I LOVE music videos. I consider music videos a subsection of experimental filmmaking and Juana Rozas’s TANYA is a masterclass in what that means.

How I discovered Juana Rozas:
Thank you @pancakerepairman

Favorite songs: PUERTA., BAD CHOICE., ANTONIO., RIDÍCULO con Santi moto
Favorite videos: BAD CHOICE., QUÉ IMPORTA con MARTTEIN, ANTONIO., UN ÁNGEL, RIDÍCULO con Santi moto

I love watching Juana Rozas’ mannerisms throughout this music video film. BAD CHOICE. and ANTONIO. are standouts in this regard. I’ve rewatched the middle section of RIDÍCULO con Santi moto at least 10 times. I love the way she sings “Estás borracho”

The consistent character outfit and hair works SO well. The layered bras (I had to pause on a frame to make sure they were 2 layered bras) are my favorite part. The double straps just elevate the whole outfit. Every part of it just works together to create a character that stands out. You watch her become the main character of this film in PUERTA., and then embody the persona in BAD CHOICE immediately after.

BAD CHOICE. gets caught in my head semi-regularly. I will just be showering and it will come into my head. That’s what started this whole thing - I went back to watch BAD CHOICE. and saw that she had released a whole music video concept album.

Going back to BAD CHOICE. for a moment: I had to look up the lyrics (and translate them with google translate which I KNOW is not ideal). I’m pretty sure it means “these days, all the choices we make feel like the wrong ones, so fuck it - let’s party”, I really love the “Vivir, morir (Bad choice, bad choice)” lyric - vivir = live, morir = die.

The TANYA LOCA, UN ÁNGEL, BUENÍSIMO section from 14:25-14:47 is clips cut together from 3 of her other music videos. I love the entire song and video for UN ÁNGEL, so please check it out here:

The close-up of her eye at 1:12 where you can see the vein… UGH! PERFECTION!!! The broken lamp as well as the collaged footage… YES!!!! The video has it all… THE LIGHTING??? Absolutely masterful. There’s so many frames from this that I’m tempted to screenshot and post, to the point where I would basically be making a stop motion animation of the entire music video. That is to say, every frame has an exceptional beauty to it.

The most important part of a music video is the music itself. How does the video intermingle with the song? UN ÁNGEL not only looks like the song sounds, it adds an element of surprise that makes me genuinely wonder “what is coming up next”, in a way that makes me excited both for the next shot, and for what is coming up musically.

UN ÁNGEL is very straightforwardly abstract with how it showcases the song. What I enjoy about TANYA as a whole is it is a dance within itself. It uses the medium of a music video to play with the songs visually. All I mean by that is that the cinematography and directorial choices are very clearly informed by the songs themselves - but in ever-so-slightly different ways each time!

Throughout all the cinematography/lighting/design choices - the thread that connects them all is Juana Rozas. Her performance is intoxicating.

If you are wondering about my interpretation of who the man is - I had to discuss that with Liv and check the comments of the video out. Liv said it’s probably an abusive ex or her dad (and the comments say the same) - I am leaning towards her dad. As for the eye. I don’t know. I think it’s very visceral imagery and I love the way it was foreshadowed, but I seriously have no clue what it could represent.

The ending feels something like “I don’t owe you anything anymore”.

It’s fun to get lost in the universe of TANYA for 28 minutes and 31 seconds. Try it out sometime ^-^

And as always, email any music recs to m@marcika.club and I'll check them out :D