María Natalia Lafourcade Silva (born 26 February 1984) is a Mexican singer-songwriter, musician and producer whose work has moved between alternative pop, rock, bossa nova, jazz, Mexican traditional music and Latin American folk. Since her debut in 2002, she has become one of the most acclaimed Mexican singer-songwriters of her generation.
Lafourcade was born in Mexico City and grew up in Coatepec, Veracruz. Her father is the Chilean musician Gastón Lafourcade
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María Natalia Lafourcade Silva (born 26 February 1984) is a Mexican singer-songwriter, musician and producer whose work has moved between alternative pop, rock, bossa nova, jazz, Mexican traditional music and Latin American folk. Since her debut in 2002, she has become one of the most acclaimed Mexican singer-songwriters of her generation.
Lafourcade was born in Mexico City and grew up in Coatepec, Veracruz. Her father is the Chilean musician Gastón Lafourcade, a pianist, harpsichord builder and promoter of Baroque music, while her mother, María del Carmen Silva Contreras, is a pianist and music educator who developed the Macarsi Method for musical training. After Natalia suffered a head injury from being kicked by a horse at the age of six, her mother used music as part of her recovery, an experience that helped deepen Lafourcade's early relationship with music.
Her self-titled debut, Natalia Lafourcade, was released in 2002, when she was 18. Combining pop, rock, bossa nova and funk, it included songs such as “Busca un problema”, “Mírame, mírate”, “Elefantes” and “En el 2000”. In 2005 she released Casa with her band Natalia y La Forquetina. Produced largely by Café Tacvba's Emmanuel del Real, the album developed a more rock-oriented sound while retaining elements of pop and bossa nova.
After leaving La Forquetina, Lafourcade composed the instrumental project Las 4 estaciones del amor, released in 2007. She returned to vocal songwriting with Hu Hu Hu in 2009, an experimental record that earned a Grammy nomination for Best Latin Pop Album.
In 2012 she released Mujer Divina – Homenaje a Agustín Lara, reinterpreting the work of Mexican composer Agustín Lara with guests including Jorge Drexler, Gilberto Gil, Devendra Banhart and Kevin Johansen. The project helped lead Lafourcade toward a deeper exploration of the Latin American songbook.
Her 2015 album Hasta la Raíz marked another turning point. Built around autobiographical songwriting and Latin American musical influences, it included “Nunca es suficiente” and the title track, which became two of her best-known songs. The album won the Grammy for Best Latin Rock, Urban or Alternative Album, while its songs and recording also received multiple Latin Grammy Awards.
Lafourcade continued exploring traditional repertoire with Musas in 2017 and Musas, Vol. 2 in 2018, recorded with veteran Mexican guitar duo Los Macorinos. The records combined her own compositions with songs associated with writers such as Violeta Parra, Simón Díaz, María Grever and Roberto Cantoral. In 2017 she also recorded “Remember Me” with Miguel for Pixar's Coco; they later performed the song at the 90th Academy Awards.
Following the 2017 earthquakes in Mexico, Lafourcade became involved in efforts to rebuild the Centro de Documentación del Son Jarocho in Jáltipan, Veracruz. This work led to Un Canto por México, Vol. 1 in 2020 and Un Canto por México, Vol. II in 2021, large collaborative projects drawing on Mexican folk and popular traditions. The first volume won the Grammy for Best Regional Mexican Music Album, and Un Canto por México – El Musical received the same award in 2023.
In 2022 Lafourcade released De Todas las Flores, her first album consisting entirely of new original material since Hasta la Raíz. Produced by Lafourcade and Adan Jodorowsky and recorded live on analog tape, it brought together jazz, bolero, bossa nova, tropical music and Latin American folk in songs dealing with heartbreak, grief, healing and renewal. At the 2023 Latin Grammy Awards, “De Todas las Flores” won Record of the Year, while the album and title song won Best Singer-Songwriter Album and Best Singer-Songwriter Song. The album subsequently won the 2024 Grammy for Best Latin Rock or Alternative Album.
The album was first presented live at Carnegie Hall in New York in October 2022, with guests including David Byrne, Jorge Drexler and Omara Portuondo. A recording of the concert was released in December 2024 as Natalia Lafourcade Live at Carnegie Hall.
In 2025 she released Cancionera, again produced with Adan Jodorowsky and recorded live on analog tape. Conceived as a musical and visual exploration of her identity as a songwriter, the album combines original compositions with reinterpretations of traditional Mexican repertoire and features collaborators including El David Aguilar, Israel Fernández, Diego del Morao and Hermanos Gutiérrez. At the 2025 Latin Grammy Awards, Cancionera won Best Singer-Songwriter Album and its title track won Best Singer-Songwriter Song. In 2026, the album won the Grammy Award for Best Latin Pop Album.
By 2026 Lafourcade had received 20 Latin Grammy Awards and five Grammy Awards, making her the most awarded female artist in Latin Grammy history. Her later work has increasingly connected contemporary songwriting with Mexican and Latin American musical traditions, while maintaining the experimental approach that has characterized her career since her early alternative-pop recordings.
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…shrink me down again