INGLEWOOD, Calif. − After a year that “almost broke me,” Mexican American musician Ángela Aguilar is speaking her truth.
Aguilar, 21, who received the Breakthrough Award at Billboard’s Women in Music event Saturday, addressed the public scrutiny over her husband Christian Nodal. The singer was criticized after her relationship with Nodal, who had recently split from Argentinian singer Cazzu, became public last summer. Onstage while receiving her award, she said the honor meant a lot to her “because this year almost broke me.”
“I have had to stand onstage and sing through the tears and I have had to carry the weights of judgment and speculation of a story that I have not even told, and a story that has never hit my voice,” Aguilar, daughter of singer Pepe Aguilar, said. “And yet, here I am. I’m still singing, I’m still standing. Because music is who I am.”
Speaking through roars of applause, Aguilar remembered a lesson her late grandmother Flor Silvestre, a singer and actor of the golden age of Mexican cinema, taught her: “She taught me that you can fight in silence and that music speaks way louder than what other people say.
“To every young girl watching this, wondering if she should make herself smaller to fit in to someone’s ideas about who they are, don’t. In this world, they’ll try to write your story for you; don’t let them,” she said.
Her father, brother and fellow collaborator Leonardo Aguilar, mother Aneliz Alvarez-Alcala and her husband Nodal looked on proudly at the singer from their seats. (Gracie Abrams, Songwriter of the Year honoree, was also on her feet, applauding Aguilar during the many standing ovations during her speech.)
Ángela Aguilar dedicates award to immigrant women
The “Dime Cómo Quieres” also used her platform to acknowledge immigrant women and “raise my voice for the women whose voices are not always given a stage.”
Aguilar dedicated her award “for the women who leave behind everything they know crossing borders with nothing but hope in their hearts, only to find themselves living in uncertainty and fear,” she continued, her voice growing faint against the constant cheers and applause from the audience. “For the immigrant women in the country who work tirelessly building and nurturing, sacrificing, and yet still remain unseen, unheard and unprotected, this one is for you.
“I see you. I honor you. You deserve safety, dignity, the right to dream,” Aguilar said, fighting back tears. “And if my voice and my music and my presence on this stage can remind you that you are not invisible, then I will sing for you every single time.”
Before her speech, former Fifth Harmony member Lauren Jauregui introduced Aguilar to the stage for a special rendition of “Cielito Lindo” with an all-women mariachi band.
Aguilar spoke to USA TODAY on the Billboard blue carpet about using her voice to empower the Mexican American and Latino community.
“Seeing the injustices that are happening doesn’t sit well with me, and if I can do something about it, and if I can give something back to my people, I’m always going to be doing that,” she said.
Ángela Aguilar teases new music and what fans can expect
Aguilar, who released her album “Bolero” in February 2024, is working on new music.
“I’m so excited, this is my first time producing my album. My father has always produced my albums, and this is the first time I’m doing it by myself, so it gives me a big sense of respect for what he used to do. It’s much harder than what I thought it was going to be, but I’ve been writing a lot, I’ve been listening to a lot of new music and this new chapter of my life talks about just that.”
At 9, Aguilar released her first album, “Nueva Tradición,” with her older brother Leonardo. At 15, she released her first solo album, “Primero Soy Mexicana,” which earned her a Grammy Award nomination and two Latin Grammy Award nominations. At the time, she became one of the youngest artists to be nominated for either award.
These days, Aguilar also co-headlines the “Jaripeo Sin Fronteras” (Rodeo without Borders) tours with her father, brother and uncle Antonio Jr., cementing their place as La Dinastía Aguilar (The Aguilar Dynasty).
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