Carla Morrison Talks ‘Señora Life,’ Her Hollywood Bowl Show, and Writing for Karol G
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Carla Morrison has gotten used to living the “señora lifestyle.” Since stepping away from the public eye to make 2022’s El Renacimiento, she’s created a world where she isn’t always thinking about big crowds and dropping new music. Instead, she’ll spend her days prepping recipes for the week, going grocery shopping for the ingredients, and squeezing in time at night to phone her mom and close friends.
“It’s a very simple life,” she tells Rolling Stone. But after dropping her highly anticipated comeback album last year, she interrupted her daily routine to perform her tear-jerkers and pop tracks on the road during a lengthy tour. On Saturday, she’ll play one of her biggest shows yet: She’ll headline the Hollywood Bowl, an accomplishment she still hasn’t fully processed.
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“Mexican people and Latine culture sometimes feel like some of those spaces aren’t for us. Many of us think that we can’t get to those places,” she tells Rolling Stone. “For me, as a Mexican woman, I think that it is a very positive message to perform there. It’s like, ‘Wow, we’ve come such a long way.’ I never imagined this. I’m from Tecate, a very small town. Ni el caso!”
For Morrison, the shows are a welcome change, and she enjoys performing for her fans. But she says she’s also ready for another pause. After wrapping up her tour at Mexico City’s storied Auditorio Nacional later this year, she plans to take some time off to write, live life with her husband of two years, and perhaps get back to writing again.
“I’ll take some time off, but I don’t think it will be as much as the last time,” she promises. “I’m usually thinking about the washing machine, taking my dogs out for a walk. I’m so normal and suddenly I’m like ‘Ay, cabrón! This is all for me?’ Like I don’t live that, so it’s crazy.”
Morrison caught up with Rolling Stone from her tour stop in San Diego to discuss married life, how excited she is to perform at the Hollywood Bowl, and how Stromae inspired her when she moved to Paris.
You’re going to have a Hollywood Bowl on Saturday! How are you feeling about that?
I know, I know! I’m a little nervous, but I’m very happy. When they told me that I was going to perform there, I was like “Oh, yeah. It’s fine.” But now that it’s freaking days away, I’m nervous but excited.
How do you go from a show at intimate venues like the Saratoga Winery to such a big place like the Hollywood Bowl?
We changed a few songs on the setlist. We’re gonna add some strings — I think a string quartet — and then we’re gonna have some backup singers and a whole outfit exclusively made for The Bowl, so I’m excited. We have more visuals. It’s going to be a beautiful show and because it is a huge place, we had to make it special.
Random thought but your album, it’s called Renacimiento, the Renacimiento before Beyoncé’s Renaissance…
Right?! Right?! [clapping] When she said Renaissance was her album I was like “We’re alike, we’re alike!”
But her Renaissance it’s like super cool. [Makes voguing movements.] Puro voguing. My Renaissance is “drama queen.”
If we’re talking about your Renacimiento, it’s been only a year and a half since you were reborn. How’s that treating you?
I feel like I came back to music in a very beautiful way. Honestly, when I got back to touring, I never imagined that people would be so nice to me because there’s a lot of reggaeton, modern music, and I’m so cheesy. I didn’t know if people would still like the type of music I make. It’s been so overwhelmingly positive seeing that people love my songs and most of my shows have been sold out.
I feel a little more emotionally prepared because I have worked a lot on myself, I went to therapy and I also went into psychedelic therapy. I’ve made decisions just to become a better person and have a better human experience. Honestly, I thought that I was going to start from scratch again because I did leave for a couple of years but I didn’t, it’s been like I never left so it’s been amazing.
I know you have some shows lined up through the end of the year. What’s your plan after that? Are you going to leave us again?
I’m going to leave y’all! Just kidding. I don’t know how youngsters do it but I do one thing at a time, so if I want to write more songs, I need to be calm, so I want to take some time without touring. I want to take a pause to compose, to live a little, to be with my piano without interruptions, and to write. If I can have my normal life routine and also make songs, it’s a perfect thing.
Obviously, tour is amazing but when I’m touring I’m just touring. I can’t really do something like “Let’s take out the guitar and write a song.” No! I want to sleep.
Stromae took eight years between his records. He said that in tour life there’s just no way to be inspired so he chose to leave: He got married as you did. He had a baby and went back to normal life.
Yeah, Stromae! Stromae definitely was an inspiration as I was reading his story and I would say “Wow, that’s badass!” I got to learn about him when I was already in Paris. When I heard about his story, everyone was like “Where is he? What happened to Stromae?” So every time I heard about it I was like “Yeah, I’m not so crazy then.” What I was doing, other people do too. For me, it’s inspiring because you have to live to produce quality songs. I feel that for people to connect with you, you can’t be doing everything at the same time. We are still the same basic normal human beings that need time and space. Van Gogh needed time, Michaelangelo needed time. They didn’t multitask.
I wanted to ask you about Karol G that is coming with her new album Mañana Será Bonito (Bichota Season).
It has been very interesting because it was something that I didn’t expect at all! I never imagined that Karol G would ask me to write something for her album or that she would love what we made so much. I was astonished. I already knew that she had my number and that she tried to contact me a couple of years ago but it never happened. One day, she wrote me, “Hey!” And then everything happened through WhatsApp very fast. Before Karol G, I wrote for Nicky Jam, Vibras with J. Balvin, Ricky Martin and stuff like that. It surprised me because I never looked for this. I don’t have a label to promote me.
It’s been great because this Karol G record is very positive, it’s reggaeton which is fine but she doesn’t talk about partying. I love to be part of a record that has a message, that talks about uplifting people. Many people have told me “You don’t know how many times I have listened to ‘Mañana Será Bonito’ because I feel like it’s my friend telling me everything is going to be fine, you’ll get through this.” I’m like “Aww, thank you.”
Have you been working with any other artists lately writing with them?
I’ve been writing with a couple of artists. I can’t really tell because I don’t know if I can get in trouble. It’s definitely something I want to do more: songwriting with other artists because you learn. Beautiful things come out of it and I think that L.A. is a good place to do that.
You shared that your husband was hospitalized at a recent show. How’s he doing?
Yeah, he’s still in the hospital. He caught a stomach infection and is taking some antibiotics. I just talked to him this morning and he said that he’ll probably have to stay another day for doctors to see what he has. When it happened, it was really difficult because we work together, we song-write together, we tour together, and now have to do shows without him.
It’s like, “I’m here and you’re in the hospital.” It’s just not normal to me but he was like “No, baby, you can’t cancel. We are a team and you have to go. People are waiting for you. I’m literally just waiting for results, I’m fine, I’m ok.” But he had fainted. He wasn’t doing so well so I was scared. Thankfully, my mother-in-law is with him now so I’m more calm. But it was a little hard at first, I was crying like “I’m gonna cancel” and he was like “No, don’t!”
How’s married life?
Oh, it’s beautiful! And when I say it’s beautiful it’s because we were together 8 years as boyfriend and girlfriend and I thought, “Once we got married it’s gonna be the same.” But it’s not. Something changes. You just become a very solid team. Alejandro is my ride-or-die. Alejandro is just so good to me. He loves to see me shine and he’s very proud of me. He’s always saying cute stuff. I’m really happy and I love calling him my husband.
You just dropped a song in English, “Everything Was For Love.” Have you considered making more music in English?
I’ve thought about it. I’ve been wanting to but usually it comes out in Spanish but I don’t know. I just love Spanish. I would love to do something in French too. I have a lot of dreams that I have to just give myself some time for.
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