Events

On her new album TR3S, singer/songwriter BRATTY opens up about all that’s weighing on her heart: her anxieties and insecurities and deepest infatuations, the singular pain of feeling too much, the strange disconnect of dealing with seasonal depression in the summertime. In an evolution of the unguarded storytelling that’s made her one of the most compelling young artists to emerge in recent years, the 23-year-old Mexico native sets that introspection to a bright and dreamy form of indie-pop/surf-rock, lit up in her sweetly disarming vocal work and effervescent melodies. The latest triumph in a breakout year that’s included making her U.S. debut with a much-celebrated set at Coachella, TR3S ultimately finds an unlikely power in absolute sensitivity.

Named for her lucky number, BRATTY’s third full-length expands on the graceful musicality she first began honing by self-recording songs in her bedroom at age 16. In bringing the 12-song album to life, the self-taught multi-instrumentalist worked with producer Julián Bernal (a Latin Grammy Award winner known for his work with artists like Cuco and Elsa y Elmar), shaping a more elaborate sound while embracing a certain unbridled freedom in the creative process. “Julián really helped me to challenge myself with my vocals and guitar-playing, but at the same time the main focus of the whole album was to have fun and be true to myself,” says BRATTY, otherwise known as Jenny Juárez. “With my last record I overthought everything: what I was going to write about, how to express it in a way that people could relate to and identify with. This time I just wanted to get back to doing what felt right, like I did when I first started this project.”

The follow-up to Es Mi Fiesta Y Si Quiero Hago Un—a five-song EP featuring guest spots from the likes of Spanish indie-rock band Hinds—TR3S brings BRATTY’s understated yet captivating songwriting to tracks like the luminous lead single “Estos Días.” “That song came from writing and writing and getting out everything I was feeling at the time,” Juárez recalls. “To me it’s about being trapped in some kind of loop, where the days go by, and you feel like you can’t make any decisions to move your life forward. You’re looking around at everyone else and wondering why you’re the only one who seems to feel stuck like that.” A perfect vessel for her heart-melting voice, “Estos Días” captures that sense of isolation in its sparse guitar tones and spacey synth lines—then takes on a powerful intensity at the bridge, briefly transforming into an exhilarating anthem.