Una Niña Inútil

“The idea was to build an intimate, confessional record, and I can’t think of a better genre for that than R&B,” Cazzu tells Apple Music about Una Niña Inútil. The EP marks the Argentinian artist’s departure from the trap stylings of 2019’s Error 93, as she loses herself in evocative new sounds and explores her newly found singing voice. Beyond a musical evolution that proves evident on first listen, the lyrical inspiration of modernist poet Alfonsina Storni (1892-1938) was crucial in creating these songs, in which she explores overwhelming emotions and moments of rapture clashing against more rational instincts. “When I was almost done with the lyrics and the songs were pretty much finished, I was looking for a concept to tie everything together,” she says. “I thought of Alfonsina right away, but in going back to some of her writing I realized that I knew precious little about her. She was such a feminist, such a revolutionary, that it made me research her life to put her poetry into context, and it became a bit of an obsession.” Dug from Storni’s writings, these are stories of ever-changing women, places both dark and luminous, and moments in which deep truths about love and desire are stripped bare with a sharp lyrical edge. Here, Cazzu guides us through the haunted, crepuscular world of Una Niña Inútil one song at a time.
Dulce Tortura “This is almost like a drug that transports you to the little 23-minute world that we are trying to create. It serves as an intro, but it’s also a proper song. I felt that the first song on the record had to hypnotize people to the point where they wouldn’t want to leave. I was sent this amazing beat and I tried to turn it into a sonic spell.”
Romance de la Venganza “It comes from something that I’ve heard a lot of people say—lots of women but also a few of my male friends. I remember being little and hearing my mum’s friends say things like, ‘If only I were a total bitch, if only I were meaner, I’d have everyone at my feet.’ As much as I tried to understand their attitude, I always thought it was crazy. I don’t know what it is about mean people that kind of envelops you. I’ve always felt it was a really messed-up thought, but you look around you and you see it everywhere. We have all thought ‘if only I was meaner’ at some point or another. Unless you already are, of course. I thought it was interesting to use the phrase and build a song around it for this project, which deals with visceral emotions that are not necessarily the ones that we choose.”
Miedo “This started as a track by [Spanish beatmaker and singer] Choclock, who is not only one of my allies here but also a really talented artist. I wrote the second verse later and finished the song. In a very sensual and erotic album, this is the most openly sexual song. I like building scenes, and this is a very cinematic track. It represents a time and a place that people can recreate in their minds however they want, which is the really interesting part to me. It’s an invitation to create something in your imagination. It’s called ‘Miedo’ [‘Fear’] because it’s about a possessive love story. The songs here are inspired by the kind of emotions that you can’t control. In between all the love and physical desire, I wanted to make it clear that it can become a possessive situation too. The poem by Alfonsina Storni is about a woman who is really afraid of living without her man.”
Canción de la Mujer Astuta “This is an incredible title [‘Song of the Cunning Woman’]. It serves as an intro of sorts, a little break between all those words and different scenes. It’s about something that just happened suddenly, a moment when you lost consciousness of everything going on around you. There’s a little bit of magic here, too. I asked a friend of mine, a well-known artist in the genre, to throw in a few verses. I think people will know who he is, but I want them to find out on their own.”
Conversación “This is one of my favorites. It’s about a toxic relationship where one person dominates and the other submissive one starts becoming rebellious. There is a sexual element too, but of a more disturbing nature. I recorded it with [Argentinian soul artist] CHITA, who is an awesome singer that I wanted to tell this story with.”
Capricho “This one is pretty special to me. I wanted to put into words the true fear that a betrayed person feels when they are inside that dark place of anger. People tend to keep those things inside, when they feel ‘Now I’m going to show them…’ Although you will probably never do it because you are mature enough to think it over, there is always a dark place where resentment and shame is all you feel. It brings out a real feeling that it is very difficult for someone to speak. And those feelings are very likely to turn into a desire for revenge.”
Queja “‘Queja’ is a very short poem by Alfonsina. Like the rest of the songs, it was already finished before I chose the poems. It’s about two people who live a little bit like rock stars and their comings and goings; it may sound like ourselves, I guess. It’s a little bit of a teenage thing, but at the same time they accept that everything that’s happening in their lives is a contradiction. It’s a whirlwind of emotions. The poem reads, ‘Pero no puedo amar/Persigo lo perfecto/En mí y en los demás’ [‘But I cannot love/I chase perfection/In myself and in others’]. I found that really interesting, and it’s more or less what I’m saying in the song. It finishes with an outro of sorts that works as a goodbye and also a welcome to the slow, laidback world of the record after a song that has a more tropical vibe to it.”