See Inna’s Goofy ‘Tu Manera’ Video
Pop is now officially a global mishmash: K-pop groups collaborate with Latin artists; American rappers add verses to Brazilian baile funk hits; the electronic producer Marshmello made an entire video honoring Shah Rukh Khan, the Indian film star known as the “King of Bollywood.” In that context, it’s not as surprising that Inna, a star in Romania who lives half the year in Barcelona, is recording an entire Spanish-language album, Yo, that will subsequently be released by Roc Nation’s Latin division later this year.
The latest single from Yo is “Tu Manera,” a cheerful number — approximately what you’d get if you threw Novalima’s “Machete,” Gwen Stefani’s “Hollaback Girl” and something by Bomba Estereo into a big blender — that sounds ripe for TV syncs.
Inna calls “Tu Manera” “one of the most commercial songs” on her upcoming album. “It’s super repetitive; it’s up-tempo,” she says. “It started with a bass that we fell in love with. We wanted to do something super simple, not so many melodies. Just the bass by itself sounds like a hit.”
She wrote “Tu Manera” with her producer, David Ciente, and a lyricist, Maria Cristina Chiluiza. Inna is adept at three languages, including Spanish, but she jokes that “none of the languages I speak correctly — not even Romanian.” While working on songs for her new album, “we write in gibberish, it could be any language,” she says. “The base of the song is la-la-las or words with no meaning. Then we find the right words later.”
“Tu Manera” follows a string of singles — “Ra,” “Iguana” and “Sin Ti.” Inna was able to perform a few of the songs recently in Mexico. “If I can share it with the world, that’s what every artists wants, that’s good, that’s the best,” she says. “But if the world is not going to vibe with it, I’m [still] super happy to be listening to it.”