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Who is Daniela Lalita, the magnetic goth and romantic music sensation?
The captivating singer-songwriter from Peru has just released her striking debut EP, Trececerotres. Daniela Lalita unveils a vocal odyssey at the crossroads of genres, tinged with magic and melancholy.
Interview by Matthieu Jacquet,
Photos by Colin Solal Cardo.
Published on 3 February 2023. Updated on 29 July 2025.
The mystical world of the
enchanting musician Daniela Lalita
When listening to Daniela Lalita’s music, you can immediately picture a coven of witches gathered round a fire at full moon while wolves, owls and other night creatures cry out in the dark. For the young New York-based Peruvian artist catches the listener in the nets of her polymorphic voice like the magnetic voice of sirens. Indeed the voice is Daniela Lalita’s first instrument, as shown on her first EP, Trececerotres, which was released last September. A voice that is at times a sensual cajoling murmur, at others a primitive guttural growl, but also attains a warlike screech worthy of a cavalry of Valkyries.
Daniela Lalita, an artist who pushes musical boundaries with her voice
From a very young age, Daniela Lalita perceived her voice as an essential and powerful means of expression. The young Lalita, her musician mother and her grandmother would often use sounds instead of words to communicate. The Peruvian artist soon began to use her voice in TV adverts, dubbing images of children or creatures. Standing behind a microphone between the ages of 5 and 10, she learned to mimic different emotions through her vocal feats. The decade that followed would see her passion for music turn into a calling. Lalita moved to the US to study music technology at the prestigious New York University. Under the supervision of her mentor Morton Subotnick, a prominent figure on the electro scene, the Lima-born artist dived into composition and pushed the limits of sound experimentation. She became fascinated by the Buchla, a synthesizer that allowed her to innovate and go further with her voice. “The moment I turned it on, I felt like I was giving birth,” she recalls. “It was as though each of its modules were a bodily organ.”
From voice to body: Daniela Lalita’s visceral connection to music
Daniela Lalita’s visceral relationship with singing also comes through in the way she embodies it in images. Since childhood, she has felt music flowing in her veins – from her living room, where she used to perform before an imaginary audience, to her stints as a model in New York and the years she spent dancing ballet. Movement has allowed her to give form to the fire within her. A good example was her flamboyant performance Madre, which she created as part of her studies in 2017. A mix of fashion show, film projection and play that caught the attention of her future label, Young. Her search for expression can also be found in the way she stages herself on the cover of her EP, wearing a tight black dress that turns her into a spectral shadow. The outfit contrasts to her white, ethereal looks, which make of her look like an angel or a white lady from a gothic novel. Naturally, she develops this side in her videos too. For Tenia Razón, she appears with a group of women whose trance-like movements recall the choreography of Pina Bausch, while for Pisoteo she contorts herself, alone, like an animal guided by its primal instinct.
Trececerotres: a debut EP steeped in matriarchal heritage, history, and emotion
Released after five years of work, her debut EP pays tribute to the matriarchal environment in which she grew up. The title, Trececerotres, “thirteen o three” in english, refers to the apartment number where she, her mother and her grandmother shared so many moments and emotions. Entirely written in Spanish, her native tongue, each track was built as a fictional character with specific personality traits. The resulting five songs are at turns sinister, peaceful or danceable, whose differences are visible through tempo, density of voices, dissonant harmonies, as well as subtle Hispanic rhythms that may recall Flamenco. Daniela Lalita plans to follow up the dark tone of this first EP, which she composed almost entirely on her own, with a first album that will be “a celebration filled with confidence and light.” To reach her goal, she will be travelling to England, Spain and the Peruvian jungle in order to infuse her work with a new force – collaboration.
Trececerotres (Young) by Daniela Lalita, available now.
This Lima native who grew up between the ocean and the jungle likes to remind us that, even though nature remains her main source of wonder, there are many other references that inspire her, from religious rituals and iconography to cinema… Weaned on 1920s silent films and their artificial sets recreating an whole new universe, the artist is also a big fan of horror cinema. Dario Argento, Robert Eggers and Ari Aster are among her favorite directors. Her daily art practice includes painting, sculpture and costume making, and completes what she calls the rich “psychological landscape” in which this eternal perfectionist evolves and invites her listeners.
Artistic direction: Natacha Voranger. Hair: Winnie Calvay. Makeup: Manuel Montanari. Nail art: Magda S. with Lotion pour les Mains products by Byredo. Set design: Gaston Portejoie. Image editing: Yoann Bouchard.
