Happy Passover and Happy Easter to those of you who celebrate!
Here's another song that's just a ray of sunshine through clouds. Over a breezy pop arrangement, Natalia Lafourcade sings about awakening to new love as she lets daybreak in through her window, and being overwhelmed with a contentment that defies analysis: "sólo sé que es honesto," I only know that it's honest. In many ways it's a spiritual cousin to Ang Bandang Shirley's "Umaapaw" (a few songs ago), all lightness and giddy joy.
In the song, "eres mi lugar favorito" is a metaphor: the lover or love itself as longed-for destination. But the video makes it literal, featuring scenes of travel, concert audiences, and, at the end, what appear to be snapshots and videos taken by family or friends or fans, spending time in all their favorite places. There's also an elderly couple dancing with care and tenderness, and a variety of dogs and cats -- all good things to have in a video, and in life.
Lyrics and translation here, though, as always, it's better in the original. (The lines that have, for some reason, been left untranslated mean something like "it takes no effort to make these moments sweet.") As we hunker down in place, may we be sustained by the promise of returning someday to our favorite places -- and, hopefully, by the possibility that we can make any place our favorite, with care and intention and love.
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Listen to the Spotify playlist here.
Watch the YouTube playlist here.