In the year and a half leading up to her new album, Natti Natasha has gone through a nasty time. The Dominican superstar is balancing being a mother and one of reggaeton’s leading ladies after her partner, Raphy Pina, was sent to prison. With her new album “Nasty Singles,” Natasha is reclaiming the word “nasty” and showing that there’s more to it than just a negative or sexual connotation. She is healing and working through the adversity in this fierce collection of songs.
“This is a nasty era,” she tells LATINA. “It’s about being unapologetic and very comfortable with myself. I’ve had a lot of ups and downs. This past year, I’ve felt like I’ve grown and it’s been about overcoming the obstacles.”
After breaking through with Don Omar’s “Dutty Love” over a decade ago, Natasha has positioned herself as one of the top female artists in reggaeton. In May 2021, she gave birth to her first child, Vida Isabelle, with Pina. A year later, Pina was sentenced to serve 41 months in prison following an illegal firearms conviction. Natasha continued to raise their baby while releasing hits, including the fiery “Mayor Que Usted” featuring reggaeton icons Daddy Yankee and Wisin y Yandel.
“Through everything that has happened, I feel like I’ve learned a lot about my career, myself and the things I can overcome by myself,” she says. “Once you take a bad situation and make it a good one, so many good things can come out of that. I make sure that I have the best attitude ever. It could always be worse and it’s not. We’re healthy and we have everything in life that we could want.”
Now Natasha is compiling her recent hits and new songs in the “Nasty Singles” album. She defines what “nasty” means to her: “It’s the extreme of each person, feeling and the adjectives that describe them. For example, when a woman is super beautiful, she’s nasty beautiful.” Natasha finds power in the word, especially in the tigress anthem “Kokorota,” which she dedicates to her daughter.
“She’s a baby, but I definitely want her to be [a ‘Kokorota’] when she grows up,” Natasha says. “When I’m doing my makeup, she wears makeup. She loves lipstick. She takes the microphone and sings. She dances a lot. I really make it my business to let her have fun and be creative around me.”
In her album, Natasha also embraces the sexual connotation of being “nasty.” In the dembow-infused “To’ Esto Es Tuyo,” she sings about giving herself completely to the man that she loves. Natasha also teamed up with fellow Dominican star Tokischa for the freaky reggaeton romp “No Pare.” The risqué music video drew criticism from sexist people with backward thoughts about motherhood and sexuality.
“I haven’t cared about what anybody has said,” she says. “You could be nasty beautiful. You could be nasty sexy. You can be anything you want. It doesn’t matter if you’re a mother or not. I feel more beautiful now. I feel more empowered. I feel like my best self now after becoming a mother.”
Though the album is personal to her, Natasha adds that “Nasty Nat” is also an alter-ego. “Each song is a character,” she says. “It’s like being an actress in a song. Like Julia Roberts plays a prostitute in “Pretty Woman” but in real life she’s not a prostitute.”
Natasha also reclaims the word “b**ch” in Spanish in the perreo-ready “Tu Perrota.” She previously did that in 2018 with Becky G in “Sin Pijama” when she sang, “I have always been a lady, but I’m a b**ch in bed.” In addition to uplifting women, Natasha’s bold songs have also become anthems for the LGBTQ+ community, which she acknowledges.
“When I talk about overcoming obstacles, I’m talking about for everybody,” Natasha says. “I’m talking about freedom as well now that everyone can express themselves and who they are even more. I’ve always been very outspoken about the things that I want to express and say. With [‘Tu Perrota,’] I want to see everyone in heels and with makeup. I want to see everyone’s vibe.”
With this album, Natasha is taking risks by pushing reggaeton to new places. She seamlessly blends Afrobeats in her post-breakup banger “Otro Caption.” Natasha then mixes elements of música Mexicana in the brassy kiss-off track “Ya No Te Extraño.” The personal evolution she experienced this past year is also manifesting itself in her music.
“Art is art, so I feel like you just have to play with it and not take it so seriously,” she says. “I feel like I’m going to connect with people differently. I want my fans to connect with a nasty feeling of their own through these songs.”
Stream “Nasty Singles” below.
Lucas Villa is a freelance music contributor for LATINA and his work is featured in Rolling Stone, Billboard, Teen Vogue, MTV News, and W Magazine.
