With her 2021 debut EP Ventura, Sofía Valdés emerged as an entirely self-possessed artist, sharing a spellbinding batch of songs that felt like escaping into her own elaborate dreamworld. When it came time to create her latest body of work, however, the Panama-born singer/songwriter found herself paralyzed with insecurity—a self-doubt so all-consuming she sometimes couldn’t gather the courage to sing out loud. Partly triggered by the pressure to achieve an inordinate level of success (and, in turn, prove herself worthy of a U.S. work visa), that sense of overwhelm was magnified by a series of setbacks in the immigration process that left the 23-year-old without a home for months on end. But after spending limitless time in the studio with producer Michael Uzowuru (known for his work on groundbreaking albums like Rosalía’s Motomami and SZA’s Ctrl), Valdés slowly reconnected with her intuition and ultimately arrived at her most exquisitely realized work to date.