Javiera Alejandra Mena Carrasco is a Chilean indieelectropop musician. She started her musical career in the Chilean indie music scene in 2001, and achieved wider success after the release of her first studio album in 2006. Her musical style tends to be synthesized electronic sound, although prior to her official debut she made acoustic-oriented songs accompanied solely by guitar.
Biography
Mena began performing live at the age of 17, her first concert occurring in a classroom of Juan Gómez Millas Campus at the University of Chile. In 2002, she began to study musical composition and musical arrangement at the music academy ProJazz, while also performing at underground parties and clubs. In 2003 she recorded various demos which leaked to the internet shortly thereafter and spread by her friends. In 2004, she performed outside Chilefor the first time, opening for Argentinean electropop band Entre Ríos in Buenos Aires. Between 2003 and 2006 she was also part of the Electropop duet Prissa, along with her friend Francisca Villela. The group released an EP entitled Ni Tú Ni Yo.
Esquemas Juveniles
Javiera's first song officially published was “Sol de Invierno", which was included in the 2005 compilation album Panorama Neutral. Another song, “Cámara Lenta”, shortly after was included in the soundtrack of Alberto Fuguet’s movie Se arrienda. Her debut album, Esquemas Juveniles, was recorded between 2004 and 2005 and it was produced by Cristian Heyne. The album was first released in 2006 in Argentina by an indie label owned by Entre Ríos, and was released in Chile and Japan through local indie labels. Her music began to achieve attention worldwide mainly because of the internet, especially sites such as MySpace. The album was later named the second best album of the 2000s by Latin music website Club Fonograma, while its opening track "Al Siguiente Nivel" was named the best song of the decade. In 2009, Mena performed in Europe for the first time, as being invited by Norwegian duo Kings of Convenience to be their opening act in their concerts held in Spain and Portugal.
Mena
After four years of production and mastering, Mena's second studio album, entitled Mena, was released in late 2010. This album was again produced by Cristian Heyne, and took a more dancefloor-oriented style compared to her first work, which was more of a balance between dance with mid-tempo and slow ballads. The album’s first single, “Hasta la Verdad”, was listed as one of the "Singles of the Week" in the American version of the iTunes Store, and iTunes Mexico named Mena as the breakthrough album of the year. Club Fonograma gave Mena its first, and to date only, perfect 100 rating, and later named it their 2010 album of the year. In April 2011, Mena performed live in the Chilean version of Lollapalooza. In May, she toured in Spain and performed live as one of the foreign acts of the Primavera Sound Festival in Barcelona. She was praised for her performance and got the attention of the Spanish local press. In 2012, Mena was featured in El Guincho's single Novias. In March 2013, Mena along with fellow countryman artist Gepe collaborated with Mexican singer-songwriter Julieta Venegas for a song entitled "Vuelve".
In October 2014, Javiera Mena released her expected third album, Otra Era. The album marks the search of the artist for a heavy 80's disco sound, with a wider use of synthesizers and more danceable beats than her previous work. Also, this stage reflects a bigger interest in the visual aspects of her career regarding music videos and live shows. The first single released was the song "Espada", released in 2013, whose video became widely popular due to its references to LGBT community. The video was directed by Luis Cerveró and has more than 2 million views on YouTube. On the cover of the albumOtra Era, Javiera appears in a black and white picture, wearing Eskimo sunglasses by designer André Courrèges and showing full breasts. The cover was censored by the media and music and streaming services like iTunes and Spotify. On the year 2015, she toured in Otra Era Tour, taking its shows to Spain, Mexico, Peru, and Chile. In the year 2016, Javiera was invited to participate as a jury in the most popular music festival in Chile, The Viña Del Mar International Song Festival. She was also invited to play a show at the festival, which was broadcast on national TV and satellite international signal on A&E. Javiera arranged to make a very attractive and spectacular show for the night, including very colorful visuals, fancy garments and a set of numerous female dancers. The show was a gateway for a lot of people in the country who didn't know the work of Javiera, and the end of the show she said "I'm very happy to be here. It's very difficult to be an independent artist in Chile, and besides the numbers and sales, I make music because it comes from my soul, from my heart." The year 2016 marks 10 years of the career of Javiera Mena, which she will be celebrating in a commemoration show in Santiago on September of the same year.
