Juana Molina

Summary

Radiolab – "Juana Molina" (May 5, 2009)
Host: Jad Abumrad & Robert Krulwich
Guest: Juana Molina

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Overview

In this special Radiolab episode, hosts Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich set aside their usual explorations of science and big ideas to highlight the singular story and unique music of Juana Molina, an Argentine musician with an unusual path—from hit television comic to cult-favorite music innovator. Spurred by listener curiosity about the evocative music interludes previously featured on the show, Jad interviews Juana about her artistic journey, her creative process, and her philosophy of sound, culminating in a remix of Juana’s song “Un Día.”

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Introduction to Juana Molina

[01:57–02:22]

• Jad expresses his admiration for Juana and her music, explaining the impetus for the episode:
  • “This person you’re hearing right now… she’s one of my favorite, favorite musicians.”
• The Radiolab team notes the flood of listener emails whenever Juana’s music appeared on the show, prompting a deeper dive into her work.

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Juana Molina’s Early Artistic Path

[03:10–04:45]

• Juana began as a musician, but when that career stalled, she leveraged her talent for impressions and humor to support herself:
  • “I was always good at impressions. Something I could always do… impersonate characters.” [03:27, Juana]
• She transitioned into television, eventually starring in her own popular comedy show, “Juana y Sus Hermanas.”
  • The show ran for three years, giving her financial stability but diverting her from her true calling.

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Leaving TV to Pursue Music

[04:45–05:08]

• A turning point: during a pregnancy, needing rest and reflection, Juana realized TV stardom wasn’t her goal:
  • “I needed to stay in bed. So I had time to think about my life and realized that I had totally missed my goal.” [04:45, Juana]
  • “I didn’t want to die and not having done what I wanted to do.” [04:53, Juana]
• She walked away from fame to play small gigs and focus on music.
  • “Yeah, that’s not what I wanted. I just wanted to be a musician.” [05:08, Juana]

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Early Musical Struggles & Stage Fright

[05:13–05:53]

• Live music performances were initially difficult:
  • “Badly.” [05:21, Juana, on crowd reaction]
  • “I was held for several years.” [05:22, Juana]
• Unlike acting, music exposed her true self:
  • “It’s not the same. You’re acting. It’s not you… I was making fun of people. It was never myself, and it was horror because it was… I was just very scared.” [05:29–05:53, Juana]

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Creativity as a Solitary Process

[05:53–07:08]

• Juana describes her discomfort with band collaboration, leading to her becoming her own orchestra:
  • “I didn’t like anyone, and they didn’t like what I was offering them either.” [06:02, Juana]
• She adopts looping and layering, building complex compositions from simple elements:
  • Jad: “She creates entire symphonies of just her… As you’re listening, you slip into this universe of one.” [06:07–06:40]
• Juana on creative immersion:
  • “The thing by being on your own is that you can go deeper and deeper and deeper in your own universe…” [06:40, Juana]

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Artistic Philosophy & Relationship with Sound

[07:08–08:09]

• Discussion of the “multiple Juana Molinas” that looping produces:
  • “Every sound has its own behavior… I’m just feeling like a driver of the sound.” [07:21, Juana]
• Robert Krulwich offers a vivid metaphor:
  • “It feels like she’s taking a bath in herself.” [07:45, Robert]
• Juana describes how her “ridiculously small universe” grows through music:
  • “Little by little, my ridiculously small universe… becomes huge. Anything that has a note or a rhythm you can make music with.” [07:51, Juana]

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The Role of Lyrics and Meaning

[08:09–08:38]

• Juana shares that her music is rarely driven by a message:
  • “No, never. There’s absolutely nothing that I really want to say.” [08:14, Juana]
• Lyrics often emerge out of necessity, not intention:
  • “In order to be able to sing.” [08:33, Juana]

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The Making of “Un Día”

[08:38–10:20]

• The track “Un Día” originated from aimless experimentation:
  • “I was warming up for a show and… it sounded like ‘one day.’ It wasn’t saying one day, but it sounded like.’” [08:43, Juana]
• Lyrics appeared almost spontaneously:
  • “That just came out, ‘One day I will be someone different.’ …From that sentence, I could… I already had the whole song.” [08:56, Juana]
  • She recites lyrics that encapsulate hope, transformation, and imagination:
    “One day I will fix the back door. And one day I will write songs with no lyrics so everybody just can imagine whatever they want.” [09:45, Juana]

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Personal Impact & Listener Experience

[10:20–10:56]

• Jad describes the emotional resonance he felt from “Un Día,” even before understanding the words:
  • “It was just a sense of, like, a chant to your better self… the thing you say to yourself when you’re feeling really crappy.” [10:20, Jad]
• Inspired by her music, Jad contacted Juana’s team and was permitted to remix the song—his sole fan letter:
  • “I love your music. I love this song, and can I remix it?... Amazingly, her manager wrote me back and he said, totally, you can remix it.” [10:55, Jad]

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Featured Remix

[11:06–16:03]

• Jad shares an excerpt from his remix of “Un Día,” expressing gratitude to Juana, her manager, and contributors to the project.

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Notable Quotes

• Juana Molina:

  • “I didn’t want to die and not having done what I wanted to do.” [04:53]
  • “Every sound has its own behavior… I’m just feeling like a driver of the sound.” [07:21]
  • “There’s absolutely nothing that I really want to say.” [08:14]
  • “One day I will write songs with no lyrics so everybody just can imagine whatever they want.” [09:45]

• Jad Abumrad:

  • “She creates entire symphonies of just her… you slip into this universe of one.” [06:07–06:40]
  • “It was just a sense of, like, a chant to your better self…the thing you say to yourself when you’re feeling really crappy.” [10:20]

• Robert Krulwich:

  • “It feels like she’s taking a bath in herself.” [07:45]

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Important Segment Timestamps

• 01:57 – Introduction to Juana Molina, audience intrigue
• 03:27 – Juana on early impressions and move to TV
• 04:45 – Juana reflects on missing her true goal
• 05:21 – Juana describes early musical rejection, stage fright
• 06:07 – Juana adopts looping, forms “universe of one”
• 07:21 – Juana on her relationship with sound and layering
• 08:38 – Creation and meaning behind “Un Día”
• 10:20 – Jad’s emotional reaction to “Un Día,” requesting a remix
• 11:06 – Playback of Jad’s remix

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Takeaways

• Juana Molina’s artistic path—from comedian to solitary musical innovator—is defined by courage, reinvention, and a deep, exploratory engagement with sound.
• Her music is an organic, introspective process: not message-driven, but intuitive and immersive.
• The episode offers a glimpse into creative risk, transformation, and the rich worlds individuals can build when they “go deeper and deeper… in your own universe.”

Juana Molina’s full catalog is available at juanamolina.com. For fans of sonic curiosity and creative journeys, this is an episode not to miss.

Transcript

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[Juana Molina]

You're listening to Radio, the podcast from.

[Jad Abumrad]

New York Public Radio, Public Radio.

[Michaels Shop Announcer]

And npr.

[Jad Abumrad]

Hey, I'm Jad Abumrad.

[Robert Krulwich]

I'm busy listening to this. Who is this? I'm Robert Krulwich. This is Radiolab, the podcast.

[Jad Abumrad]

So this person that you're hearing right now. Testing, testing. She's one of my favorite favorite musicians. Can you introduce yourself? My name is. My name is Juana Molina.

[Juana Molina]

I'm Juana Molina and I am a musician. I hope you enjoy what I do.

[Jad Abumrad]

Okay, so you know how sometimes on this podcast, instead of the science and the big ideas and the whatever, we present musicians.

[Radiolab Promo Announcer]

Yep.

[Jad Abumrad]

Well, that's what I want to do for the next 10 or so minutes. Mostly because I think she's amazing, but also because when we used her music in the sperm show, I used it for some of the breaks. This song right here. In fact, we got a flood of email people asking about it.

[Robert Krulwich]

I wonder what she thought about being the breaks in the sperm shell.

[Jad Abumrad]

She doesn't know. So this podcast is for the bunch and bunch and bunch of people who wrote in asking about Wanda Molina, and also for the rest of you who maybe don't know her yet, but we'll hear her now and maybe, I hope, fall in love with her music as I have. So let me make space here. Okay. So I spoke with her recently as she was in town to play a G at this club called Le Poisson Rouge.

[Robert Krulwich]

Le Poisson Rouge. The Red Fish.

[Jad Abumrad]

Yep. And she told me her backstory. She's kind of interesting. She started out as a musician, taking piano lessons and guitar lessons, trying to be a performer. It wasn't really working out at that point, so she needed a job, and she wasn't really sure what to do, but she knew she was always good.

[Juana Molina]

At impressions, something I could always do. And it was easy for me just to impersonate characters and then.

[Jad Abumrad]

And people that you knew or just.

[Juana Molina]

People like stereotypes or. Or. I don't know if it's stereotypes or archetypes.

[Radiolab Promo Announcer]

Both.

[Jad Abumrad]

I mean, that's an interesting sound.

[Juana Molina]

Yeah. And then. And one day, I was desperately looking for a job that gave me enough money to play music, and I thought TV was the best option.

[Jad Abumrad]

You went to TV to help pay for music? What she did was she went over to the local TV station, somehow convinced them to give her a job reporting fake news, sort of like the Daily Show. And eventually she got her own show called Juana y Sus Hermanas, which means Juana and Her Sisters. It was sort of a comedy show.

[Juana Molina]

It was just sketches.

[Jad Abumrad]

How long did that go? For?

[Juana Molina]

Three years. At the beginning, it worked very well because I had money and I could pay my rent and my guitar lessons. But then I got big.

[Jad Abumrad]

She became a huge hit. Was it the kind of situation where you'd walk down the street and be recognized? Yeah, much to her dismay, oddly, suddenly she was an actress, not a musician. And as she puts it, her life kind of got out of hand. But then she got pregnant.

[Juana Molina]

I got pregnant, and I needed to stay in bed. So I had time to think about my life and realized that I had totally missed my goal. It was just that I didn't want to miss it. I didn't want to die and not having done what I wanted to do.

[Jad Abumrad]

So at the height of her popularity as an actress, she drops out.

[Juana Molina]

Yeah, that's not what I wanted. I just wanted to be a musician.

[Jad Abumrad]

So she starts playing in these little clubs, just her and her guitar. How did people respond?

[Juana Molina]

Badly.

[Jad Abumrad]

Didn't go so well.

[Juana Molina]

I was held for several years.

[Jad Abumrad]

She said she had terrible stage fright. If you're an actress, wouldn't you be fine to be on stage?

[Juana Molina]

It's not the same. You're acting. It's not you.

[Jad Abumrad]

I suppose that's true, but I mean, you're used to it.

[Juana Molina]

No, you don't suppose. You know, what I was doing is to impersonate people. And I was making fun of people. It was never myself and it was horror because it was. I don't know, I was just very scared.

[Jad Abumrad]

So what she ended up doing was kind of going solo, you know, like, she tried to play with musicians, and.

[Juana Molina]

I didn't like anyone, and they didn't like what I was offering them either.

[Jad Abumrad]

So essentially what she does now is she creates entire symphonies of just her. Just her. Her guitar, some electronics, and this looping box. She'll play a line and then it'll loop and loop and loop and then another line and then a loop and loop, and they'll both be going. And then she'll add a third and a fourth and a fifth, and some are all in the way. And this is what I love. As you're listen, listening, you slip into this universe of one.

[Juana Molina]

The thing by being on your own, is that you can go deeper and deeper and deeper in your own universe and go further, further away or deeper, deeper, deeper ins.

[Jad Abumrad]

Now, do you. When you loop yourself and you're in the middle of a. Like, let's say, an avalanche of wanamalinas are singing and harmonizing. Are they the same person?

[Juana Molina]

I usually feel that the sounds tell me what to do with them. Every sound has its own behavior, at least for me. I'm just feeling like a driver of the sun.

[Robert Krulwich]

It's so interesting. Like it seems. It feels like she's taking a bath in herself.

[Juana Molina]

Little by little, my ridiculously small universe. It becomes huge. Anything that has a note or a rhythm you can make music with.

[Jad Abumrad]

Are you inspired more by a thought like, I want to say something or.

[Juana Molina]

No, never. There's absolutely nothing that I really want to say.

[Radiolab Promo Announcer]

Really?

[Juana Molina]

Really.

[Jad Abumrad]

I mean, you have lyrics sometimes.

[Juana Molina]

Most of the times.

[Jad Abumrad]

So when the song pops into your head and you develop it, you're not thinking of a story per se?

[Juana Molina]

No, never.

[Jad Abumrad]

But you put the story on afterwards. Why?

[Juana Molina]

In order to be able to sing.

[Jad Abumrad]

Undia, the song. How did that. How did that happen?

[Juana Molina]

I was warming up for a show and I started. I got bored and I started to play. And it sounded like one day. It wasn't saying one day, but it.

[Jad Abumrad]

Sounded like you didn't even have the words just yet.

[Juana Molina]

No. But then when I was singing. That just came out. One day I will be someone different. So from that sentence, I could. I already had the whole song. One day I will be someone different. I'll do everything I never dared to do before. I will live in the middle of the country and I will dance, dance, dance, and only dance. One day I will fix the back door. And one day I will write songs with no lyrics so everybody just can imagine whatever they want.

[Jad Abumrad]

You want to know something crazy? I heard that song and I got the sense immediately of what it was without knowing the words, Just a sense of like a chant to your better self. You once called it, like, the chorus of one. Remember that? Yeah, the thing you say to yourself when you're feeling really crappy. Well, I had that feeling from this song. So I got on her website, juanamoulina.com and the only fan loader I've ever written in my entire life, I wrote to her just then. I said, I love your music. I love this song, and can I remix it? And I. Amazingly, her manager wrote me back and he said, totally, you can remix it.

[Robert Krulwich]

Really?

[Jad Abumrad]

So I remixed the song.

[Robert Krulwich]

Oh, my God. Was this guy in Buenos Aires or where was he?

[Jad Abumrad]

No, it turns out he's just down the street. He was in New York.

[Robert Krulwich]

Can we hear your vision?

[Jad Abumrad]

Yeah. How can I do that? Hold on. Okay, I've got it right here. Okay, so here it is. Here's the short excerpt from a remix that her manager was nice enough to let me do of. Of her song of Wanna. Molina's song Und. Sa. Okay, I want to thank Paul Dalen and Juana Molina. You can also go to juanamoulina.com check out her music. And I want to thank Michael Rayfield for some of the sounds used in that remix, as well as Stuart Dempsey for some of the music, and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the Sloan foundation, and the National Science foundation for helping to make Radiolab possible. I'm Jad Abumrad.

[Robert Krulwich]

And I'm Robert Krylwich.

[Jad Abumrad]

We'll catch you in two weeks.

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