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From lawyer to Latin Grammy winner, Mexican singer and songwriter Paloma Morphy shares what it feels like to be the “new girl in class,” and how her law studies inspired her new single “La Mexicana.”

Paloma Morphy: I studied law and left my job as a criminal defense attorney to give music a chance, which had always been my childhood dream. This was a big step for me, and I felt like the new girl in class, stepping into a world I’d only watched from afar.

Seeing all these artists in real life, after years of seeing them on a screen, was shocking, surreal and exciting. It filled me with mixed emotions, happiness, nervousness, excitement and, of course, a bit of impostor syndrome. I often found myself asking, “What am I doing here?” But deep down, I knew it was a dream come true.

When I learned I was nominated for best new artist, I was initially scared, assuming it would be a competitive atmosphere where people might side-eye me. However, to my surprise, everyone was incredibly supportive. It was a shared, natural experience. We were all in the same boat — nervous, excited and trying to put our best face forward. Many of us were experiencing this for the first time, which created a sense of camaraderie. We didn’t know what to expect from the week, but we supported one another and enjoyed meeting each other. It was genuinely a cool experience, and, honestly, I liked them all.

Recently, I released a song with a message for Mexico titled “La Mexicana.” It came out a few days ago, though I had written it some time back.

Reflecting on my journey, I had studied law and worked as a criminal lawyer before deciding to pursue music. I gave myself two years to see where this dream would take me. While working in prosecutor’s offices, I witnessed firsthand the systemic failure of addressing gender violence, how many complaints never even reached the investigation stage. This experience compelled me to write “La Mexicana,” a song inspired by what I saw and felt during that time.

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Beto Montenegro explains how the Caribbean mindset has shaped Rawayana’s eighth album.

Beto Montenegro: I think it’s about enjoying it, I don’t know. That speech was written that morning, so no, no, no, you don’t plan that much either. I feel very happy. I think it’s one of those songs, one of those special ones, right? That raise and do things, right? And influence in society and generate interesting debates. And today it’s recognized at the Latin Grammys. We didn’t expect it much. So, yes, like here processing the surprise, you know? How nice. 

Interviewer: How would you say, now that we were talking, what was Rawayana’s process?

I think Rawayana’s process has been a … it’s been a very, very, very beautiful and very worked-on process, right? And of short steps, right? And of resistance, a lot of resistance, right? It wasn’t so much about speed.

Today I feel a little bit exposed, because there are many things that, from the beginning, were public, right? I haven’t been an artist who curated a lot and released things carefully, but rather things came out, and everything we’ve done was always exposed to a group of people that each time got bigger.  So, yes, it’s been a process quite transparent with respect to the public, you know? You can see all our mistakes and all the successes and everything — everything is on the web, right?

From the beginning until today, everything feels … I feel very solid in some way because we’ve completed all the processes to get to where we are now, right? From the beginning, the slang, right? It’s there. And then there’s kind of been a tendency toward that for a while now, and circumstantially we were already there, like, very much communicating in that way.

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