María Solá: "People who need applause usually have many shortcomings"

When she was at university, María Solá (Buenos Aires, 25 years old) created the character of Jordana B., with echoes of indie cinema. «She did the TFG [End-of-Grade Project] on the investigation and creation of an alter ego, and that's how Jordana B. was born, in honor of the movie Submarine. She could do all the things that I didn't dare, like sing, she had an incredible complex with my voice," she explains. The stages of her parents, the actors Blanca Oteyza and Miguel Ángel Solá, made her feel "like a fish in water on stage" since she was a child. They moved from Argentina to Spain when María was five years old because her father received threats that extended to her. «He has always been very activist, he has made very powerful enemies, I can count up to that. They did not let me return to Argentina until I turned 18, my life was marked by this, "says the singer, who is now publishing her first EP, We have to talk, with Subterfuge. A pop work full of irony, "songs to make pogos" and self-vindication.

You published a collection of poems at the age of 19. Was writing your refuge?I didn't have a very good time at school and I found refuge in the fictional worlds of books, which is why I started writing. When I arrived from Argentina to Spain, I didn't fit in, I didn't belong. As my parents were artists, I always had a sensitivity that also played tricks on me, because others did not perceive things in the same way that I did.

How did you go about putting those poems to music?I realized that I had listened to so much music that my poems had choruses. I had listened to a lot of rap, I became obsessed with the rhymes.

Do you use personal stories when composing?Yes, I like to capture personal experiences, but I always try to do it with a layer of irony, sarcasm, laughing at myself, satirizing things so that I don't they hurt so much It is a shield against pain. I'm talking about the anti-heroine, the loser, who does things wrong and is wrong.

Do you act better with an alter ego?With the name Jordana B. it's not me, she can do whatever she wants. Many artists create an alter ego for that. C. Tangana is the constant creation of alter egos, that protects you from going a little crazy.

In one of his videos he puts a photo of C. Tangana on a target, why?Because at that time I didn't like him very much, it was when he was making the transition to El madrileño, He seemed like the typical macho to me, but then I was amazed to see how he brought to the ears of the whole world genres and customs that are not common among young people.

He also talks in his songs about losers, about the ephemeral nature of fame.Yes, it's a matter of feeling accepted that I think has a lot to do with social media. People who need to go on stage or applaud us usually have many shortcomings. With the networks, you can go from someone who admired their biggest idols to being the idol in an immediate way. If they praise you overnight, you think you were born a star, and that's a lie. People raise you, lower you or cancel you.

Her theme Bad feminist was born from being judged on the networks. Is so much exposure scary?I laugh now, but it was a blow, I was frustrated that someone tried to indoctrinate me into what feminism had to be, that they thought their feminism was more valid for not waxing than mine for having read 40 essays in two years. The song, which I titled in homage to Roxanne Gay, criticizes hypocrisy.

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Are women in music judged a lot?It's a world ruled by men, but it's better in recent years, although there's always someone who tells you 'I've been here for 40 years, Let's see pretty, I'm going to tell you how things are. That pressure is everywhere.

Did that lead you to create a group with other girls?At first we were four, and now we are two and a boy. She wanted to work with girls because she had always been admiring boys, applauding boys, dating the one who played the guitar... And I wanted to empower myself. Today there are more references, but five years ago we went to see the Hinds and you had them and that's it, and they also criticized them a lot, the envy was brutal. I had that fear, I believed that I could not act, that it was a space reserved for them. Everything changed when I read some books that blew my mind in this regard: How to make a girl, by Caitlin Moran; We Were Boys by Patti Smith and The Girls by Emma Cline.

Your project was born in 2019 and then the pandemic just hit, did you consider forgetting Jordana B.?Yes, a lot of times, the question of whether or not to quit is always on everyone's mind the people who make music. It is a sacrificial job that requires good mental health, because you are the product. Your character is what sells. In the last four years I have worked in vintage stores, a bakery, giving private lessons, taking care of children and now I am a copy creative in an advertising agency… I really want to see people dancing to my songs, singing them.

Some talk about the nightlife in Madrid, is it still as inspiring as it was before the covid?You have the feeling of having lost a stage of your life, I notice that people are taking it with too much emotion Like life is short, take advantage of it.

* Styling: Paula delgado. Makeup and hairstyling: Miky Vallés for Mac Cosmetics, Bobbi Brown and KVD Beauty of InHouse.