‘I had to reconstruct myself’: Silvana Estrada’s latest album came after profound grief

There are moments in our lives that split everything into “before” and “after.”

For Silvana Estrada, one of those moments came in early 2022, when her debut album, Marchita, took off. It earned the Mexican singer-songwriter a Latin Grammy for best new artist and launched her into an intense stretch of international touring.

And then, later that same year, another moment divided her life again, when her best friend and his brother were killed in Mexico City.

The album that followed that profound loss is called Vendrán Suaves Lluvias. It’s a record about grief, rebuilding oneself and learning how to move forward without pretending nothing has changed.

In today’s session, Estrada talks about navigating loss in the public eye, producing her own album, and how artists like Chavela Vargas helped guide her back to songwriting.

This episode of World Cafe was produced and edited by Miguel Perez. Our senior producer is Kimberly Junod and our engineer is Chris Williams. Our programming and booking coordinator is Chelsea Johnson and our line producer is Will Loftus.