“Giant” Lyrics
Album: Femme Fatale Vol. 2, 2026
Genre: Soulful ballad about Mon Laferte’s life-changing fight to overcome cancer, ending up on the other side, reborn as a new person. Strong vocals. Very beautiful.
Country: Mexico
Lyrics Translation:
A veces me duele hasta la misma sombra,
A veces el miedo me muerde y me inunda,
A veces la orquesta se monta una fiesta
Con todo ese ruido,
Por fin puedo tomar mi siesta.
Sometimes even my own shadow hurts me,
Sometimes the fear bites me and overwhelms me,
Sometimes the orchestra puts on a party
With all that noise,
Finally I can take my siesta.
Después de habitar tanto tiempo el dolor,
De golpe la ausencia en mi voz se instaló,
Mi cuerpo aprendió lentamente a ser cáncer,
De tanto morir ahora reencarnaré en…
Un gigante.
After inhabiting this pain for so long,
Suddenly an absence settled into my voice,
My body slowly learned to be the cancer,
After dying so much now I will be reincarnated as…
A giant.
Ayer mirando al techo de un escenario,
Me sentí fuerte, y sin miedo a morir.
Hay tantas mujeres que habitan en mí.
De todas me quedo contigo,
Mi flor de alelí.
Yesterday looking upon the theater ceiling,
I felt strong, and without fear of death.
There are so many women living within me.
Of all of them, I stay with you,
My stock flower.
[Musical interlude]
Si existiera Dios, me abrazaría.
Ruega por nosotros, María.
Mi corazón, un desierto florido.
Tengo tanto miedo al olvido.
La voluntad se me dobla,
Me pesa la vida toda,
Odio esta cara deforme,
Y el negro aplasta mi nombre.
If God existed, He’d hug me.
Pray for us, Mary.
My heart, a florid desert.
I fear so much to be forgotten.
My willpower bends,
My whole life weighs on me,
I hate this deformed face,
And the darkness flattens my name.
He odiado y amado hasta dolerme los huesos.
Fui luz, fui pecado, discreto secreto.
Ya puedo dormir en el blanco menguante.
Ya todo lo di, ahora reencarnaré en…
Un gigante.
I have hated and loved until it hurt in my bones.
I was light, I was sin, discrete secret.
I can sleep now in the diminishing blankness. [alt. *decaying whiteness]
I’ve given everything now, and now I will be reincarnated as…
A giant.
Translation Notes:
For important context, Mon Laferte was diagnosed with and battled thyroid cancer in her 20s, overcame it in 2009, and thereafter took on the stage name “Mon Laferte”. Previously she was known as Monserrat Bustamante. She has said in interviews that overcoming cancer was the beginning of another stage of her life.
This song was released in 2026, much later, but the themes allude to her cancer fight. It’s possible that this song was written much earlier and felt too personal to release until now, or maybe she is feeling introspective.
A veces me duele hasta la misma sombra,
A veces el miedo me muerde y me inunda…
Después de habitar tanto tiempo el dolor,
De golpe la ausencia en mi voz se instaló
Sometimes even my own shadow hurts me,
Sometimes the fear bites me and overwhelms me…
After inhabiting this pain for so long,
Suddenly an absence settled into my voice
Minor idiom note: “de golpe” (literally, “on a hit/knock/shock”) is how we say “suddenly” in Spanish.
The last lyrics line here is a reference to how the thyroid cancer affected Mon Laferte’s voice. She explained in a 2022 article with Excelsior:
“Yo empecé a tener problemas en la voz; siempre cantaba mal, me costaba. Fui al doctor y me dijeron, ‘resulta que tienes un cáncer ahí que te está apachurrando todo. Entonces, hay que operarte.’ Tenía yo 26 años cuando me dieron la noticia”, declaró.
Translation:
“I started to have problems with my voice; I was always singing badly, it was difficult. I went to the doctor and they told me, ‘turns out that you have cancer there and it’s pressing on everything [in the vocal cords]. So we need to operate on you.’ I was 26 years old when they gave me the news,” she said.
De tanto morir ahora reencarnaré en…
Un gigante.
After dying so much now I will be reincarnated as…
A giant.
Within the lyrics, Mon Laferte speaks about how she went through periods of fear and pain, and then about experiencing a rebirth that made her stronger. She has said that after overcoming cancer, her other fears (e.g. stage-fright) seemed smaller. In her 2019 interview with France 24, while visiting Paris, she says:
“Cuando estoy en un sitio como París, mirando por la ventana la belleza, pienso que la vida es increíble. Es un cliché lo que voy a decir, pero necesitamos los contrastes, ver dificultades, la pérdida de los seres amados es inevitable y las enfermedades también. Aprendemos a apreciar mejor la vida, los pequeños detalles, los momentos de felicidad. Siento que ahora disfruto más todo, soy como una sinvergüenza de la gozadera de la vida”.
Translation:
“When I’m in a place like Paris, watching the beauty through the window, I think life is incredible. It’s cliché what I’m going to say, but we need contrasts, to see difficulties, losing loved ones is inevitable and so is illness. We learn to better appreciate life, the small details, the moments of happiness. I feel that I enjoy everything more now, I’m like a shameless person in my joy of life.”
Hay tantas mujeres que habitan en mí.
De todas me quedo contigo,
Mi flor de alelí.
There are so many women living within me.
Of all of them, I stay with you,
My stock flower.
Per flower language websites, stock flowers symbolize “a long life full of happiness and success”, and full of contentment and peace.
Si existiera Dios, me abrazaría.
Ruega por nosotros, María.
If God existed, He’d hug me.
Pray for us, Mary.
The first line describes feeling blessed. The second line is adapted from a Catholic prayer asking for divine protection. The following lines explore her fears and anxiety:
Mi corazón, un desierto florido.
Tengo tanto miedo al olvido.
La voluntad se me dobla,
Me pesa la vida toda,
Odio esta cara deforme,
Y el negro aplasta mi nombre.
I fear so much to be forgotten.
My willpower bends,
My whole life weighs on me,
I hate this deformed face,
And the darkness flattens my name.
More literally word-for-word:
My heart [is] a desert in bloom.
I have so much fear of oblivion.
My willpower bends on me,
It weighs on me, my entire life,
I hate this deformed face,
And the blackness crushes my name.
I believe that the “florid desert” (desert in bloom) is meant to signify the impermanence and beauty of life. Desert areas are harsh environments where survival requires resilience and preparation. They can also be places of sudden beauty. Desert regions have annual wildflower blooms after rainy seasons. After years of drought and then return of rain, deserts can experience something called a “superbloom“, which are rare and beautiful periods of more wildflowers than normal. To have a heart be like a “desert in bloom” suggests feeling intense love after periods without it.
I don’t know if “deformed face” refers to any specific life event, but it sounds like feelings of intense disatisfaction with her appearance. She is a public figure and her appearance is subject to scrutiny. Having her “whole life” weigh on her sounds like anxiety and self-pressure.
Tentatively… do these lines sounds funereal to other people? It sounds like she is describing her burial, her body decaying, and the overwhelming sadness of being forgotten after death.
He odiado y amado hasta dolerme los huesos.
Fui luz, fui pecado, discreto secreto.
I have hated and loved until it hurt in my bones.
I was light, I was sin, discrete secret.
She describes her life experiences, the intensity of the feelings that came with them, and how much she felt everything. She lived a full life.
Ya puedo dormir en el blanco menguante.
Ya todo lo di, ahora reencarnaré en…
Un gigante.
I can sleep now in the diminishing blankness.
I’ve given everything now, and now I will be reincarnated as…
A giant.
The visual phrase “el blanco menguante” refers to a white blankness or void. The adverb menguante can mean “diminishing, decreasing, waning, declining” or possibly “decaying.” She is describing resting in a void space after death, after giving “everything” of herself to the world.
The song ends with her reincarnation as a giant figure, returned to full power, grander than before.
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