On July 17, Dallas-based artist Saldivar, better known by CAMÍNA, released her first single, “Cinnamon” and announced her debut album Te Quiero Mucho dropping October 2, 2020.

The marimba-infused trip-hop beat was inspired by the ongoing treatment of asylum seekers at the US-Mexico border. She delivers haunting vocals, sung through a distorted megaphone, with lyrics like “nobody knows the trouble I’ve seen,” and “we will rise above, but the damage is done”.

CAMÍNA told Be Latina that her hope as an artist is to “communicate through my individual experience a thoughtful critique to our political, economic, and social systems and to encourage people to learn, engage and make steps towards the systemic change necessary for social progress.” 

The music video for “Cinnamon” was shot and directed by Daniel N. Johnson, who has created videos for Black Lives Matter and the Bernie Sanders campaign.

The trippy visuals are meant to portray CAMÍNA as a doll-like version of herself that slowly comes to life and gains awareness of her body and the world she is in.

“It was important to connect her Mexican heritage and intention behind the lyrics with the archival imagery of field-laborers, protests, and police brutality, and create a film that is simultaneously beautiful and discomforting,” Johnson said.

Beyond her new work, CAMÍNA has quite an impressive history with music.

She was mentored by Kevin Jonas Sr., father of the Jonas Brothers, and grew up singing in the church choir. She later became trained as an opera singer and toured with the Broken Social Scene and The Polyphonic Spree.

CAMÍNA means “walk” and her album, Te Quiero Mucho, is about her name, her  joy of traveling through personal stories of love and loss, thoughts on current events, and finding resilience in times of adversity. 

The album was produced by Black Taffy, who explains that their goal was “to make a dramatic record in English and Spanish by combining hip-hop, trap, and ambient music from South America and Mexico.”

CAMÍNA’s work is unique, powerful and just what the country needs to hear during these times of civil unrest.