“The creative process helped me to understand what was going on with myself,” TINI tells Apple Music. “Working in the recording studio also contributed to the healing.” During most of 2023, the Buenos Aires star came to terms with one of the toughest battles a person can go through: an inner conflict. “I had become like a cup that’s filled with wounds, and my father’s problems—a serious medical condition that landed him in intensive care—was the shock that overflowed the cup. I finally understood what my depression and anxiety were all about, the fears and all the questions that could not be answered.” As a result, un mechón de pelo is not only Martina Stoessel’s most personal album to date, but also a testament to her inner salvation, filled with internal monologues, metaphors, dedications and the intervention of her loved ones. “Here’s to the storm that torments you/And yet it’s nothing but a lock of hair” (“Por la tormenta que, aunque te atormenta, es un mechón de pelo”), she sings on one of the tracks, an allegory about finding renewal after darkness. Here, TINI guides us through the album, track by track. “pa” “This song is the drop that made the glass overflow. I had never felt so much pain and uncertainty in such a short time. It came as a huge shock, because my father almost died from one day to the other. Those situations transform you, and the emotions are extreme. I went to the studio and wrote about what I felt at that moment. I wanted to express how much I loved him, and what happened with this track was incredible.” “posta” “I’ve always believed that if I talked back or addressed any rumours, it would hurt my public image. As a result, I kept many feelings to myself. In this song I go back to the labels and words that were said about me—even though I believed them, I finally decided not to remain quiet about them anymore. Today’s TINI, the blonde, talks to the TINI who crossed over that door. The video conveys this message with clarity: the hour of reckoning between the TINI who dares to speak up and the TINI who gave her back to those same situations.” “miedo” “As I was going through all that emotional process last year, I was diagnosed with depression. I had to live with it, and felt scared. This third song is based on a note that I wrote down on my cell phone during one of many sleepless nights. The following day, I met the guys at the studio and mentioned the idea of incorporating the thoughts into a song. It’s me again, not recognising myself in the mirror—not knowing where to go, not feeling brave enough to move forward. A reflection of pure fear.” “ni de ti” “Rage is part of the grieving process. This track embodies that, the moment where everything brings forth the rage. The voice is processed using an effect that amplifies that feeling. The beat is aggressive, too. It stems from the lies that were circulating; they reached my grandmother, and she was worried about me. I called her, and she tried to calm me down. ‘I know who you are; I know it’s all hearsay.’ I felt something intrusive in my mind, something telling me that I wasn’t at peace even as my grandma was asking me to calm down. We decided to include the same words that she told me during that call, because they show what going through that process felt like.” “ángel” “Sometimes, in order to understand and heal, you need a return to the past. This is where I tell my father’s story in the third person. I mention him again because of everything that he means to me, and also because of an incident that took place in 2008. There was always a stigma, the prejudice that my dad had made things easier for me because he was a television producer. In 2008, he basically had to exile himself from Argentina, and no one wanted to hire me. Then justice was made, and I was selected during the Violetta casting sessions, because it was a European production. As time went by, I realised how things played out. I had never talked about this, but thought it was important to verbalise it. It’s one of the most complex songs on the album—I touch on my childhood, adolescence and adult years.” “buenos aires” “This was difficult to write, simply because I love this place so much. I was born and raised in Buenos Aires. My family, friends and home are in that city, my favourite place in the world. Since the moment I had to leave because of my career, I waited for the day when I could return to my refuge, my home. That’s also where the people who offer containment live. Because of the media storm I mention in the album, I started to fear returning to my own city and facing the cameras. It hurt me for the longest time.” “tinta 90” “I’m having a conversation with myself throughout the album, and this is one of those songs. I delve deeper into the dark nights when I felt the sun would never come up again. I needed to write a song bearing witness to those dark-filled months. It’s a private conversation inside my head, and it encapsulates the hopelessness, the emotions that grabbed hold of me and appeared to want to stay there for good.” “ellas” “After thinking I will never see the dawn again, I’m rescued by my friends’ voices. I’ve known them since I was three years old; they are the people who always listened to me, and I listened to them. They helped me see the light, embrace love and the desire to keep moving forward. Since this is such a personal album, with references to my family, my father and grandmother, they needed to be here as well. This interlude gives me the opportunity to thank them for being there, and for making me feel that I deserved a second chance.” “bien” “This one’s about allowing yourself to feel bad. It’s OK not to be OK. It’s OK to go through all that. Make amends with the situation, the diagnosis, the process. Everything doesn’t need to be always fine. It’s also a letter to my family, the heavens above, God, my friends. I name them, and mention the little girl I was. I tell her: ‘We almost fell apart, but now we’ve made peace with each other again.’” “me voy” “This track is about admitting that I got all those feelings out of my system—the darkest hour is gone. I’m sure there will be more of that, but it will be different. It’s not a part of myself anymore. I carry on with my healing process, but now I’m sharing the past experiences. Stuff that I hadn’t talked about in 15 years, or things that worried me during the last couple of years. I feel ready for the next chapter. I will see what life has in store for me; this is what I wanted to share, and I’m done. I’m ready to return to my own self.”