Julieta Venegas – Explosión
The first time she’s stood alone in our spotlight…

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[6.25]
Juana Giaimo: When reality becomes too much to bear, there isn’t other option but to write about it. What characterizes “Explosión” is the urge, reflected in the instability of her voice, of being in front of a world falling apart in front of her own eyes. The story-like lyrics are straightforward and aim at giving a clear message to the listeners: there are people being murdered and disappearing, who have lost their identity because nobody cares about them. In this tragic situation, Julieta incites her listeners to take action! Music alone can’t save the world, but at least it can make us conscious.
[9]
Rebecca A. Gowns: Venegas is a consistently good singer-songwriter, and this song is no exception in her excellent track record. This is one of those songs layered with meaning: in one sense, it’s a poem filled with inventive imagery; in another, it’s an existential dilemma; in another, a plea for an end to the cartel violence in Mexico. This is, after all, an elegy for the disappeared, and she asks (or demands?) over and over again for people to “wake up.” The message is powerful, but the intent remains ambiguous. Is this a song about a day spent in bed or a day spent in protest? Or both? Whatever it is, I love it.
[9]
Ramzi Awn: There isn’t much in “Explosión” to recommend it, besides a nicely crafted melody and the fact that it sounds a bit like an Irish Spring commercial. Venegas’s vocal confidence does not entirely match the song, but her talent comes through.
[4]
Katherine St Asaph: For a track called “Explosión,” this is sure reluctant to do even the least strenuous of rocking; there’s a power-pop classic in this, buried beneath wet gunpowder.
[5]
Micha Cavaseno: The warmth in Julieta’s vocal is effortlessly propulsive and breezy, sounding like a wide palette of emotions that touch at every corner of the earth. But the backing production here is a monotonous typical rock wash of pollution that sullies the experience of feeling life touch you one more time. Dead ass drums and a chorus that briefly moves out of the slop only to get killed by this same boring ass beat we’ve been syncing up Breakfast Club gif-sets to for years now.
[5]
Thomas Inskeep: Venegas writes a beautiful set of lyrics about the disappearances in her home of Mexico, but almost all I can hear is the snare pushed way up in the mix, heavily reminiscent of “Rock Lobster.”
[5]
Alfred Soto: Not unlikeable but, boy, is it mild. Piano flourishes, the faintest wah-wah, terse accordion solo, bass plucks — she could be baking a shortbread guaranteed to digest in the weakest of stomachs.
[5]
Jonathan Bogart: After the moody, featherlight synthpop of Los Momentos, there’s a satisfying heft to the left-hand piano line, and the textural accordion and scratchy guitar is a cheerful echo of her roots in norteño punk bands. The lyric couldn’t be more direct: a howl of rage (though not howled, because that’s not her style) at the apathetic comfortable classes (among whom the bourgeois music positions Venegas herself) to confront the violence and terror consuming Mexico — and the world.
[8]
Reader average: [6] (1 vote)