During her visit to the Variety Studio, presented by DIRECTV, Chiquis opened up about the making of her Latin Grammy award-winning album, “Abeja Reina,” and the challenges of growing her own fanbase in the Mexican music industry.
The Mexican-American singer’s fourth studio effort earned the award for best banda album at the 23rd annual awards show. Across the 18-track LP, Chiquis is introspective, exploring themes of heartbreak and empowerment. Stylistically, it ranges from traditional banda and corrido music to R&B, cumbia and more.
“Abeja Reina” is Chiquis’ first full-length album since she made history in 2020 as the first female artist to win the Latin Grammy for best banda album. Her mother, the late Jenni Rivera, was previously nominated two times in her life, but never won.
“My mom said this once: Whether my last name was Sanchez — I’d still be doing what I’m doing because these are my God-given talents,” Chiquis said. “I had to understand that. When I heard my mom say that…it just took off some pressure. Just to be myself, to do what I want to do, step out-of-the-box [while] still respecting and honoring what my family has done.”
With the Academy rewarding “Abeja Reina,” which took two years to complete, Chiquis says she feels more ready than ever to launch her new projects — including an extension of the award-winning album “coming very soon” — and to continue connecting with her international fanbase.
“I feel like a lot of Mexico still needs to get to know Chiquis the person, the woman — what she can do on stage,” she said. “Mexico, they could be tough of course [because] it’s our music.”
In late September, the children of Jenni Rivera announced they would be releasing new music from the late Mexican music star, with a posthumous album slated to arrive sometime in December. Although the first single, “Misión Cumplida,” was released on Nov. 2, the album was ultimately pushed back with no official rescheduled release date in sight.
“This year has been tough for my siblings and I. We wanted the album to come out in December, unfortunately, it didn’t happen that way, but it’s been a beautiful process because we found a lot of things that we didn’t know existed. I’m excited to be able to share that with my mom’s fans, I think this is gonna really mark something in my mom’s career.”
