Two stars connect for a heartfelt conversation about breaking barriers, protecting their peace, and how they both balance Mexican and American cultures.
This interview is part of Rolling Stone's Musicians On Musicians 2023 interview series.
The first order of business when Thalía and Becky G meet up at New York's Power Station is what music the two pop stars are going to play in the background of their photo shoot. Quickly, the room decides on Bad Bunny, and within minutes, Tití Me Preguntó is pounding through the sound system, getting both artists dancing. Thalía's voice suddenly pipes in for one memorable line of the song: "Mi primer amor se llamaba Thalía!" ("My first love's name was Thalía!") She and Becky burst into laughter.
Ever since Thalía invited Becky to guest on one of her songs back in 2015, the two have stayed close, reaching out to compliment each other and trade advice. The contours of their careers are almost uncannily similar, despite being generations apart: Thalía, who began performing in 1981 when she was around nine years old, released her first solo album in the Nineties — and became a ubiquitous figure in Latin living rooms everywhere by starring in classic telenovelas like Marimar and María la del Barrio. Becky, meanwhile, began acting around age nine before kicking off a music career with hits in English like Shower, from 2014. From there, she leapt into Latin markets, making pop and reggaeton hits in Spanish, and settling into a discography that's been bilingual and completely eclectic.
Both artists are good-humored, chipper, and endlessly chatty, cracking nonstop jokes about the many twists and turns in their lives so far. Almost as soon as their conversation begins, though, it's clear their connection goes much deeper than that. The two dive headfirst into profoundly personal topics, exploring their thoughts on identity, spirituality, and therapy — and sharing how their vast pride as mexicanas led them to their most unexpected albums yet, and a wide-open future.
Becky G: I am just so happy and so honored to be here right now with you, because eight years ago, I was getting started in the industry, and you gave me one of my first opportunities as a featured artist on your song Como Tú No Hay Dos. One of my favorite memories is when we were on set and I was on FaceTime with my mom. And you came walking by and you're like, "Hola, Mama! I promise you she's safe. She's OK. We're having so much fun."
Thalía: I remember! I remember perfectly. It was so cold. Snowing. It was like a factory with no heat.
Becky G: It was winter here in New York, y'all! But it was a video with a concept like "summer, we're sweaty, dancing in the club."
Thalía: The first time that I met you was really at the set. The set was where we got to know each other. Immediately, we had that connection: Of course, mexicanas, it was the knowledge about the little things that we love and that we are, the traditions, all those things. And it started with, "Beautiful Mama, how are you?" [Laughs.]
Becky G: For me, it was such a learning opportunity to see you like the boss. "Lights here, camera here. This is the shot!" "I need this. I need that." It was like [you were] the director, the producer, the everything. I was like, "I want to do this."
Thalía: We looked great. Sometimes you have to be picky about what you're wearing—
Becky G: I don't even think it's picky! You know what you want.
Thalía: You work with your team, and you tell them, "Well, the idea, the look, the inspiration is this, the concept will be that, the feel will be this." But it's working together. Teamwork is everything. Every artist should always be 100 percent grateful to all the people that have been working with them since day one.
Becky G: I was like, "This woman is a Swiss Army knife. She does it all." And that's why I pride myself in being a Swiss Army knife today, too. I think it's clear we wouldn't have come to where we are if we didn't love what we do.
Thalía: Now it's more space. We see all the crew here, all women. We're supporting each other. It's easier, versus decades ago.
Becky G: What do you think has been the biggest change? Because we both got started very, very young, but I wanted to know from you, because you have one of the most iconic blueprints as a businesswoman, as an artist, as an amazing mother, an amazing wifey. You do it all.
Thalía: Ay, my Becky, so many things, they've been changing. First of all, I want to step back a second and also tell you that I love being with you. I appreciate having your beautiful persona in front of me again. I really appreciate everything that you do also, from safeguarding and protecting Latin music and music in Spanish, that you push yourself always to do something creative.
Becky G: Oh, I'm blushing!
Thalía: I can tell you that when I started, it was terrible. It was just against the ocean of sharks. And luckily, I had my mother, and I have to say, my mother was the first momager. I totally understand the Kardashians [laughs]. It was a blessing to have Yolanda Miranda, my mother, next to me in that world. We were five sisters, and my father passed away when I was six years old, so it was a matriarchy. They were always very strong, very opinionated. And I learned that. It was moments where I had to be very structured and follow instructions. I became famous being part of a soap opera, then a group, then another group, and then...
Becky G: I mean, can we just acknowledge how humble you are for even saying that, because we all know this! [Laughs.] But, yes, continue.
Thalía: You had to follow the rules. My first group, I was 12 years old, the age of my son. I cannot picture my son going out, doing shows for all the kids while they're having a big party. I was that kid, doing the show while they were having cake, and I wanted to be part of the cake, but I was singing, right? Dressed as a clown [laughs]. I did four albums back then in that little group: "Dress like that, dance like that, sing like that." Then I went into another teen group: "Dress like that, sing like that, act like that." Then soap operas. It was all structure till I said, "Fuck everything. I don't care about what everybody has to say. I want to hear my voice, and that's it. I don't want to follow any rules. I want to follow my own heart."
Becky G: My mom is also my best friend. She was never my manager, but she was really young when she had me. My mom was more of my big sister — we were learning together. I started out acting, dancing, and singing around nine years old, and I also did my fair share of girl groups. It's exactly what you were saying — finally there comes a moment where I was like, "I was born with wings, and I'm ready to fly!" Every audition I would go to, I'd go in with my headshot and my résumé, and I would clip my demo CD to my résumé, just in case the casting director knew a producer friend. You just never knew!
Thalía: You were motivated. And we didn't have social media.
Becky G: Back then, it was what I call hand-to-hand combat. I consider it a luxury that I had that opportunity to perform in front of crowds in grocery-store parking lots, in front of sometimes nobody but my family, to get those repetitions in. With all the talent shows that exist today, with all of the social media, overnight successes, the viral moments, artists get signed and then they get thrown on this massive stage. I feel like I want to take care of them. This is a lot very quickly! Are they OK? What do these contracts look like? Is their mental health all right?
Thalía: Yeah. It's so much, so quick, versus what we just said. It was step by step, bringing the album to the radio station and going to TV shows and then performing live, award shows and everything. And now, the moment they get this incredible fame and numbers, they are thrown into that. Mental health is a big issue right now.
Becky G: We're going to start our own school of rock, basically. It's going to be a Becky G and Thalía crash course that you guys can come take.
Thalía: [Laughs.] Yes, yes, totally.
Becky G: I'm always thinking about that. I slide into everybody's DMs when they're having their moment, and I'm like, "Here's my number, call me." Because you did that for me and that did so much. I mean, there are personal things that happened a couple years ago, and I called you and was like, "Hey, this is going on with my health and it's very new to me, and I wanted to just talk to you about what your experience is like." I think we have to take care of each other because not a lot of people really understand.
Thalía: The most important thing in my experiences is my faith, and how balanced is my life? God is there first, before anything. What are the other priorities? I have two families: I have my husband, my kids, but I have my fans, my Thalía family. I have to take care of them but take care of my kids. I'm making sure that my daughter is doing great, and my son is doing good.
Becky G: And you do it so well. Especially in Latin culture, the women were raised to be so giving. Giving, giving, giving, giving, giving, giving, giving. We take care of everyone before ourselves. I want to know if you ever found yourself in a moment where you felt like you were pouring from an empty cup, and what did you figure out worked best for you to be able to give more?
Thalía: There is always going to be a moment where you're overextending yourself. Especially being a mom and having a job, you're always going to have a challenge. There's no option: Being a mom is so intense. And our career is so draining. For me, understanding that I have to feel happy first is what makes the difference. I have my routines that are untouchable. Everywhere I go, I have my routines in the morning, and I do not change them. It could be the way I prepare my coffee. It could be the first thing that you think of in the morning, it could be a simple prayer that you do. Love yourself. Give yourself time. And it's OK to not feel good. How do you do it?
Becky G: Yeah, it's a little bit of the same thing. My faith, when I found it myself, wasn't something that I was looking for. Growing up, sometimes it can be very forced on you, and I felt like this was a journey of my own. But I remember, I was like, "OK, I'm still feeling overwhelmed." I think having been so young, having to grow up so quickly in my personal life and my profession, it was when I found myself in therapy. It is not something that's taught very commonly in our culture to go. For us, it's like, "If you're feeling sad, drink a tea or something!" It's always something external. And I was like, "No, it's in here, and it's in here" [points to temple and heart].
Thalía: It's internal. It's your soul screaming for help.
Becky G: My therapist referred to our experience as the three-legged table: the mind, the body, and the soul. And without one of those legs, the table doesn't work! I started to think about self-care as not just, like, "I did a face mask. Why am I so sad?" I was journaling, meditation, prayer, connection with friends, with family, just finding ways to connect.
Thalía: I love what you said about therapy. But in our culture, it was a taboo. It really helps you if you get the right person. My father died, I was in shock, and I stopped talking for a whole year. My mother took me to therapy. And I was able to come back little by little from the trauma — because we are the result of traumas. It's super important to dig in and release the demons out. Just let the light come out because we are light.
Becky G: Totally. Something you and I both have in common, which is really cool: That we're both mexicanas and proud to be. I want to say I'm Mexican, but all my cousins from Mexico tell me I'm not Mexican. And then all my friends here in America, it's like, "No, you're Mexican." And I'm like, "This identity crisis!" But this one right here [points to Thalía] has helped me through so much of that. And she's always embraced me as a mexicana.
Thalía: It is tough. And I have it the other way: I'm Mexican, living in the U.S.
Becky G: [Laughs.] I'm the reverse crossover, you're the crossover.
Thalía: Yes. And sometimes it's tough for me. My husband, American and Italian—
Becky G: Does he speak Spanish?
Thalía: A little. But it's good, he doesn't understand my mysterious things [laughs]. The double meanings in my songs.
Becky G: That's hilarious.
Thalía: It's so amazing to have that legacy that is so powerful, so rich, so magical. Being Mexican, being Latina, it's a gift. I feel what is happening right now in the music industry, recognizing the language: Everybody is singing in Spanish now, and finally, it's the first crossover from all the Latin explosions that is in Spanish. That is incredible. Even the style, getting the Peso Pluma influence.
Becky G: I heard that you are also working on a regional Mexican album.
Thalía: Yes! I love it. It's something that came easy, because I have a lot of Mexican influences in my music. Some songs could be very, very Mexican in the arrangements, very bolero-style or mariachi-style. You could say one of my signatures is Amor a La Mexicana. I dared to make a banda album, I don't know how many years ago, and it was, "Whoa! This pop girl is making a banda album?" And now it's so normal for everything to cross over, collaborating with these new writers and the fusion of the authentic corridos with what's happening. To me, it's super sexy, spectacular, powerful.
Becky G: It's been a journey for me too. When my grandfather died, it just came to me. I would always say since I was little, "I want to do a mariachi album." I saw a video I have singing to my Papi on his 70th birthday with mariachi at a family party in Inglewood [California], in the front yard, and I was maybe 12 years old. I was just like, "I've been doing this with my family for so long. Maybe it's time." What really inspired the concept of the album for me was preparing my set for Coachella because I was like, "What am I going to represent?"
Thalía: Oh, my God, what did you feel in the minutes before?
Becky G: You don't get to soundcheck for Coachella. I didn't get to see my set or anything before. You're working through tech stuff in real time. But I like to visualize myself in those spaces, so I felt so serene and prepared. I knew what I was representing on that stage. And it was, to me, the 200 percent. I'm 100 percent proud to be from Inglewood, from L.A., but I'm also 100 percent proud to be Mexican.
Thalía: How beautiful.
Becky G: The song that I released with Peso [Chanel], we wrote just me, him, and [producer] Edgar Barrera. We wrote it in 45 minutes with the guitar. It was a vocal presentation that was different for me as an artist — so different that some people are like, "No, we prefer the reggaeton Becky, we prefer the pop Becky." But I think my proudest thing was like, "But this is the Becky that is now. This is where I want to be. This is what I want to make."
Thalía: You're exploring a part of yourself. That is a special vocal, I have to say. Beautiful.
Becky G: Thank you. That means a lot to me. I'm blushing again.
Thalía: You have to recognize it. For so many years in this world, telling another woman, "Oh, you do this so well!" was the worst thing. It was like a war always, in other decades.
Becky G: You're spilling the tea, girl.
Thalía: And now it's just like, we are here supporting each other like how we should be.
Becky: It's so funny. Today, you came into my dressing room like nothing. And I feel like there was a time also in my career where I would go knock on people's dressing room and it's like, "Oh no, she's not ready yet." Now it's like, "I want to hang out after the show. Let's go to dinner. Let's do stuff together." It's so nice.
Thalía: Exactly! Before, you're nervous. The other people have their own crew and things, and you never know how they're going to react. But right now, it's like, "Who cares?" After the pandemic, I think everybody just cut all the freaking bullshit. Everybody's like, "You know what? Let's enjoy life. Let's be our ourselves. I'm going to tell you I love you." Or "I'm going to tell you I hate you. I don't want you in my life." Be authentic and be in the moment.
Becky: Be authentic. Love without reservations. Here's another thing were saying that's really funny, that maybe not everybody knows: Over a billion views now on Sin Pijama (Becky G featuring Natti Natasha). Over a billion views on No Me Acuerdo.
Thalía: [Singing] "No me acuerdo, no me acuerdo."
Becky: We shot those music videos back-to-back with [director] Daniel Duran!
Thalía: Yes! And you came to the studio to see us.
Becky: I shot "Sin Pijama" with Natti [Natasha] and then I went to the set, to the club, and you guys — oh, my God, I'll never forget this. You guys were going overtime. This woman's amazing. She's doing her own makeup, she's doing her outfit changes, and I remember I looked at Daniel and I was like, "Do you guys need help?" I started pushing carts and wrapping wires and I had the gaffer's tape and I was like, "How can I help?"
Thalía: I remember! And you were in a hoodie because it was so cold. Oh, my God.
Becky: We were all just rubbing all over each other that billion-views energy. We're just billions of views all together.
Thalía: Seriously, let me tell you something. Those two days were magic, pure magic. Three Latina women, a guy who supported us. From that, which is kind of pop-urban, reggaeton-popero. But now both of us are doing [regional]. And I think it's awesome because it's recognizing our identity. It's an extension of our lives, of our path through life as Mexicans, as Chicanas.
Becky: I think it's also showing that as an artist, there are no limits. That's the thing, for me, when it comes to artistry. They're all a part of me. Why do I need to sacrifice this to have this? And that's why I refer to myself as 200 percent, not 50-50 anymore. I don't want to give up 50 percent for this.
Thalía: No, because you are 100 percent one and 100 percent the other.
Becky: We're thousand-percenters at this point, with all of the parts of us that exist. But I think it's really important that all artists out there know that you can do what your creative heart desires, and it's not about the numbers, it's not about the streams. Don't get me wrong, the amount of fans that support us on a daily basis is incredible. But your journey is your journey. And if people only follow you up until your pop era, that's cool, because you'll make new fans when you go into your country era, and then you'll make new fans when you go into your rock era. As long as you are being yourself and you are making music and art that you love, that's all that matters.
Thalía: It takes time to understand that, because you get caught in the system and you get caught in the industry.
Becky: And people get so mad! They get so frustrated. They're like, "She doesn't know who she is." And I'm like, "No, I know exactly who I am."
Thalía: But I don't read comments. I learned, don't read any comments.
Becky: I just learned that [laughs].
Thalía: My eyes are trained to find the words that are key. Love, happy emojis. I don't see any other bullshit. I don't. What I learned is I do projects for my fans and for the Thalía they want to hear, and they want to see. But parallel to that universe, I do projects for Ariadna Thalía, me. My previous album is all about rock en español. It was something I needed to do, to re-explore those songs that made my teenage years the happiest ever. And I sang with my heroes and all these incredible artists that did those anthems, and that album was so precious to me. It's like a gem in my heart.
Becky: It's so necessary.
Thalía: And this new album, it's amazing and it makes me so happy. It makes me so proud and it makes me feel romantic and sexy. And it feels so me, too.
Becky: I think it's beautiful that as an artist you can go where your creative heart desires. But I think too, like, I love to learn. For me, the process is like, "OK, I learned a lot about this. Now I feel like it's time to keep growing. How do I learn about this now?"
Thalía: And that's life. Congratulations, because you're graduating. It's chapters in your life. We are an encyclopedia, and there's little chapters that you have to do. And they're different.
Becky: And they are different.
Thalía: But they're part of you.
Becky: Well, I'm excited for this chapter.
Thalía: Yes!
Source: Rolling Stone
