Debi Nova Addresses ‘Very Traumatic Moment’ on New Album, ‘Todo Puede Convertirse en Canción’
Debi Nova decided it was time to heal a deep wound from the past and faced perhaps the most uncomfortable moments of her career as a singer-songwriter to create her new studio album, Todo Puede Convertirse en Canción (Everything Can Become a Song), a poetic and deeply honest journey in which she addresses for the first time her experience as a survivor of domestic violence.
Released Friday (July 18) under Sony Music Latin, the eclectic 10-track set — which follows Dar Vida (2024) and includes the previously released singles “Tu Manera de Amar,” “Se Va” featuring Leonel García and “Holograma” — is experimental in its sound, featuring heartbreakingly dark ballads like “Brindo” and brighter moments such as “20/20” and “Aurora,” a celebration with Brazilian and Afro rhythms alongside Alexandre Carlo. Lyrically, it reveals a heart determined to heal, no matter how tough the process might be.
“When I started writing songs for this album, I thought it was going to be my heartbreak album because everything I was writing came from a place of pain — not because I’m in a painful moment in my life, but because I believe the previous album, Dar Vida (To Give Life), which was an album about motherhood, connected me to a lot of things that needed healing,” Nova tells Billboard Español. “One thing I’ve felt since my daughter was born is that I don’t want to keep carrying things that I could unintentionally pass on to her. I need to heal things that were buried inside me. And songs started coming out about painful moments that happened to me up to 20 years ago — a very intense, very traumatic moment for me that I had never been able to write about.”
The turning point that set the direction for the album was “Brindo” (“I Toast”), the first song she wrote and the one that closes the tracklist. “I toast to the night I met you/ Loving you was the emptiness from which I learned the most/ The marks you left on my skin made me grow and become stronger/ There are many stories without the same luck,” Nova sings with a somber yet resolute tone, accompanied by evocative piano.
“In that moment, when I wrote this song, I said to myself: ‘Wow! What power music has, what a marvelous tool we have — not just for those of us who create music, but also for those who consume music. We can transform what we’re feeling, what we’re going through, and maybe gain a bit of distance, perspective, and heal through it,’” the Grammy and Latin Grammy-nominated artist says. “Months later, I found myself in the studio writing with other producers and songwriters, and I started shaking off all that heaviness. That’s why the album didn’t end up being a heartbreak album.”
The title Todo Puede Convertirse en Canción comes from a verse included in the opening track, the uplifting “20/20,” and encapsulates that concept of transformation.
Something that truly helped Nova open up more freely was feeling supported and accompanied. “It was really beautiful because this was an album I made in community, very different from my last four albums, which were albums I made very much on my own, writing all the songs myself,” Nova says. “I think that realization — that when we’re going through something heavy and can share it, we have one another — plus music, is the greatest vehicle for healing.”
“Writing with other people pulled me out of that super ‘Debi-downer’ mode,” she adds with a smile. “Being in that safe environment in the studio allowed me to shake off and confront those emotions. I think there was permission to feel vulnerable during those sessions.”
Below, Debi Nova breaks down five essential songs from Todo Puede Convertirse en Canción. To listen to the full album, click here.
