myself and being strong, especially when things are difficult, and I kept singing the lyrics on my way to the studio, while riding my bicycle.
 
In the studio I recorded the vocals and then I added a bassline on a bass that a friend had lent me at that time. I then added some beats and I got a very different first version of the track. It was more like an Antillean sound. I kept working on it that week, changing the beats to some more modern ones and playing the bass with a synth. It changed a lot and got a more dancefloor vibe.

I enjoyed the process a lot and it made me feel really powerful. It helped me out to feel better from what I was going through in that moment of my life.

What makes lyrics good in your opinion? What are your own ambitions and challenges in this regard?

For me, good lyrics sound smooth, they melt with the music like “osmosis.” I like them when they have a distinctive resonance because of the word play and also, when they have a powerful meaning that moves your heart or makes you think.

And of course, when you can’t get them out of your head … those are the lyrics that are truly good!

What are areas/themes/topics that you keep returning to in your lyrics?

Topics and subjects I always return to talk about: the one and only LOVE … of course! Love in all of its forms.

I tend also to talk about nature and its majesty and personal growth and empowerment, too.

Many writers have claimed that as soon as they enter into the process, certain aspects of the narrative are out of their hands. Do you like to keep strict control or is there a sense of following things where they lead you?

Music is that place where I feel most free and instinctive. So I always allow it to lead me wherever it needs to, even if it is a different place from where I was trying to get.

But of course, if I am never totally satisfied. I will keep trying different things until I feel I have found something interesting. I am willing to do as many versions of the same track as I need to uncover its real spirit.

There are many descriptions of the creative state. How would you describe it for you personally? Is there an element of spirituality to what you do?

For me the creative process is a way of healing …

I like to sing and compose melodies that feel somehow mantric … it takes me to a special states of mind, and there again lyrics enter in the body like through osmosis. This is really spiritual for me, and especially when the audience feels connected to it and is able to heal as well.

Apart from that, the act of playing an instrument is a total meditation for me.

Once a piece is finished, how important is it for you to let it lie and evaluate it later on? How much improvement and refinement do you personally allow until you're satisfied with a piece?

I usually listen to what I did right after I finish it many, many times … mainly because the sensation of having finished something is really exciting to me.

If I am not sure if I like it totally, I prefer to leave it and give myself some time to refresh my ears and mind, and give it another go. Sometimes I'll be unsure whether I liked a song or not, and then, after some time (days, months, even years), I took it to a new sound or kept working on it, until I liked it.

That, for example, was the case with “TELEPATIA,” the 2nd single we are planning to release … I did a song I didn’t quite like completely, and after 2 or 3 years I came back to it. I noticed that the thing that I liked the most was the beat, so I just used that, and composed a totally different bassline, new guitars, and a different melody over it.

Now, it is one of my favourite songs.

How do you think the meaning, or effect of an individual piece is enhanced, clarified or possibly contrasted by the EPs, or albums it is part of? Does each piece, for example, need to be consistent with the larger whole?

For me an album is like an art show at a gallery ... it's a complete work of art that shows a certain period of my life and what I've been learning from it, and interpreted with the instruments that have accompanied me during this period of time. So normally the works that I compose have a similar colour, sound and soul.

A single is more like a short chapter of a book ... like a small update of life.

In terms of what they contribute to a song, what is the balance between the composition and the arrangement (including production, mixing and mastering)?

I believe that all these processes have their own importance and their own place, but they also need to work together. If one of them comes across as weak, it's going to make everything else sound the same.

If you have an amazing composition but it sounds bad, you're not going to hear the good stuff you had. And if you have a weak composition that sounds great, you're going to hear very well, how bad the song is.

Music and the accompanying artwork are often closely related. Can you talk about this a little bit for your current project and the relationship that images and sounds have for you in general?

I love to see how music can be re-interpreted by the image you choose to represent it. I am a very visual person; I love strong and contrasting colours as in many of YUKSEK's visual works.

So I told Pierre that I would love to work with Parade because I have admired his work for a long time. It has been a great experience for me to see his interpretation of my music through his art. I really feel very lucky.

After finishing a piece or album and releasing something into the world, there can be a sense of emptiness. Can you relate to this – and how do you return to the state of creativity after experiencing it?

Oh yes!!! I do feel this after finishing an album, a tour, or a special gig ...

Nature has a very important place in my life, specially the sea, where I always go back to reset and recharge to start feeling inspired and with energy again.

I used to live on the Caribbean coast of Colombia, by the beach, and I will go back to it after I finish my upcoming tour for the release of “SELFLOVE.” I know I will need to rest and be quiet with myself for a while, to start again.

I already have some new things to work on, but first I will come to this connection I am talking about.

I would love to know a little about the feedback you've received from listeners or critics about what they thought some of your songs are about or the impact it had on them – have there been “misunderstandings” or did you perhaps even gain new “insights?”

Oh yes! I love this part, because I have been approached by many people in my life, to tell me what my music has meant to them ...

In general it has been very nice to see that it has helped them to get out of a depression, to feel strong and energetic again. There was once also a song I wrote which did not talk about sex at all, but that for a girl was like ‘the song’ of her first romantic moment with her boyfriend …

So well ... what a joy. .. long live love and me in the background! hehehehe 

Creativity can reach many different corners of our lives. Do you personally feel as though writing a piece of music is inherently different from something like making a great cup of coffee? What do you express through music that you couldn't or wouldn't in more 'mundane' tasks?

Well. .. Music is my religion, my therapy, my meditation, my best friend and my greatest and ultimate expression of love.

It is truly so wonderful that I could never think of it as a mundane task.