Anela

Album ∙ Alternative ∙ 2025

Belén Aguilera

Aguilera’s Anela Belén Aguilera’s 2025 album, Anela, is a pivotal work that elevates her artistry from Spanish electro-pop phenomenon to a singular voice in conceptual, experimental pop. The album is far more than a collection of songs; it is a meticulously constructed, immersive universe, a self-contained refuge born from a profound journey of introspection and transformation. The title itself is an acronym—Aunque No Exista La Arcadia (Although the Arcadia Does Not Exist)—a philosophical statement that encapsulates the album's core theme: true happiness is not found in the search for a perfect, idyllic world, but in the radical act of creating and inhabiting one's own truth in the here and now, regardless of external chaos. Anela is the sound of an artist confronting her fears, embracing her inner "mutants," and finding vocational peace through relentless intuition. The album's conceptual strength lies in its blend of the intensely personal with a baroque, mythological aesthetic. Aguilera consciously moves beyond the literal and embraces the abstract, utilizing the language of fantasy, dreams, and surrealism to map her emotional landscape. The sonic palette reflects this ambition: while rooted in contemporary electronic music, Anela is spacious and dramatic, incorporating elements of dark R&B, synth-pop, and even distorted choral arrangements and classical strings. This creates a theatrical atmosphere from the very first track, "Nacer para morir" (To Be Born to Die), a mesmerizing piano and string ballad where the artist's voice is hauntingly filtered, immediately signaling a departure from her previous hyper-pop style. Central to the Anela universe is the exploration of identity and its fluid, complex nature. Aguilera uses alter egos and mythological figures—the "Dama en apuros" (Lady in Distress), the "Bruja" (Witch), and the Mutante—to dissect her self-perception. "Mutantes" is perhaps the most explicit manifesto, celebrating the capacity for constant change and transformation. It’s a track that turns vulnerability into strength, declaring that the quirks and contradictions that make one an outsider are, in fact, superpowers. This theme is linked to the lyrical honesty found even in surreal settings; in "Nacer para morir," she admits, "La nariz crece cuando miento" (My nose grows when I lie), a Pinocchio-esque confession that underscores the commitment to radical truth-telling, even when wrapped in fantasy. The album’s narrative arc is one of confronting deep-seated anxieties—the miedo (fear) of change, the pressure of expectation, and the pervasive illness of the modern world—and transforming them into creative energy. Tracks like "Laberinto" (Labyrinth) and "Eclipse" are where the album’s dark, danceable energy comes to the forefront. "Laberinto," with its marked theatricality and complex synth-pop textures, perfectly embodies the disorientation of navigating a confusing world, with the line, "Este mundo es peligroso, pero más soy yo" (This world is dangerous, but I am more so), serving as a powerful declaration of internal strength. These songs are "bangers," but they are also deeply psychological, providing catharsis through dance. A critical dimension of Anela is the artist's grappling with soledad (solitude/loneliness), and her eventual acceptance of it as a generative force. The track "Soledad," a tribute to her grandmother, utilizes distorted, celestial-sounding choirs to evoke a spiritual or ethereal connection, transforming the concept of loneliness from a deficit into a necessary space for profound reflection. The creation of Anela itself was a direct response to a physical and emotional journey that saw Aguilera travel between Spain, the US, and Mexico, seeking new sounds and, fundamentally, a new sense of self. The album is the result of that solitary, transatlantic introspection. The conceptual brilliance of the work is underlined by its visual and narrative cohesiveness. Aguilera encourages listeners to experience the album in its entirety, like "a movie, from beginning to end," where the music, the hypnotic stage production, and the surreal visual aesthetics (courtesy of collaborators like Santa Mónica) all feed into a single, cohesive world. Anela is the definitive statement of a "360-degree" artist—one whose artistic vision extends beyond the recording studio into a full, immersive, and highly personal aesthetic domain. In essence, Anela is Belén Aguilera’s ultimate artistic refuge. It is a work that rejects the external expectation of remaining comfortable or predictable, opting instead for a path of self-reinvention and artistic risk. By naming her fourth "child" (as she refers to her albums) an acronym for an impossible paradise, Aguilera subverts the romantic quest for utopia. Instead of searching for the Arcadia in a faraway land, she builds it within her music, within her own skin, and invites the listener to do the same. Anela is a powerful, dark, and ultimately liberating manifesto for creative intuition and the beautiful, transformative necessity of embracing one's own surreal, multifaceted self. It is a true work of contemporary pop art.