As tourists celebrate the high-end vintage shops, the evocative street art and chic eateries of Roma Norte, one of Mexico City’s trendiest neighborhoods, Mariana de Miguel can’t help but resent its overcrowded nature. Instead of avoiding it altogether, the singer-songwriter, better known as Girl Ultra, frequently faces the streets’ madness to reach what she calls her “oasis” — a small studio atop one of the area’s artist compounds. Making her way to the building’s sixth floor, the annoyance and disdain of arriving fades away as she retreats into the petite recording booth with an outdoor terrace.
As Girl Ultra’s home base, it’s the space where the 28-year-old first settled into her slew of new age sounds and continues to scratch her itch for experimentation. Rooted in her dreaded trek to the beloved studio, the Mexico City-born musician learned to embrace duality and overcome self-judgment through the making of her most recent EP “Blush.” “I was fearless.
I was creating things I had always wanted to and if I didn’t like it, I was unafraid of throwing it away,” said De Miguel. “It felt like a kid’s playground. And I finally had all the toys.
With ‘Blush,’ I felt free.” A few months after its release, De Miguel stops in Los Angeles on a breezy September afternoon to celebrate the EP’s long-awaited vinyl release. Surrounded by downtown’s towering warehouses and high-end retailers, I spot her from across the Arts District shopping cente.