Interview: Bruses Transforms Struggles into Anthemic Strength in Latin Pop
In this exclusive conversation, Bruses reveals how her personal struggles fuel her transformative approach to Latin pop. With raw vulnerability and unyielding passion, she is reshaping the music landscape and inspiring a new generation of artists.
Bruses performing at Ruidosafest - Summer for the City, 2024. Lincoln Center, NYC. Photo by Pablo Herrera.
On a recent drive from Washington, DC to New York City to cover Ruidosafest at Lincoln Center’s Summer for the City program, an email from Maria caught my attention during a brief stop around 7:00 AM. The message was intriguing: “Hi Pablo, Bruses, the three-time Latin Grammy-nominated Mexican artist, is performing at Ruidosafest. We’d love to know if you’d be interested in doing something with her at the festival.”
Curious, I opened Spotify to listen. Who is Bruses? I didn’t know her—a realization that left me both embarrassed and eager. I soon learned that her real name is Amalia Ramírez, and that evening, I, along with my TMN colleagues Henry and Pau, met Amalia and her manager Juan from the Mexican label Worldwide Records at the David Rubenstein Atrium.
Bruses, born in Tijuana, has been nominated for three Latin GRAMMYs and is celebrated as "The New Alternative Pop." Her music seamlessly blends pop, electronic, and rock, infused with deep, poetic lyrics that reflect her personal struggles with mental health. Her journey began at just six years old, learning various instruments, and by 10, she was already writing songs. Her work is often inspired by her psychological diagnoses, carrying a message that it’s okay not to be okay.
Beyond her compelling story, Bruses has established herself as a formidable songwriter and producer, collaborating with renowned artists like Mon Laferte, Paty Cantú, Kenia Os, and Deorro, among others. Her recent track "Bestia," a collaboration with Mexican artist Humbe, has amassed over 3 million streams, showcasing her prowess in both songwriting and production.
In 2022, her album "Monstruos" earned two Latin Grammy nominations: Best Pop/Rock Album and Best Pop/Rock Song for "Qué Voy A Hacer Conmigo???". Another of her songs, "Dueles Tan Bien," achieved platinum and gold certifications with over 100 million streams on Spotify and was featured in Netflix's Elite. By 2023, she had secured a third Latin Grammy nomination for "Señorita Revolución," and her EP "Cuando Ella Me Besó Probé a Dios" further solidified her influence in Latin music. Now, in 2024, she’s being considered for yet another Latin Grammy, cementing her status as a major force in the industry.
Album Covers below: 1. Bruses: Dueles Tan Bien. 2021, Single - 2. Bruces: Monstrous 2022, Album - 3. Bruses & Elsa & Elmar: Qué Voy A Hacer Conmigo??? 2022, Single - 4. Bruses & Humble: Bestia 2024, Single.
Meeting Amalia Ramírez was a genuine pleasure. We found not only a talented artist but also a person of remarkable sensitivity and empathy, someone who deeply cares about those around her. It is with great pleasure that we share our conversation with the TMN audience.
Interview:
Tell us about what you are doing here in NYC.
We’ve been wrapping up a tour in the United States. We've been on tour for about two and a half months, and we're closing it out now with this show at Ruidosafest in NYC—a grand finale and a pleasure to be on stage with so many women, with incredibly powerful women. I'm really good friends with Fran (Francisca Valenzuela, Ruidosafest’s Founder), and it's an honor that they invited me. I had a great time, very good energy, good weather—yesterday it rained all day, and today the sun came out. It’s not very goth of me, but I did enjoy the sun.
Which cities have you been touring during these two and a half months?
From New York to Los Angeles. It was my first time on a tour bus, and we did it with PVRIS, which is a project from here that I really love. Many thanks to them for choosing a Mexican to open their shows. We were also with Waves, a band from Manchester, and it was an adventure of 13 cities in two months.
And how was the experience with the American audience?
I think I love Atlanta and Houston. I love Dallas, Los Angeles, and San Diego. I think those were my favorite shows. I’d say it was a cultural shock. I don’t want to judge them because it’s simply a different culture. I feel like Mexicans and Latinos are way more passionate and loud. And for me, personally, I think Latin America has the best audience in the world because we really give ourselves to the artist. I say this as a fan, you know? And it was a cultural shock. People in the United States might be loving what they’re listening to, but they’re not very expressive; they’ll just nod their heads and maybe move their bodies a little if they’re having a really great time.
But I also think I learned a lot about how to control what you say to the audience because I wanted them to have fun with me. You know, sometimes it really helps to tell the audience that we’re going to raise our hands, that we’re going to shout... those kinds of things. Personally, as a fan who goes to rock concerts, I find it really fun when artists interact with the audience, you know?
I learned a lot about that relationship with the audience in another language because my songs are in Spanish, so it was like telling them the stories in English to sing in Spanish, interacting with them in English to see if they would respond. I think it was really helpful, like a master class, to be honest.
I really enjoyed your show here at Ruidosafest, especially the personal connection you establish with the audience during your shows. That part where you delve into your inner self and expose your private life, your challenges—how is that cathartic experience for you? What drives you to make the decision to share something so personal in your life in order to heal?
I think people are so smart nowadays that they can tell if a project is fake, if a project is created by a record label just to sell. So, I want to believe that people can see that. I think it's really important to be vulnerable, to be real, and to share because if you don't share your experiences, you're just an empty puppet standing there, you know? What are you really singing about? What's the message behind what you're doing? For me, it's very important to tell my story because that's where I started writing songs.
I mean, my songs began as a very personal diary. I have many mental health diagnoses, and I share them. I have depression, generalized anxiety, borderline personality disorder. That diagnosis changed my life a lot. It hit me hard because I understood that everything makes sense now, you know? I feel emotions too intensely. My suicide attempts when I was younger are maybe justified now. It’s not that everything was wrong, but there’s simply a chemical in my brain that isn’t working, and I need to go to therapy and treat it like any other illness, go to the doctor, and all that.
And that’s the reason I started writing songs—because I wanted to share what I was feeling and take everything that was in my head and turn it into something tangible that I could read, so it wasn’t just noise in my head all the time. And from that came Bruses, which is my musical project. So, I think it’s really beautiful, and I would feel like a hypocrite if I got on stage and pretended that everything was fine.
What you said about vulnerability is really beautiful. Nowadays, with the whole social media thing, it's almost frowned upon to be vulnerable, right? And on top of that, you're in an industry, the music industry, that is predominantly male-dominated (the strong macho rockers, boys don’t cry). How have you dealt with that level of testosterone in the music industry?
Just like all women experience it every day, even now. We have to work three times as hard, and we're held to three times the standards, and we're judged ten times more than men. But I believe we're gradually creating a healthier industry, and I tell you, we're going to keep pushing forward.
That's why we call them the 'dinosaurs,' because they need to retire; they have nothing left to do. We appreciate the industry they built, but that industry no longer exists, and it's not healthy—it’s toxic, and we don't want it. Thank you for the work you've done, but it's our turn, the next generation's turn, to create and shape a completely healthy industry where that kind of sexism and abuse of power no longer exists.
I always tell my friends that all of us here are the future of the industry, and it's up to us to make a real change, not just complain, but to do something from the inside, to stay, to teach, and to speak out. So, I'm at peace knowing that I'm doing my part, and my friends are doing theirs, and we won't let anyone make the industry as polluted as it was before.
Looking ahead, do you have any plans for a new album soon?
Yes, of course. I’m currently finishing my second album. I’m very excited. It took me a lot to write it because I think I reached places I had never been musically and personally, and I mixed a bunch of genres. I experimented a lot, but I think it’s the most badass thing I’ve done in my whole career. I’m very proud of it, and I’m about to mix it in Los Angeles. I think it will be great if it comes out this year. I think the world will get to know Bruses much more ready to come out and take on everything and everyone. I’m going to chew them up!
Who have been your musical inspirations?
Definitely Queen, Green Day, Joan Jett, Lady Gaga, Elton John, Avril Lavigne, and Hannah Montana (haha). I don’t know. I feel like I have a mix of many things, but I also really like the Sex Pistols. I’m into punk, pop rock, and pop as well—Belanova is one of my favorites. I've always been a fan of both aggressive and dark music and super sweet pop. I also really like Arka and Sofi. I love electronic music, unusual music, Bjork, Rosalía, obviously, and all that is great. I think Bruses ended up being a blend of all that.
Moving away from music, are you interested in other forms of art?
Yes, definitely. My dad, in fact, is a bohemian painter. I grew up watching him paint very strange pictures. He went all out with it. He loves abstract art, and I grew up seeing Picasso and Dalí books and all these things in his studio at home. So, I started trying to paint myself. I paint really ugly stuff, to be honest, but I’ve been feeling really good about it lately. I only paint when I’m sad, and I want to try to change that and paint when I’m happy. I love painting, and I also love acting. I would really love to do theater at some point. It’s not the time right now, but I’d love to prepare for it because I have a lot of respect for theater.
Excerpt from the interview with Bruses in New York City.
