“I have a lot of artistry inside me that I hadn’t been able to explore,” Paloma Mami tells Apple Music about making her second full-length album, CÓDiGOS DE MUÑEKA. “Since I was creating this whole album, I finally got the opportunity to really experiment.” In following up 2021’s Sueños de Dalí, which paired her with producers like El Guincho and Hit-Boy, the Chilean American sought to take greater creative control of her musical process. That meant, in part, limiting those who had access to her while recording, including her own family members. “I was completely alone, by myself, just working, and only had my engineer,” she says. “It was a big moment for me to know myself and see who I am, really.” As such, a clearer picture of Paloma Mami comes into focus across these 11 engaging tracks. Though she playfully indulges in a doll-like visual transformation on the cover, her CÓDiGOS DE MUÑEKA is anything but superficial. Here, she pushes female empowerment in numerous ways, be it in re-evaluating relationships as on “SíNTOMAS DE SOLTERA” or exhibiting a command of sex positivity on “Mi KAMA”. “I spent some time searching, really, looking for my femininity,” she says. “This whole muñeca aesthetic and concept comes from being a powerful girl in general.” As she decodes and redefines her personal definition of girl code throughout, she chooses collaborators who can live up to her expectations. This comes through in the sultry Rauw Alejandro duet “LA FREAK” as well as the more emotionally resonant “SiNKRONiZAMOS” with DannyLux. “I never had the chance to know myself,” she says, looking back on the process. “I was just in a whole other world before. Now I’m finally myself.”
