Saint Vincent has shared and spoken about new single ‘El Mero Cero’ NME about translating her latest album’All born screaming‘ in Spanish, inspired by art, and whether she might gain even more weight on her next record.
The Tulsa-born artist released “All Born Screaming” in April NME greet the record as ‘pure, unfiltered Annie Clark’ because of the heavier sound and the fearless lyrics inspired by the blood-curdling Black Paintings of the Spanish romantic painter Francisco Goya.
NME met Clark in London, where she leafed through a book on Goya’s Black Paintings, thinking about how they shaped the songs on ‘All Born Screaming’. “The look in his eyes,” she said, her fingers tracing the poignant image of him Saturn devours his son. “That would be ‘Broken Man’.”
Clark has translated ‘All Born Screaming’ in its entirety into her Spanish-language debut ‘Todos Nacen Gritando’ – which is released this week, and is preceded today by a new version of ‘Big Time Nothing’, ‘El Mero Cero’.
“Thematically, this was the right record to (translate),” she said. “This record is essentially about life and death and love. There is a lot of iconography. It is very Catholic, very holy.”
She said she wasn’t sure if ‘Todos Nacen Gritando’ brought her closer to the Spanish romantic artist who inspired the album, but she does know it was a way to “selfishly get better at Spanish” and connect at the same time with her Latin fans. “It’s amazing that people can sing my songs to me in perfect English,” she said NME. “Why can’t I meet them halfway in their language?”
During this process, Clark found her songs changing and opening up in ways she never expected. “I really enjoyed the translation process,” she remembers.
Read our full interview with Clark below, where she talked about Latin American fans, the joys and frustrations of the translation process, doing the unexpected, and where she goes from here.
EN: Hi Annie! You’re about to release your first Spanish-language album. Why did you want to translate ‘All Born Screaming’ in its entirety?
Annie Clark: “It was always the plan (to translate the entire record). But if you ask why, I would ask the same question to myself! It was a nice exercise and an attempt to express a little gratitude to the Spanish-speaking fans who met me in my native language for seven records.”
Did you listen to a lot of Spanish-language music growing up?
“I listened to Selena, and there’s a lot of Tejano music in Texas that I heard growing up. (Later) I started Cuco, Bomba Estereo, Rosalia… (Spanish-language music) is so culturally rich that I could name musicians forever.”
St. Vincent, 2024. Credit: David William Baum
Was there a moment on stage that led to this resolution to give back to your Spanish-speaking fans?
“A few! I’d say playing Lollapalooza 2018 (South America); and just feeling that buzz! I’ve been to Mexico a few times, there’s some kind of real passion that people have for music. Of course they have it in other countries, but there is just so much heart in my shows in Mexico and South America.
Many non-Latin artists don’t tour South America often; it’s exciting for fans to see someone they’ve been waiting for so long. It’s cool that you feel that energy on stage.
“It was also a way for me to go to places I really love, like South America. A big reason people don’t come that far south is because it’s so expensive to get there. The way to make it feasible is to show up at a big festival. I love being in these places. So (this album) is a modest offering. I know I don’t sound like a native speaker. Songs are wild to translate.
In the 1990s, Colombian author Gabriel Garcia Marquez wrote a tribute to his friend Shakira. He speaks of her “heavy preparations” to translate one of her Spanish albums into English. She had trouble sleeping and had a “fever” from the pressure. Do you recognize that feeling of frustration?
“Absolutely! Whether it was to get the pronunciation right or to think, ‘I know what the cadence of the English version is, but the way to say it in Spanish, I’m going to have to change the melody.’” Did In the case of Shakira, are they the same as trying to translate an album?”
She tried to translate ‘Donde Están Las Ladrones’, but decided to start from scratch in English, resulting in ‘Laundry Service’, her English-language debut from 2001. Translating was too difficult!
“Yes. There were definitely moments. It was the hardest thing. It’s not that I didn’t think it wouldn’t be, but I got three songs in and thought, ‘Oh, shit, I have to comb through all these translations and kind of having open dialogue with Alan (del Rio, a friend who helped her translate) all the time’. ‘Reckless’ is wordy and not particularly melodic. That was definitely difficult; though ‘Mero Cero’ (‘Big Time Nothing’) was okay, it’s a bit spoken, so the flow was correct.
There are so many dialects of Spanish and so much slang… What Spanish did you use?
“Idiomatically, the album is more Mexican. Mero, for example, is a kind of slang for ‘boss’.”
How did you overcome those words or sentences that couldn’t be translated?
“As a songwriter, the song can have the best groove, the production can be so cool, the singing is amazing. But if there is one text that is corny and that is ‘I’m out’. I can’t suspend my disbelief. I’m like, ‘Ugh, I was almost there.’ I’m always like, “That was a bit corny,” or “That’s a cliché, they shouldn’t have said that.” This is done in English.
“While I listen to Spanish songs, I don’t have the same control. I just enjoy music. It’s such a gateway to joy for me – to enjoy it and respond to the sound.”
Were there any instances where the translation changed your perspective on the song?
“The song ‘Reckless’ became ‘Salvaje’. I couldn’t find a word for reckless. Alan said, well, what about ‘salvaje’? Okay… wild.
“Now this song about grief and loss suddenly repeats the word savage, like ‘Life is savage.’ It changed the meaning of the song for me in a very profound way. It was heavy and cool.”
This album is partly inspired by Goya’s Dark Paintings and you just played a set at the El Prado Museum in Madrid, where the paintings are on display. How was that?
“The energy of that particular room is damn heavy. It’s getting colder in that room. To be honest, I was a little scared to be in the presence of that magnificence. These were not paintings he wanted people to see. He had this at home towards the end of his life. He struggled to the end; as we all do.”
‘All Born Screaming’ / ‘Todos Nacen Gritando’ is your rockiest album yet your live show packed with guitar solos and stage dives…
“Yes! Although at the Royal Albert Hall they wouldn’t let me do internship diving without a hefty fine. I have sicker waves on other shows.
Will your next album move towards even heavier rock? You’re a big one Tool And Nine inch nails fan…
“The answer is: I have no idea. Like, maybe?”
Well, making a Spanish album is so unexpected. We really can’t predict where you’ll go…
“You always think, ‘Okay, the next thing I do will be the best thing I do.’ I must continue. It has to go deeper. More human, more emotional, better songs. That is my optimism.”
Finally: what is your level on Duolingo?
“Oh, I don’t know! How do you count the levels?”
Well, what tension are you in?
‘Oh, those damn times! The times really get to me. I could talk about most things that are happening right now, but I really struggle to talk about anything that happened in the past!
“It’s a whole different part of memory and mnemonics to sing something. That’s why we have the alphabet song. We remember it’s music, but talking to someone in Spanish is very different. But, baby steps. I can now sing all my songs translated into Spanish by heart, whereas if I were to try to have a casual chat I would have to really think about the words.
“I’m sure once I’m fluent in Spanish, I’ll look back at this record and say, ‘Oh, I could have pronounced that better.’ I could have translated that a little better.”
Maybe we should expect a perfectly pronounced Spanish-language metal album next?
“Ha! Yes!”
St Vincent releases ‘Todos Nacen Gritando’ on Friday, November 15, before closing the year with shows in Mexico, Australia and Hong Kong and kicking off shows in Asia, North America and South America in 2025. Visit here for tickets and more information.