New Lido Pimienta Album ‘La Belleza’ Out Today
Today, GRAMMY and Latin GRAMMY-nominated artist Lido Pimienta shares her orchestral masterpiece ‘La Belleza’; listen to it here.
In the five years between this release and Pimienta’s breakthrough album ‘Miss Colombia’ she took on genre-bending projects, including becoming – alongside choreographer Andrea Miller - the first all-female team to compose and choreograph a piece of music for the New York City Ballet, and debuted the six-episode first season of LIDO TV, a variety show unique to her specific brand of humor, talent, and personality that combines playful puppetry reminiscent of Peewee’s Playhouse, sketch comedy, soulful performances, candid interviews, and intimate documentaries. Collaborators on the show included Canadian metal heavyweights Kittie and Nelly Furtado. Now a close friend, Pimienta was a writer and producer on Furtado’s 2024 album 7 and appeared in the visualizer for “Corazón.”
These experiences built up Pimienta’s confidence and drew her into the classical themes of ‘La Belleza’. “If no matter what style or genre of music I make, the result will always be relegated to the World Music aisle—in stores, in the algorithm—then why not create something no one would ever expect from a Caribbean woman?” Pimienta asked. “Why not make an album that completely defies those categories? What if I made an entirely orchestral record?”
There are nine movements in ‘La Belleza’, with “Ahora” following the initial overture. The song honors the ceremonies and history of Pimienta’s ancestors that go untold by the mainstream. “This is what the ancestors look for/ It is a ceremony for the remains/ We honor the remains/ It is the Wayuu ceremony,” Pimienta chants in Spanish over a blood-stirring orchestral arrangement. The indigenous home of her people, the Wayuu, was called Abya Yala before European mercenaries colonized it in the 1800s and re-named it Colombia. Technically, the people were never conquered but slowly pushed out of their lands and away from natural resources. The Catholic religion was also forcefully integrated into their lives and is still dominant there to this day.
“Christopher Columbus continues to be celebrated, and Colombians don't know their story well, which is why they try to cling on to their Spaniard blood,” Pimienta says. “But despite the self-hatred and cultural confusion, the Caribbean resists. Surviving wars, dispossession of their lands and slavery, afro and indigenous peoples have maintained their culture, language and traditions.” ‘La Belleza’ closer “Busca La Luz” trumpets the same declaration in plain terms: “Long live the Caribbean! Long live a FREE Caribbean!”
‘La Belleza’ encapsulates why Lido Pimienta is the artist of our moment. Unafraid to explore the depths of her creativity, she produced a haunting, invigorating album that only prompts the question: What will come next? Pimienta knows that this is but the next chapter in a continuous creative process. “I made a gorgeous album inspired in the beauty of being indigenous and black, about the joy of sticking my teeth into a ripe mango, about love unrequited, about ceremony and ancestry, about life and death, about transition of soul and letting go of all that makes us feel a stone has replaced our heart.”
LIVE PERFORMANCES
June 25 – New York, NY @ Summerstage w/ Rhiannon Giddens
July 12 – Vienna, VA @ TODO SONIDO FEST
Aug 1 – 3 – Sackville, NB @ SAPPY FEST
Nov 11 – Los Angeles, CA @ Walt Disney Concert Hall w/ Angélica Negrón