Elsa Carvajal, better known in the music world as Elsa y Elmar, is opening up about one of her most personal projects ‘Palacio.’ The Colombian musician talked to HOLA! about the importance of pouring her emotions and human experiences into her art.
Accompanied by incredible visuals, each track goes hand in hand with a music video that highlights the project in every way. Exploring the feelings of love, death, and womanhood, Elsa is excited about the release of her fourth album, keeping her authenticity and sharing a vulnerable side with her fans.
You talk about your family in Colombia with so much passion. What is the importance of your family and their story in your art?
My family provided me with the emotional framework and the freedom to become an artist. They are a working family with no connections to the art world, but within that context, they allowed me to be myself. They neither over-encouraged nor suppressed my artistic side, which gave me the opportunity to find my own path. I had the support of my mother, the applause of my grandparents, and the craziness of my dad. In my personal life, I feel blessed and fortunate to be part of my family—beautiful and flawed, like all families, opinionated yet unconditional. These dualities in my family also gave me the drive to “prove,” in a positive way, my limits to myself and to them.
“This is an album that is profoundly personal. My life, thoughts, feelings and experiences are there.”
Elsa y Elmar
With your art and with your music, there is a healing process that everyone can relate to; with life experiences, breakups, and family issues, is this something you intend in your creative process?
I never thought about it in the beginning, but after 10 years of making music, it feels like this is just the place my art occupies in people’s lives. It was never my initial intention. I made music because I felt a strong responsibility to create it, and I made it when I had a deep urge to express specific things through it. I suppose I made it as my own way of relating to myself, and as I’ve come to understand, the human experience is a healing process in itself, so I guess my music plays a role in that. But I don’t take that as a given. One day, I might just want to play a different part in my listeners’ experience… who knows.
“I naturally gravitated towards using my own music as a place to explore my inner world and connect with others.”
Elsa y Elmar
You suffered a near-death experience. Did this give you a different perspective on life, and did it influence your new project?
Oh, that experience taught me that most things in life are just out of my control, BUT it also taught me to TRUST. When I came back to health after this experience, I had an internal feeling of trust in life, and I knew I was going to make a new album and everything was going to fall into place. Don’t get me wrong, it was a HARD process, but in the end, it happened.
You previously stated that creating music makes you feel powerful and gives you a thrill like no other, how was that process in this new upcoming album?
While making this album, I reconnected with the passion for making music for the sake of doing it. I was in the middle of a negotiation that had me a bit “frozen” so in all honesty, that is how I dealt with the uncertainty. Creativity gave me strength, faith, and power.
Your new song and music video for ‘Drogada de Emociones’ encapsulates what falling in love feels like, with a rush of emotions and vulnerability, tell me a little bit about your creative process.
That is exactly the feeling. When we are falling in love there are a bunch of chemicals running through our body and that is an awesome feeling that I wanted to portray. I don’t remember how I came up with the concept, but I remember this was an easy song to make in terms of writing. The production was a longer process as I wanted it to be a journey that takes the listener through the process of falling in love and then enjoying it with calm and gratitude. It took like 6 months to get to the sweet spot.
There is great importance for visuals in your new album, is this something that goes hand in hand and compliments each song?
Thank you! Since the beginning, I knew this was a visual album. The songs were so sensorial!!! We started creating the visual album when the songs were still demos, so the videos respond directly to the process of each song. We started to create a story for each song and from that story we created the videos. Through the videos, the Palacio visual universe is explained, explored, and extended. Each video is full of art pieces, details and stories that enrich the Palacio.
This is such a personal project. There is even a track titled after your late dog Policarpa, tell me a little bit about the topics you touch in this album.
Yes, this is an album that is profoundly personal. My life, thoughts, feelings and experiences are there.
‘Policarpa,’ talks about the death of my pup and the near death experience I had.
‘Querer Así’ talks about the sudden illness of my grandfather and how I realized the death of my loved ones was an imminent reality.
I also talked about sorority and womanhood in ‘A Ella’ and ‘Entre las Piernas.’
“Through the videos, the Palacio visual universe is explained, explored and extended. Each video is full of art pieces, details and stories that enrich the Palacio.”
Elsa y Elmar
How would you define your sound?
To be honest, I don’t know. I make pop music with a spiritual twist.
When you think about your journey in music, what is the defining moment in your career that pushed you to start pouring all your emotions into songwriting and singing?
This is also a hard one. This was something I associated music with probably before I started making music. Artists I listened to did the same thing, and music served that purpose in my own experience, so probably that is why I naturally gravitated towards using my own music as a place to explore my inner world and connect with others.
You’re performing here in Los Angeles at the Greek, which is such a special venue, you’re opening for Julieta Venegas, how exciting is this upcoming show for you?
Julieta is an idol. I don’t have the pleasure to know her, so this is a special date in every way. This is my first time performing in LA since 2017 when I lived there and when I performed in Hotel Café and The Roxy, so I am excited and honored to be back with such an inspiring artist as Julieta.
You have some incredible collaborations, is there someone that inspires you that you would like to collaborate with in the future?
Many artists!!!! Juan Luis Guerra is a dream, Jesse & Joy, Karol G, Frank Ocean of course.
What are you manifesting this year with the release of your new album?
My manifestation is that Palacio becomes the new sound of Latin American Pop, and with it, I want to be able to perform in new places and venues.
© Elsa y Elmar
© Elsa y Elmar
© Elsa y Elmar