María José Llergo: "A lot of therapy is needed to manage success"

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Of the girl from the dunes that María José Llergo was back in 2018, only the pile of sand remains.

Because from saying so much "don't be afraid" she ended up assuming it and

who today plays between the fabrics of this photo session.

With the childish smile and adult determination of someone who has become

of the national flamenco resurgence together with the disruptive concept of Rosalía, the Eurovision nanny of Blanca Paloma or the electro-reggaeton mix of Omar Montes.

Without renouncing his Cordoba origins, the not-so-black legend of his native Pozoblanco, and a family imprint, in the form of a grandfather, which, far from fading away, worsens over the years.

María José Llergo: 'Who sexualizes a woman is not the woman herself but the eye that looks at her'CRISTINA DE ROJAS (Image and editing)

Who is the woman María José Llergo? Sometimes the people who observe you from the outside see you each in their own way, what I want to be for each one is what they need, not what they want.

In life many can give you what you want, but very few what you need.

My exercise of freedom is what makes me a woman, because I consider myself very young when I obey the things that unknowingly bind me.

The María José woman is the one who does not obey, chooses.

Body and skirt by Schiaparelli, tights by Calzedonia, earrings by Tous and bracelet by Roberto Coin. FÉLIX VALIENTE

What she chose was music, no matter what, as if the world began and ended on a note.

Although the environment told her no, her soul and her mind ended up screaming yes.

And now she rummages through both.

and that the most difficult fight has been against myself, because of my need to look for beauty and inspiration.

I believe therefore I exist, the rest of the time I feel a little empty.

My maximum expression is when I leave the studio happy because I have made a beautiful song, the rest of the time I am fighting to believe in myself, to enjoy the good things in life without harmful self-demands ».

Is that not believing in herself a kind of impostor syndrome? I've been in therapy since the first moment I have public exposure because when a person has a gift -I believe I have the ability to sing well and create songs-, He is so internalized that he does not realize how special and how beautiful others see him.

That is why I say that my worst struggle is to value myself, love myself and allow myself to be from love and not from self-demand as I did before. When did that change take place? In a great process of doubts, of having precious opportunities in my life that I couldn't take advantage of it because I was too afraid, too anxious, and I had been fighting for too many years without anything coming to fruition. Did the girl from Córdoba that she was when she started in this world have a hard time managing fame and that's why those doubts came from? I didn't believe in fame ,

I kept denying it outright because I thought it wasn't for me and that people would forget about me.

It's been a few years now and it hasn't happened to anyone.

Now I am at a point of enjoying myself, but at the beginning I was in that phase of denial due to fear of disappointment, of not knowing how to keep up, of everything changing too quickly. When you talk about disappointment, are you referring to your own or the from the people who have always surrounded her? It's a fear of disappointing others and not being up to the task on my part, it all came together and I was totally scared.

I sabotaged myself a lot, only when I have learned to love myself well for who I am, not for a reflection of society, have I allowed myself to enjoy myself.

I am a 28-year-old girl from Pozoblanco who has a passion that is making songs, singing them and giving them to others.

Regardless of the industry, the press and everything else. Has your relationship with all those external factors changed? It's still the same professional relationship, but the personal one has changed because I want to live from love all the time and have a team make you feel sure of yourself.

I want love around me, every moment is unique for me and I want to take advantage of it because I don't know how long I'll be here.

It is a constant carpe diem, to be grateful every day and to be interested in what others know and I do not know.

each moment is unique for me and I want to take advantage of it because I don't know how long I'll be here.

It is a constant carpe diem, to be grateful every day and to be interested in what others know and I do not know.

each moment is unique for me and I want to take advantage of it because I don't know how long I'll be here.

It is a constant carpe diem, to be grateful every day and to be interested in what others know and I do not know.

Dress by Chloé, necklaces and rings by UNOde50 and earrings by Aristocrazy.FÉLIX VALIENTE

Everything that he does know was learned in the streets of Pozoblanco and, for this reason, he has been giving it back to him with his music.

There she went from Córdoba to record the video clip of 'My name' and throughout Spain she is walking the name of her town.

«For me it is everything because the fact that I love my origins makes me love me.

And that gives power to my voice, my spirit and my mind.

May those who have seen me be born, grow, study the violin and sing know that

Have you ever been afraid of forgetting your origins? I don't think so, although people who before didn't speak to you just for being on TV do, and everyone points to you, sees you, and talks about you, you have to learn to manage it without hurting you.

And it is difficult.

That is why a lot of therapy is needed and knowing that what they say about you is not your responsibility. When you began your career, your father was an electrician and your mother was unemployed, how much did that humble or precarious origin help you not to be devoured by the fame? Does it help with everything, for example, when a taxi driver comes to pick you up at your house, you think it could be your father picking up another singer and I would feel very bad if he treated my father badly because he was famous.

I would never treat anyone badly because of his work, be it a baker, a taxi driver or someone who operates on my open heart,

because all people have the same importance. And now I do the reverse, how many difficulties have you had precisely because of those origins? There you are born with it, it is not possible because your parents do not have money, because you live very far away, because that only happens in the movies... It seems that you have no right to dream and I have discovered a treasure in music and art that led me to believe that my dream was real.

And that was enough for me because I didn't know how, when or where, but I knew I was going to do it.

I didn't mind working as a waitress in the meantime, but I knew I wanted the opportunity to train and make music.

Although everyone sees me differently now, I am still the same girl who has the dream of singing and it is coming true.

I think I'm still the same after a few more years, I feel like I want to play all the time,

Although I don't do it sometimes out of fear.

But when he leaves me, I do it a lot.

Valentino shirt, Calzedonia tights, Chanel ankle boots and Messika jewelry. FÉLIX VALIENTE

Until she got there, María José Llergo went through a violin training process, which without the help of public scholarships would have been impossible.

«We cannot grow as a country or as people if we do not have equal conditions.

We would have lost the talent of so many people had it not been for the existence of public Education and Health.

to have a country with values, competent and that people are valued for what they are and not for what they have.

Do you feel that we have stopped giving value to these issues? I don't know, but I think the culture of effort is being lost.

And it is important that we know that the image is very fleeting and if you live your life focused on the image and suddenly you grow old or do not identify with it, what remains inside.

We have become almost an avatar, it seems that the only thing that matters is what is outside and the fighting process no longer sells.

What is beautiful sells, but what is good does not and there comes a time when if we lack values ​​we go into the void. How much class pride is there inside you and does it transfer to your music? A lot, because it is not the same to have to surpass yourself every day you don't have to.

So I respect the people who have that improvement a lot, because it inspires me to keep fighting and to keep knowing what I am.

I want the girls in my neighborhood to know that if I have been able, so can they, and that even if their father is a rancher, they can be singers.

That's why I want you to fight and never give up.

FELIX BRAVE

In an industry as sexualized as the music industry, you have always escaped from that approach. What I do is dress as I feel comfortable, I'm not sexualized from a social point of view.

But the one who sexualizes is not the one who dresses, it is the one who looks at a woman's body as a product.

What responsibility does the woman have?

When we talk about the man's body, this question does not exist, why in the woman?

It is the man who has decided that a woman's body is an object to be bought and sold, but not us.

And I don't plan on judging and taking advantage of a body as if it were a man, I plan on continuing to decide as a free woman who dresses today in Chanel, tomorrow in a tracksuit, and another day with a neckline up to her navel.

That is her problem, not mine. Even so, has she ever felt sexualized? Well, I don't know,

Honestly, I prefer not to think about it.

I prefer to think of my companions, that they are free and dress as their art demands.

My body is the vehicle of my soul here below and if someone sees it as an object it is their problem because they have not understood anything.

I'm not going to limit myself or stop dressing as I want.

I am just as decent whether I wear a high neck or a neckline down to the navel.

Why should the woman's body be questioned depending on her clothing?

For what a man can do?

So let's question him and his actions.

I am just as decent whether I wear a high neck or a neckline down to the navel.

Why should the woman's body be questioned depending on her clothing?

For what a man can do?

So let's question him and his actions.

I am just as decent whether I wear a high neck or a neckline down to the navel.

Why should the woman's body be questioned depending on her clothing?

For what a man can do?

So let's question him and his actions.

Chanel top and shorts, Cortana tulle top, Calzedonia tights, Jimmy Choo sandals and Cartier earrings. FÉLIX VALIENTE

What María José Llergo has felt is the continued weight of comparison with other women due to her musical style.

And there, a name emerges above all: Rosalía.

«I have been compared all the time with her and it does not seem like an insult to me, far from it.

What bothered me was the bad intention in the questions to confront a super-talented colleague with whom I have things in common, it's precious to know that you're not alone in this industry.

But

It is a waste of time and little vision that they make these comparisons because the more art, the more wealth.

Art knows no borders, it's like love, whenever it mixes, it grows.

When there are many points of art, that is an incredible richness for everyone ».

If you weren't a woman, do you think these kinds of comparisons wouldn't have been made so often? That's the typical strategy of the patriarchy to pit us against each other with a completely made-up excuse so that we don't feel strong and safe.

It is to create a confrontation so that a woman always feels incomplete, so that an older woman does not feel beautiful, when she is from birth until the day she dies. Do you think that at a certain age women have limits for fame? Or success because socially they are no longer considered beautiful? In my environment there are many women over 40 with many difficulties because they create a lot of insecurity about their physique.

It seems that the ideal of beauty for women is only youth and I think the opposite.

I see my grandmother and she seems so extremely beautiful to me,

a beauty that cannot be reified because it is as monumental as a natural landscape or an ancient mountain can be.

It amazes me so much to see her at her best... Belonging to such a complex musical world and which, however, is now on the rise again, how many times have you feared that your art was not understood or valued sufficiently? Most of the things I've done have been understood a year after I released them, so the fear of not being understood doesn't matter to me, because all I want is to feel satisfied with what I believe and with myself.

And right now I feel super satisfied.

How many times have you feared that your art would not be understood or valued enough? Most of the things I have done have been understood a year after I took them out, so the fear of not being understood doesn't matter to me, because all I want is to feel satisfied with what I believe and with myself.

And right now I feel super satisfied.

How many times have you feared that your art would not be understood or valued enough? Most of the things I have done have been understood a year after I took them out, so the fear of not being understood doesn't matter to me, because all I want is to feel satisfied with what I believe and with myself.

And right now I feel super satisfied.

Bodysuit and skirt by Schiaparelli, tights by Calzedonia and bracelet by Roberto Coin. FÉLIX VALIENTE

Is the world of music and our society still lacking in diversity? I feel like there's very little diversity, it's just on the surface, not deep down.

Diversity is now a trending thing.

Afro traits in Afro people do not attract attention, but in non-Afro people, yes.

Because?

I think that art is very inclusive, but the industry is not so inclusive, so a huge change is needed to pave the way for a globalized society, where there are a lot of nationalities in every city in this country and everyone has the right to fulfill themselves. in music, in science or whatever they want.

And that not everything is as it has always been.

And, as she arrives, she returns from the woman's position to the girl who built it.

Styling: Anaís Ibáñez.

Styling assistant: Alejandra González Lameiro.

Makeup and hairstyling: Kley Kafe (Esther Almansa) for Dior and Kerastase.

Photography assistant: Edu Orozco.

Makeup and hairdressing assistant: Patrizio Nicolai (Esther Almansa).

Video: Cristina de Rojas.

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