Sofia Reyes is in bloom on the cover of her new album Milamores. After last year’s heartbreak LP Mal De Amores, the Mexican superstar is now filled with resilience and self-love. On her most kaleidoscopic project yet, she blends Latin pop with elements of bolero, cumbia, reggae, hyperpop, reggaeton, and more.
“With Milamores, I wanted to do this as if Mal De Amores was side A and this is side B,” she tells Rolling Stone over Zoom from a recording studio in L.A. “They’re like siblings. It’s the continuation of Mal De Amores, but now from a place that’s more beautiful.”
Reyes first previewed the album in November of last year with the celestial “Luna,” which reflected the ethereal direction that she was going in. In May, she teamed with fellow Mexican singer Danna Paola for the hyperpop banger “TQUM,” which later attracted Kim Petras to jump on the remix. Reyes continued to release more feel-good tracks like the bachata-infused “Cobarde” featuring Colombian artist Beéle. She reveals that she not only found healing through writing these songs, but also in the way they were recorded.
“It is a very spiritual album too,” Reyes says. “There’s a lot of elements in the music where we used therapeutic sound bowls. We used certain frequencies that are healing. For example, ‘Noches de Sirenas’ with Mariah Angeliq is a reggaeton song, but there’s frequencies in there to make you subconsciously feel something beautiful inside. That was really fun to explore.”
Like her collaboration with Paola, Reyes is proud to have teamed up with multiple Mexican acts on the LP. Mexican rap star Gera MX joins her in the sweeping “Milamores,” which seamlessly mixes bolero with hip-hop. She embraces cumbia with alternative rock group El Gran Silencio in “La Batidora.” Ingratax and Caloncho add to the Mexican artists that feature on the album, which also marks Reyes’ first decade as a singer. “I believe, above all, I’m more sure about what I like and who I am,” she says. “It’s important that I’m honest with myself in my music and everything that I do.”
While speaking to Rolling Stone, Reyes broke down six songs from her new album and shared how the introspective project came together.
“La Batidora”
This is the song that welcomes the album. It’s a party! El Gran Silencio are legends, so it’s definitely a huge honor for me to work with them. They’ve been the sweetest. It’s been such a journey with “La Batidora.” It took me a while to start the song and finish it. This one for me was definitely the biggest challenge because it’s the first time I did a song like this. El Gran Silencio killed it. I love them. I’m really grateful for all the features on the album because they loved the songs and they really put their hearts in this project.
“Milamores”
Every time people hear this song, it becomes their favorite. I feel like “Milamores” is very special. That song carries the name of the album. That song talks about the flowers that blossom after a heartbreak. Working with Gera has been the most beautiful experience. He’s the best team player. The greatest person. The greatest artist. He killed it!
“Cobarde”
“Cobarde’” with Beéle is a bachata. I love bachata. He killed it too. I also love Beéle so much. I feel like when I met him, it was as if we’ve known each other from before. He’s just such a beautiful person. I love the song “Cobarde.” That one was also a challenge. It took me a while to finish, like to understand the right words for it. It took me months. I traveled and took the song with me and tried to write. Then Beéle came in and it all made sense.
“Altitud”
I love that song! I feel like that song is a grower. It’s one of those that you like even more as you keep hearing it and then you’re obsessed with it. That happened to me. With that song, I was actually in the studio, working on “Cobarde.” I was stuck on “Cobarde” and I was like, “Let’s finish this session and come back tomorrow. I’m going to reset.” And then Thom [Bridges], the producer, started playing this beat and I loved it. It was “Altitud.” We wrote the song in about two hours. That’s the beauty of ‘Altitud.’ It was unexpected. I sent it to Ingratax and she killed it! I finished this song maybe in June of last year. This song has been ready for awhile.
“Yo Tuya, Tú Mío”
I’m a huge fan of Caloncho. I’ve been following his music for years. This was the first song we wrote for Milamores. We were in Hawaii and we were just very inspired by the nature of Hawaii and its feminine energy. “Yo Tuya, Tú Mío” started there. I finished it maybe a couple of weeks later here in L.A. I sent it to Caloncho and I told him, “Do what you want to do. I love this song. I would love to work on it with you.” He said, “I’m going to cut my vocals, but I don’t want to move lyrics or do any of that because the song is already done and it’s very special.” He killed it. I hope we get to perform it together many times.”
“Noche de Sirenas”
It’s the reggaeton reggaeton song of the album. I couldn’t not put some reggaeton in there. What ‘Noches de Sirenas’ really has for me is the outro. The outro is so powerful. It’s inspired by the show The White Lotus. I saw the show and I was like, “These are my sounds! This is me.” I incorporated that inspiration into “Noche de Sirenas,” and you’ll hear it more towards the end. I tried to put it at the beginning of the song but it was just too overwhelming, so I put it at the end. Mariah has been great. She loves the song, so she’s super excited.