Music Sin Fronteras 4.28.24 Get to know Paty Cantú

Get to know Paty Cantu, one of Mexico”s most beloved music and TV stars. Check out the new song, Funeral 2.0

If you don’t know Paty Cantú you should. She is one of Mexico’s most beloved stars in both music and TV. She evokes the kind of passionate fan love you see for a Lana Del Rey only in Spanish. I was reminded of her popularity recently when Bands in Town sent me a notice that she will be playing at the Teatro Diana May 3 as part of her “Happy Breakup Tour. Teatro Diana is very prestigious 2300-seat concert hall that hosts only the cream of Mexican and touring acts. And only an hour from my house. Oh boy!

She is exactly the kind of singer I love to chronicle in Music Sin Fronteras – born in Texas, bi-lingual, raised in Sonora and later in Guadalajara. Dropped out of law school to pursue a music career, trained at the Berklee School of Music in Boston, plays concerts on both sides of the border.. Definitely a woman without borders.

 I was also reminded of how much I love her music when I listened to her newest song, Funeral 2.0, released 2 weeks ago. The song moves into electronica with a depth and a finesse that builds on her catalog but goes beyond it. Funeral 2.0 is a powerful narrative of personal transformation and rebirth following the end of a toxic relationship. The lyrics depict the emotional journey of letting go of her past self. The repeated references to a funeral symbolize the final farewell to her old self, marking a significant and irreversible transformation to a powerful new self. The song serves as an anthem for any woman who has overcome a toxic relationship and found the courage to reclaim her power and identity.

The song drew almost 300,000 streams on Spotify in its first week – not Taylor Swift numbers, but not shabby for a single release with virtually no buildup. With 4 million monthly listeners on her site, it will reach at least the heights of her recent songs like Resistieré, which hit 77 million and rising.

I also find her career path fascinating. Cross-border people are often unusually creative and adventuresome.  Born Patricia Giovanna Cantú Velasco in Houston Texas in 1983, her family moved to Mexico where she went to school.  She was a successful law student when she dropped out to start a career in music. In hindsight, that might have been predictable since she started composing melodies at the age of 6 and wrote her first song at 14 years old with Mario Cesar Sandoval.

From there she took off with a career in music and then later in TV and movies.  She won the MTV Latin America Awards for best new artist in 2009, the MTV Europe Music Awards for best Latin American artist in 2013, and the award from the Society of Authors and Composers of Mexico for career and composition.  She has also been nominated three times for the Telehit Awards, was honored twice by the Oye! Awards, and five times at the Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards Mexico.

With 5 studio albums, an EP, and 8 charting singles, she is firmly planted in Latin Music’s starry firmament. She has also voiced 5 movies and appeared in 17 Television episodes, further boosting her popularity.

All of which is why my ears perked up when I saw she released Funeral 2.0.  I knew it would be a step ahead for her. I was right. So stream Funeral 2.0, Resistiere, Fortunate , and her other hits and get to know Paty Cantú.

Patrick O’Heffernan