FLORES declares, “The American history we are told in schoolbooks is much like bloody stains on a carpet the killer will do anything to hide.” The chorus rings in loudly, “Fuck your freedom and your feelings too. We don’t need your watered-down versions of truth”. FLORES deconstructs the American Dream piece by piece in a melodic chant and pays homage to her Mexican Heritage. Her wanton attitude of the idea that women should behave, close their mouths and smile is in full force. She spares no note, no opinion and truly paves a matriarchal version of herself.
Flores bares her soul; exploring her Indigenous Mexican-American heritage with vibrant displays of visual and musical storytelling. She is an orator of her ancestral reclamation, bringing praise to the importance of passing down history through ceremonies of song and wisdom. In an age of superficial music trends, Flores transcends the music zeitgeist through words of poetic justice and meaning.
Raised in the Chihuahuan desert of El Paso, Texas, she grew up within the Tigua Indian Reservation that sits tucked away in what is the city’s oldest district. Home to the Ysleta missions built in the 1500s, when the earliest Spanish settlers arrived to convert the native people. Remnants of colonization and the complexity of emotions it derives from the locals is still palpable some 500 years later. Flores comes from a family of Mexican farm workers, braceros and silver miners who faced discriminatory Juan Crow laws, cruel immigration practices, assimilation and exploitative labor. She finds it integral to build a conversation through artistic expression, for the collective healing of generational traumas.
The daughter of an activist mother who led the border movement “Ni Una Mas” (Not One More) on behalf of “La Muertas de Juarez” against the continual violence toward women in Mexico and South America. She was taught well by the matriarchs before her. “My mother was a single mother, and her mother’s mother, they were born swinging” she says. Flores’ project is a testament to the power of women overcoming immeasurable obstacles and the tenacity to stay true to your vision.
“America and Spain alike, have depended on our labor for centuries. Often labor of the poor, black and people of color. Yet, we are deliberately left out of the scope of history, justice, or the education system. It’s time for change.”
Being raised in a household of women, as the youngest of 5, it was common to hear music blasting every morning in her home, the likes of Chavela Vargas and Paquita La Del Barrio. From piping trumpets of classic mariachi songs to her mother’s love for modern jazz singers like Sarah Vaughn and Dinah Washington. A paramount shift began early in her life when she discovered The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, she kept it on constant rotation. Her teens were spent borrowing her eldest siblings Rage against the Machine albums and she began nurturing her love for lyricism and depth. As an adolescent, she evolved into loving alternative artists such as Radiohead and Frank Ocean. Flores’ musical palette is as culturally diverse as her upbringing.
Having released four songs independently, amassing over 9 million streams on Spotify alone, with Pigeons and Planes calling her “the future of RnB, and making it look easy.” Flores has spent 2020 crafting her debut project. Touching on themes of immigration, cultural identity, colonization, and gender roles. Her music tackles the issues at the forefront of modern America and speaks for an often forgotten demographic.
Unwavering social messages and a voice to match, Flores aims to touch the hearts of people like her and partake in the contribution to the new generation of young brown women and men.
