New album baptized with his own name, different live performances and the overwhelming drive of youth. A perfect combo that demonstrates the vertigo of this professional moment of Mery Granadoswith a journey worthy of admiration.
You can surround yourself with formidable musicians like Javier Malosetti, Guillermo Vadalá and Lito Vitale without abandoning your capacity for wonder. Within an authentic musical society, Mery sings and her father, the iconic comedian Pablo Granados, composes.
An admirer of her brother, Migue Granados, a follower of Olga and La Cruda, she is the youngest of three siblings and is perceived as someone who received a lot of love, care and family support.
Owner of her own style that recovers those ballads longed for by the nostalgic who ask for the slow ones to return, perhaps the magic is in her training, in her childhood listening to the great legends of national rock, and also in a present day where new figures are present like Lali or Sabrina Carpenter. Mery Granados is a standard-bearer of her time, but with a musical vision inherited from the Argentine rock and ballad tradition.
A life with the fundamental presence of music, a voice with enough confidence to stand on stage in front of thousands of people, an artist who enjoys singing, but also listening to her colleagues, takes advantage of a hot afternoon in the heart of Villa Crespo to talk with NOTICIAS in the midst of the activities of the Buenos Aires Music+ Video Festival 2024 (BAMV Fest) and share his enthusiasm for this bright stage of his career.
News: You just released your album and it’s called “Mery” like you. Do you identify her?
Mery Granados: Yeah! It is my third album and it has ten original songs, there are also two great guests, Coti and Julián Baglietto. The song with Coti is about love and heartbreak, but the one I did with Julián is folkloric, it tells the story of a love between people who have not seen each other for ten years and meet again. Julián Baglietto, in addition to having his solo project, is the drummer of Lito Vitale’s band.
News: Taking into account that there are ten songs, how long did it take to finalize this album?
Granados: It took us more or less the whole year to produce and record it. In reality, some are new songs, written especially for this album and there are other old ones, because my dad already had them. I always really liked his songs and since I was little I asked him to compose for me. One of the songs that was already there is called “Anchored in my body” and it appeared in a novel called “Wild Moon” where Carina Zampini starred. It’s a song that I always loved and I loved this album so we put it in, we made it a bolero. The composer of all the songs is my dad, but I give him ideas about what to talk about or he brings me a finished song and I change some things. We are a team.
News: He was doing great shows like Niceto’s. What is the preparation like for something like this?
Granados: In Niceto we played the new album in its entirety, the guests came, but we also played songs from my first and second album, the ones that people know best can never be missing. There are a lot of ballads because my audience really likes sad ballads to break your heart (smiles). But there are also various climates that a show goes through and it is necessary to be attentive when putting together the playlist, it is necessary that you find moments to dance, above. Also giving rise to angry songs where I talk a lot about feminism and toxic relationships. The show is like a roller coaster of feelings.
News: For his song “Emoji de café” he made a video with Nachito Saralegui, a beloved comedian who made a big leap thanks to “Porno y gelato.” How was that experience?
Granados: Oh yes! The song talks about a girl who waits every day for the boy she likes at the same bar and the boy never arrives. But she doesn’t realize that in broad daylight and in front of her eyes, if she looked around, she would find the one. Personally, I always had the idea that the right one was not the typical Prince Charming but rather a funny person, and I love Nachito Saralegui. I think he is one of the funniest comedians in Argentina and a great actor, in my head he was the ideal Prince Charming for this story.
News: What was it like working with Camilú and Maia Reficco on their song “Harta”?
Granados: I have two friends who for me are the best singers in Argentina, I’m talking about Camilú and Maia, I couldn’t not do something with them! It was wonderful to work together. It is a version that we love, the arrangements were made by Luna Sujatovich who also played the piano. There is nothing better than working with people you love. And on top of that they are so talented! We were delighted that we were all women, in front of and behind the camera.
News: While there have always been great female voices, do you feel like this is a more conducive time for songs made by women? Taylor Swift blows up stadiums singing about love and heartbreak from a feminist perspective
Granados: Yes, it seems to me that we are at a time in the country where women are at full strength with their music representing us all over the world and that is incredible. I like to add my share of slower songs, not so poppy, I like to explore that side. But I’m also a fan of all the ones that are in the mainstream.
News: These days, thanks to the series “Cromañón”, there has been a lot of talk about José Giménez Zapiola, “El Purre”. You have sung with him, how was it?
Granados: We went on tour in October with “El Purre” because we share a management team and once at the beginning of the year we happened to play in Uruguay, each with their musicians. In the morning at the hotel we started to play a song, it came out divine and we said: “Hey, let’s do it together today in our show”, it flowed spectacularly and it was necessary to do something between the two of us. His music has a lot to do with mine.
News: What is the best thing about dedicating yourself to music?
Granados: I don’t know whether to limit it to music, maybe we should tell the best thing about doing what you love. Turning passion into a job is the most privileged thing that happened to me in my life, because sometimes it is very difficult to work on what you like, you have to work hard. In my case, working on it all the time makes me very happy.
News: Is your dad a big help?
Granados: Yes, because he also produces and composes. We get along very well as a team and since he is such a good composer I always want him by my side (laughs).
News: He has an album called “10 thousand meters of happiness.” Besides music, what other things make you happy?
Granados: That is my second album, it is called that because we were already coming from the first one which is titled “With the wings on” and I realized that the whole journey was one of happiness. The rehearsals, the recordings, playing live (which is the best part for me), going on tour, everything was a journey of happiness. Today my friends, my family, my nephews and other people’s music also make me happy, not just mine.
News: During Charly Day in Olga, he sang “Peperina” with his father. How do you remember it?
Granados: Wow, it was beautiful. The three of us were going to sing together, with Migue included, but he was afraid of not having a voice and gave me all his parts (laughs). It was a tremendous responsibility because it is a fear, but I always feel comfortable when I sing with them. It is a family atmosphere that transcends us, the entire Charly Day was like that, it was full of Charly fans up and down the stage and you felt that. Personally, I followed him all my life, since I was born in my house I have listened to Charly, Fito, Cerati and Spinetta. We are all very fans in the family.
News: And besides those musicians, who do you listen to lately when you want to relax?
Granados: From here I really like Knowing Russia, El Zar, Fabiana Cantilo, Hilda Lizarazu, Marcela Morelo. Of the girls today who make music more for dancing, I love Lali and Emilia. After all, I love Billie Eilish, Sabrina Carpenter, Adele, Amy Winehouse…many women!
