“La Mujer” (The Woman) by Mon Laferte and Gloria Trevi, English translation

“The Woman”
Album: Seis (Six), 2021
Style: A gloriously dramatic bolero breakup song. The dramatic but energetic style makes the lyrics imagery clearly figurative, not literal, but possibly this needs a trigger warning for suicide/murder/drugs. Just in case!
Countries: Chile; Mexico
Listen: YouTube, Amazon

Lyrics Translation:

Yo soy esa mujer,
La que cuelga de la soga.
Soy la mujer,
Como el tequila y la droga.

I am that woman,
The one who hangs from the rope.
I am the woman,
Like tequila and drugs.

Yo soy esa mujer.
Yo soy tu sobredosis.
Soy la mujer
De la que nada conoces.

I am that woman.
I am your overdose.
I am the woman
Of whom you know nothing.

Yo soy la que te amó,
La que te perdonó.
Antes de conocerte no sabía de dolor.

I am the one who loved you,
The one who forgave you.
Before meeting you, I did not know of pain.

¡Ay! Qué pena me da saber que
Ahora estás solo
Y probablemente
Te va a durar y así acabarás.

Ay! What a shame it is that
You are alone now
And probably
It’s going to stick and that’s how you’ll end.

¡Ay! Ayer por fin dejé de suicidarme.
Ahora tus manos son las que derraman sangre.
Me enamoré de un pobre cobarde.

Ay! Yesterday finally I stopped committing suicide.
Now it’s your hands that drip blood.
I fell in love with a poor coward.

Tú eres el hombre
Que lo controla todo.
Según tú, todo se hace a tu modo.

You are the man
Who controls it all.
According to you, everything must be done your way.

Tú eres el hombre,
El que arma y desarma.
No puedes ni contigo,
Ni con tu ego, ni con nada.

You are the man,
The one who arms and disarms.
You can’t handle even yourself,
Nor your ego, nor anything.

Yo soy la que te amó,
La que te perdonó.
Antes de conocerte no sabía de dolor.

I am the one who loved you,
The one who forgave you.
Before meeting you, I did not know of pain.

¡Ay! Qué pena me da saber que
Ahora estás solo
Y probablemente
Te va a durar y así acabarás.

Ay! What a shame it is that
You are alone now
And probably
It’s going to stick and that’s how you’ll end.

¡Ay! Ayer por fin dejé de suicidarme.
Ahora tus manos son las que derraman sangre.
Pobre de ti.
Adiós, triste cobarde.

Ay! Yesterday finally I stopped committing suicide.
Now it’s your hands that drip blood.
Poor you.
Goodbye, sad coward.

Translation Notes:

¡Ay! Qué pena me da saber que / ahora estás solo
Y probablemente / te va a durar y así acabarás.

Ay! What a shame it is that / you are alone now
And probably / it’s going to stick and that’s how you’ll end (up).

¡Ay! [Qué pena me da] [saber que] {ahora} estás solo
Y probablemente {te va a} [durar] <y así> [acabarás].

Ay! [What a pity it gives me] [to know that] {now} you are alone
And probably {it’s going} [to last] {you} <and that’s how> [you’ll end (up) / you’ll finish].

—

[No puedes] ni contigo, / Ni con tu ego, ni con nada.

You can’t handle even yourself, / Nor your ego, nor anything.

[You can’t even] not with yourself, / Not with your ego, not with anything.

---

Per Paper magazine:

Laferte released a distinctly different-sounding cut today, along with a video, this one a collaboration with extraordinarily iconic Mexican pop singer Gloria Trevi. “La Mujer” was written years ago, and while she’s performed live often, she never recorded it.

“It had some toxic lyrics,” Laferte explains. “I was in a very toxic moment when I [originally] wrote it.”

But her fans repeatedly pleaded for a recorded cut, and so she released a reworked, decidedly empowered version: “There was a part that said I drink everything, I’ve drunk everything because of a coward. The blame was put on the guy,” she says. “But really, no—now it says, poor you, goodbye, sad coward. Like, now he doesn’t matter to me, I don’t drink for him, I drink for me.”

“Mon Laferte Inherits the Legacy of Ranchera Icon Chavela Vargas“, Jhoni Jackson, Paper, April 9th, 2021