Fonseca “honors time” with a new album faithful to his “tropical with hints of pop” sound

Miami .- Fonseca released a new album this Friday, ‘Antes que el tiempo se vaya’, which he described in an interview with EFE as a ‘homage’ to the passage of time and a sample of that sound of his that he has worked on throughout his career: ‘tropical with some hints of pop’. The singer-songwriter explained that they are twelve songs with rhythms like salsa, with the help of Rubén Blades; merengue, “from my corner”, which incorporates the accordion, and even for the first time cumbia, with ‘Barco de papel’, and even rap, in ‘No me resisto’, accompanied by his compatriot Nampa Básico. In this, his eleventh studio production, the Colombian says that “it’s crazy” to work with the Panamanian salsa singer and all the other collaborators, which also include the Venezuelan band Rawayana, Manuel Medrano, Río Roma and Juanes, who accompanies him on the song that gives the album its title, another merengue in his style.

Nostalgia, Melancholy, and Gratitude

“I loved it because I went to mix a merengue with an accordion and with Juanes’ electric guitar, I think it makes it very particular,” added the winner of nine Latin Grammy awards.

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Accustomed to titling his albums with a single word, this time he says he “let it go” because ‘Before Time Goes Away’ is a “very powerful phrase”, a reflection on not wasting it. “I feel that if before my flag of gratitude, let’s say in my lyrics, has been very present, I think that now it is through this, of honoring time, which for me is like the same message, put differently. Thanking life, thanking family, the land where one was born,” he said. In that sense, it is pointed out that ‘I never left’, along with Blades, is a song with which he identifies as an immigrant in the United States. “It’s like a theme of longing and melancholy and gratitude for the land where one is from, no matter how many years one has been away, because I’ve been living outside of Bogotá for 14 years and every time I land in Bogotá I feel as if I had never left,” he indicated.

“Multigenerational” Music

Fonseca, who produced the album along with Andy Clay, said he feels impacted by the reception of several generations that the world tour of his previous album, ‘Tropicalia’ (2024), which he defined as ‘the most important’ of his career, just finished. “People sing them all, and connect as much with the songs I wrote twenty years ago as with those that are part of ‘Tropicalia.’ It’s very special to feel that people are still connected and that they have accompanied me on the journey through the different generations,” he stated. Consider that this is partly due to the folkloric basis of its tropical sound, which connects with the cultural roots of different ages. “That type of genre does not go out of style because they are part of the root of different cultures and different countries” and “the vast majority of people at some point go through that folklore of their country and their land, either through their parents or grandparents”. “I believe that the fact of carrying out those mergers, well, it’s definitely multigenerational,” she emphasized.

Sound Conservation

And although he maintains that in the new album he didn’t go directly with a “roadmap” to the tropical, as with ‘Tropicalia’, he does retain the sound he has worked on for many years, of which he is proud for his ability to unite different audiences. “I love that, because I believe my music speaks to anyone,” said Fonseca, who is also preparing the new tour for next October, which will begin in Bogota. The Colombian will also sing on June 26 in Doral, as part of the World Cup celebrations, one day before the match between Colombia and Portugal, which is celebrated in Miami. For the people of Bogotá, the football festival is another example of how both sport and music have the power to unite everyone. “Both are equal to celebration, a celebration of unity; I don’t think we have ever needed it so much in the world, I think the World Cup arrives at a very appropriate moment,” he stated.