LIDO PIMIENTA - Caribenya

“Caribenya” is the counterpart [of “La Belleza”] where I got to be less cerebral and have more fun.

With these words Lido Pimienta introduces her new collection of songs. This is a work that complements the ambitious project she released in 2025, in which the Colombian-Canadian artist crafted a fascinating blend of European classical music, requiem mass, dembow rhythms and Caribbean music. On “Caribenya”, the bodily dimension takes over right from the start: the opening track, “Arrúllame”, an airy lullaby with string arrangements by Owen Pallett, evokes the warmth of a loving embrace. That initial suspension gives way after a few minutes to percussion urging the body to move, to vibrate along with its surroundings and with other bodies: cumbia, porro and dembow alternate throughout “Caribenya”, celebrating in a modern, synthetic key the Afro and Indigenous roots of Caribbean music.

In collaboration with Grupo Jejeje, Lido Pimienta polishes these eight songs with a dazzling, seductive pop sheen that not only lets the spontaneity of the writing process shine through, but also radiates fun in an extremely infectious way. The fact that both artist and listener are having “more fun” doesn't mean Pimienta's songwriting has been depoliticized, though. On the contrary, “Caribenya” continues to call out the invisibilization of non-white bodies and the colonial gaze that they, and the regions of the Global South, are constantly subjected to. “Marea” is the best example: behind the shimmer of an irresistible cumbia lies the fierce irony with which the artist confronts the objectification and sexualization of young women's bodies from Caribbean regions, and the prevailing gender norms intertwined with power imbalance and colonialism. While the song's protagonist initially seems to go along with dynamics of sexual exploitation in order to survive, the closing invective flips the perspective, and rage ignites self-determination, pushing her to reclaim not only her own body but also the land that belongs to Indigenous communities yet is increasingly the spoils of rampant land grabbing and touristification. “In dance and sublime Caribbean beauty we resist,” Pimienta wrote on social media when presenting the track chosen as the single. 

It must be said that in a summer when the dancefloor has been at the center of Western pop discourse, Lido Pimienta has given us a danceable alternative to the dominance of music that, however excellent (especially Charli XCX's), never really tried to break free from the commodifying, promotional logic of the streaming and algorithmic-playlist era.
Sure, on a theoretical level, “Confessions II” restored to the dancefloor its dimension of hedonistic, sexual and identity-based liberation, without reducing it to a merely escapist space; indeed, it reasserted its communicative potential as a meeting ground for different communities, while also reminding us of the ritualistic value dance can hold (see the explicit statement in “One Step Away”). But on the other hand, the most inspired and brilliant pop star of recent years was instead entirely absorbed in trying to free herself from the heavy burden of having to match a masterpiece (and a hit) like “BRAT”. And while “Music, Fashion, Film” miraculously pulled it off, in ways that, let's be honest, are shamelessly brat, triumphing by veering toward a hyper-digitized rock sound, it left behind, as collateral damage, the dismembered body of the dancefloor itself and all those club classics that had made up its predecessor's DNA.
This ironic, meta-artistic game thus gave back to online pop culture, to Instagram reels and to the endless branches of subreddits, a new virtual dancefloor, a new sanctuary of musical pleasure that opened its doors to the public even as it still had, underfoot, the fresh, bleeding corpse of PC Music, the bones of techno, and those sacred relics of house exhumed and polished up for the occasion by the great pop diva of the late twentieth century: Madonna.

And it is precisely into this context that “Caribenya” inserts itself, quite unwittingly, offering a perspective different from the hegemonic and inherently white one — a perspective that is, in every respect, decolonial. With no interest in the meta-discursive dimension of pop music and without the fanfare of major-label publicity machines, Lido Pimienta's rhythms are entirely centered on the bodies of those who produce them, celebrate them, or simply let them pulse through their legs and reverberate through their whole body. Flesh and sensation, pleasure and pain, joy and desire, anger and collective action: the Colombian-Canadian artist reminds us not only that dancing for real is a beautiful experience, but also that shaking your ass, and enjoying doing it, can mean something else too, and that we mustn't let that something else be obscured or forgotten. After all, Lido Pimienta knows perfectly well that anti-racist, anti-fascist, feminist and decolonial resistance can take any form we're willing to give it. Even that of modern cumbia. Especially that of modern cumbia.

Ride the wave of great music

Add OndaRock to your favorite sources on Google Discover. Don't miss our reviews, milestones and latest news straight in your feed.

Follow on Google

12/08/2026