Since she left Operación Triunfo, Natalia Lacunza from Pamplona has made a great effort to carve out an honest, patient and unpretentious career that began with two EPs that were highly celebrated by her fans, and that now faces the moment of truth with the release of 'Nuestra que ser para mí', a first album that was presented live last Wednesday at the Nails Chung Lee venue in Madrid as part of the Vibra Mahou concerts, and which is now embarking on a tour that will take place on June 17 for the El Bosque Sonoro festival (Zaragoza), to continue on June 24 at Tomavistas Extra in the capital and then continue its path at other festivals such as Oasis Sound (Ciudad Real), Gigante (Alcalá de Henares), Riverland (Villaviciosa) , Fan Futura (San Javier) and a long etcetera that will keep her busy throughout the summer.

Do you have the feeling of being before the moment of truth?

Well, a little yes, really. And it is no longer just my internal feeling, it is also like that from the outside. Because of how the launch is being treated, because of how they ask me... and I'm very excited, because I've had many doubts about whether I was going to be able to do something so round. In the end, an album is not the same as an EP, it's a different responsibility. It has to have a perfect musical and lyrical narrative, and I'm very proud to have finished it. I have shown myself that I could do it, and it has also turned out great, which is something that I also have to tell myself, because it is my turn.

'It has to be for me' is a phrase that sounds like the right answer when a musician wonders what kind of record they should make.

I think so. The title talks about giving me what I deserve. I have been working for a long time in all senses, to be good with others, to be good at what I do... I have worked very hard to be where I am and to have the circle of people that I have. And I have to think that's because I have something good. I have to give myself those pats on the back.

I think it's a record to listen to on the roof of a skyscraper in the big city at nightfall.

Totally. I think I would listen to it that way too. It has many colors, and there are also some songs like the first one that give me sensations of a sunny morning, but what is certain is that it is to listen to it in the big city, there you are absolutely right. It's an album made here in Madrid, in the concrete jungle, and it doesn't suggest rural images.

It is urban in the sense of sensations, not of musical genre.

Yes. It reflects the sensations of being in the capital, it reflects the process that I have had this time of moving to the city, of growing up, starting to have a career, having responsibilities...

You arrived in the capital in 2019. What was it like to eat a confinement shortly after moving? It must have been a brutal contrast to arrive at a place full of social life, and stay at zero in that sense.

In 2019 I still hadn't made any friends, I was a little more 'lost', more alone, and just when I started to meet people the pandemic hit. He had just started to have a social life, and the moment of loneliness has been very much reflected on the album. Madrid, lived in solitude, can be quite a hostile city.

Both in this interview and in others, he has hinted that he has suffered from a certain impostor syndrome, and also anxiety symptoms...

Anxiety is something I have dealt with for a lot of years, and is still dealing with to this day. It is my reality, and I think also that of many people. That defines my way of feeling things and influences how I do my reflection processes. And the impostor syndrome thing also happens to me, like all musicians... except rappers, who think they're the best all the time (laughs). The rest of us mortals have that syndrome, and more so now, in a music industry where everything goes very fast and everything is very ephemeral. We work a long time so that our music is appreciated for five minutes and then forgotten. It's hard not to ask yourself those questions, am I worth enough? Am I talented enough? Will I have enough charisma? Am I pretty enough? smart enough? We have that pressure, that sometimes we impose on ourselves, but that is given to us by how things are now. You have to do a lot of thinking to fight against that.

Have you ever said that you are 23 years old, and you are already too tired of too many things, something that should not happen at your age. He Is she a generational evil?

Yes, because we are constantly living in the future, in expectations, in what is expected of us, in what we must fulfill. It is very difficult to connect with your present, with what you need in the now. We are all the time trying to meet expectations. That dynamic undermines your path. Doing what you want and being calm about it is not that easy.

How does the hate that exists in social networks influence all this?

There are times when I have felt overwhelmed by that. Leaving OT, and going from being a stranger to someone famous who receives a thousand messages a day, of which five hundred are hate, is horrible. No one is used to receiving hate from people who don't know you, and who take the liberty of being a bad person from anonymity. But hey, this battle I have already quite assumed for a long time. There comes a time when you have to think that all that hatred is as illicit as it is irrational, and that's why you have to care.

In addition to these issues, he has also made the problem of machismo visible several times, some in very subtle ways... my question is, without saying names: when someone who has had very macho attitudes asks for forgiveness, do we have to forgive? Or do you think there are hardly credible excuses?

The situation with machismo among youth is terrifying. There is a general consciousness that is aware of this reality, but there is still much to do, many things to change. There is still a lot of misogyny and inequalities, but I think that now women have to stop doing the work, and men have to start doing it. We have already done a lot, we are exhausted. I am a little tired of talking about feminism, of being asked about feminism. I want them to ask people who are not part of feminism, to ask them, and not us, what they do to combat machismo. And as for those who have had sexist attitudes and ask for forgiveness... there is everything. There are people who do it from the heart, but there are also those who do it to save their ass from cancel culture. Each one there with the conscience of him.