Carla Morrison: Mexico’s answer to Adele?

By DIANA OLIVA CAVE and NURIA NET

If the songs by Mexican singer/songwriter Carla Morrison make you feel like she understands exactly what it’s like to fall in love and then go through a devastating break up, well, that’s because she does. And she’s not afraid to write about it or even relive some of those experiences on stage.

Call her Mexico’s answer to Adele. “I feel like there is nothing to be scared about – to show your feelings, you shouldn’t be scared,” she told Univision News on the rooftop of her Mexico City apartment. “I think we come, all humans come, to life to experience all of these emotions.”

Her new album, Déjenme Llorar, is full of welcoming melodies and authentic, heart-wrenching lyrics born out of her experiences last year when she was feeling abandoned in her relationship just as her career was taking off.

At last month’s Vive Latino Festival her emotional music was clearly a hit: her performance drew a huge crowd, which outmatched more established acts. Even her surprise set on a smaller side stage was packed with fans who seemed to know every word to all of her songs.

The Tecate-born singer’s connection to her fans is a phenomenon: they don’t just sing along with her, they also cry with her. As the artist told Aquí y Ahora this past weekend, attending a Carla Morrison show in Mexico has become the new pretext to cry without shame. And she said that with a chuckle. She is a normal, happy person, she says, but remains unapologetic about expressing her feelings - happy or sad.

We spent the morning with Morrison at her home studio while she rehearsed with her band and took her dog Tino for a walk. The rising star spoke with us about her motivations, why she’d rather be in Mexico City than Los Angeles, her love for her neighborhood of Narvarte and cherishing the pleasures of everyday life.