La Doña Announces "Can't Eat Clout" EP with New Single "Paloma no Vuelve Amar"

La Doña has shared a first listen of her forthcoming EP Can’t Eat Clout with the release of the reveling “Paloma no Vuelve Amar.” The new project will serve as the follow-up to the Bay Area artist’s 2020 debut album Algo Nuevo, further solidifying her devotion to creating multi-genre and hyper-personal Latin pop. Its lead single introduces listeners to the album’s protagonist — a woman named Paloma — who struggles against a love triangle between herself, her lover, and her artistry.

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“Paloma no Vuelve Amar” finds Paloma in the aftermath of her escape from a blood-sucking and soul-corroding music industry, indulging in a raucous homecoming. But the song’s celebratory melody serves to accentuate the anguish and sorrow that comes with such a retreat. One that draws on Mexican cultural symbolism and historical allusions to color its lofty narrative.

Here, Paloma is imagined by La Doña as a heartbroken dove. Still singing and dreaming but also devastated: “Hija de la noche y la madruga / No no vuela mas no vuelve a amar,” she coos against the blare of trumpets. Her crisis reaches a fever pitch alongside the song’s ecstatic revolutions of cumbia.

“Paloma no Vuelve Amar” explores the complicated and somewhat self-destructive personal paths forged after such a reeling loss. Yet despite the sorrow she feels over her career and relationship, La Doña gives voice to Paloma’s defiant perseverance.

“No sabe hacer más que beber / Se estrena sus alas,” she sings. “Y amarra su sed.” Propelled by the rumba breakdown that bursts forth about halfway through the song, she emerges fervently strident. The song’s clamorous horns and invigorating rhythms signal that for all her heartache — Paloma is far from finished.