Nashville upstart Kacey Musgraves and regional Mexican superstar Carín León work through a language barrier in ear-pleasing fashion on their new collaborative single, “Lost in Translation,” which is out now. Listen below.
The pairing was hatched after Texas native Musgraves discovered León through his NPR Tiny Desk concert in May. “Growing up singing traditional country and western music, I’ve always loved exploring the borders of country and where it blends with other styles like norteño and some regional Mexican sounds that I heard a lot of in Texas,” she says.
The desire to experiment also resonated with León, who says, “I relate my career and hers in the way that she approaches other genres.”
The artists eventually met in Nashville, with Musgraves bringing along songwriters Amy Allen and Shane McAnally. Musgraves quickly impressed León by warming up with the vintage Juan Gabriel/Rocío Dúrcal duet “Fue un Placer Conocerte,” which he calls “one of my favorite songs.” From there, they began writing a song of their own, which turned into the Julian Bunetta-produced, horn-kissed “Lost in Translation.”
“This really cute idea came about these people meeting and not being able to speak the same language, but love language and body language is universal and you don’t really need words for that,” notes Musgraves. “Even though we speak different languages, we’re all the same.”
Musgraves is continuing her touring in support of the 2024 album Deeper Well with shows through the end of the year in Mexico, Brazil, Australia and Japan. She’ll also make a one-off appearance at the Oct. 5 edition of the All Things Go festival in Toronto.
As for León, he has extensive roadwork on tap this fall and winter, including arena and stadium gigs in South America.
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