“I saw a lot of people breaking up,” Yahritza Martínez tells Apple Music about the inspiration behind “Soy El Único”, the massive single that launched her career. “I feel like everybody can relate to that right now, because their relationship is not going well.” The teenage singing sensation and her brothers Mando and Jairo make up Yahritza Y Su Esencia, a Washington-based música mexicana trio that transformed social media virality into instant chart success. After signing with the Legado 7-affiliated Lumbre imprint, they officially released what would prove their runaway hit. (“None of us have ever smoked or anything like that,” Mando says, acknowledging the corridos verdes that Legado is known for. “We just really the vibe to the songs.”) Mere weeks after the single’s unprecedented reception, the group shared the highly anticipated Obsessed. An EP-length love story, their debut features cover versions of Nivel Codiciado’s “Esta Noche” and Los Del Limit’s “Siendo Sincero” alongside a handful of original songs with Yahritza’s lyrics, all sung in her already unmistakable voice. For this expanded version of the project, they’ve added two more songs—the new original “Nadie Sabe” and their take on Ivan Cornejo’s “Estás En Mí Pasado”. Read on to hear what they have to say about each of the tracks on the original edition. “Esta Noche” Yahritza: “I think the fans chose why we did ‘Esta Noche’. I actually put out a cover on TikTok. I saw it blowing up and my fans really liked it. They were like, ‘Damn, imagine if she would like record it in a studio, how good it would sound. People would be like, oh my god, her voice.’ I feel like they related to that one, too, because it’s like, you barely saw somebody and then you're already liking them, you know?” “Enamorado” Mando: “So, ‘Esta Noche’, you’re meeting the person and they turn their head like, ‘Watch out with me, because I'm not really into love.' And then 'Enamorado' is you falling in love with them now. You really like them.” Yahritza: “You're in love with that person. You fell in love with them and you like everything about them. 'Enamorado', 'Soy El Único' and 'Déjalo Ir', I wrote those because, honestly, when it comes to me writing my music, it's more like a research process. When I'm writing my music, I don't write it for anybody. I just go with what people like, what people relate to. I just observe what's going on around me.” “Soy El Único” Yahritza: “That's my first song. I saw a quote on TikTok saying, 'You ain't going to find anybody like me. I'm the only one.' And I saw the comments and a lot of people would comment 'for real' or 'love'. So then I thought to myself, what if I make it a song so that people can hear it? I just started writing and I put everything together. It's crazy because when I wrote that song, I felt like, no, it's not good. But then when I put it out to my brothers and my sister, they were like, 'Wow, how did you even write this?' From there, Mando started getting the guitars and we started doing the whole beat to it.” “Siendo Sincero” Yahritza: “I just sing in my own way. I feel like now people are trying to sound like the artist, but I just felt like if I sang it my own way, it would come out better. I put it on my TikTok, and people were like, ‘Damn, this sounds better than the original.’ I felt like my voice fit for that song.” Mando: “I slow them down, too. I mean, it's their original song, but we feel like it would sound better if you slow them down a little bit and people can actually hear what you're saying. They can actually feel your voice.” “Déjalo Ir” Yahritza: “Both genders can relate to it. You’re trying to get over someone, but you can't because you're too in love with them. When I sing it, it's trying to say, 'They don't know how to treat you right. So let them go.' You're in a relationship and somebody else is trying to be with you, but you can't let that other person go. So it's like the other person is singing it to you.” “Nadie Sabe” Yahritza: “I had the lyrics to it [and] I was in my room as usual where I like to write. I was thinking about people that are really happy being in a relationship, but at the same time they aren't sure about wanting to stay together.” Mando: “It's when your relationship isn't going too great and people think it's just super easy to break up and you're having a hard time letting go of that person.” “Estás En Mi Pasado” Jairo: “It was a super popular cover of ours on TikTok and also a personal favourite. We love the lyrics and the melody. We all love the high pitch, because we feel that it connects to people's feelings.”
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- Ivan Cornejo
- Los Del Limit