Valerie Ponzio Celebrates Her Mexican Roots on 'Frontera': It 'Made Me Who I Am'

Hannah Burton Valerie Ponzio

Valerie Ponzio is embracing her hometown and giving fans a sense of community.

On Friday, the Texas native is releasing her debut EP Frontera. To mark the release and in celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month, Ponzio spoke to PEOPLE about why she thinks it's important to never forget where you came from.

"I hope that when they listen, they can feel that love of life and that love for family that means so much to me," Ponzio, 32, tells PEOPLE of her new releases.

"I also want people to relate to the concept of home and how you can take home for granted, depending on where you're from," she continues. "That seems to be a concept that a lot of people really related to when I released ['Just a Bordertown']. Even if you're not from where I'm from, just taking your home for granted, letting other people you know drag it through the mud — and then growing up and realizing, wow, this place made me who I am."

Frontera Cover Art

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Like most in the Latinx community, family is everything to Ponzio. Looking back at her career and inspirations, she finds that while she loved listening to the likes of Sheryl Crow and Shania Twain, her biggest inspiration was her older brother Randy, who died almost 11 years ago.

"I always say grief manifests in really interesting ways. And for me, I just really dove into country music really hard — it was literally the only thing I listened to," she says, reflecting on her brother's death. "I realize more and more every day, you have so many influences in your life that you take for granted. But it really showed me a lot about how he was an amazing musician."

She continues, "He was always really showing me the ropes with music. He literally taught me how to write a song. And I didn't even know we were having a songwriting lesson! He was pursuing music before he died."

Hannah Burton Valerie Ponzio

Because of this, Ponzio — who was a contestant on season 12 of The Voice — sometimes feels the added pressure of making something of herself for the people that "came before me." But the only way that's possible is with the support from her pillars: her husband Mike Minjarez and her family.

"I'd like to think that even if I had a lot of haters, that maybe I'd still be able to pursue this," she says. "I think that I just have to acknowledge the familia — they've been there for me. And I think that's the cornerstone of a lot of culture, is to just be there for each other."

To honor that notion, Ponzio filmed the music video for her song "Just a Bordertown" in her hometown of El Paso, Texas. She intentionally chose locations that hold significance to her family — and her abuelita (grandmother) is the star! "She's a firecracker," says the singer, who's a member of CMT's Equal Access program.

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The four-track EP features previously released songs "Just a Bordertown," "Órale," a cover of Selena's "I Could Fall in Love" and a new song "Desert Rain."

As a Latina in country music, Ponzio is thankful for the women who came before her, but she admits that there is still progress to be made — and she's excited for this to be the year of "exposure" for her.

Frontera is out now.