Pasajeras

Album: Multitudes (2024)
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Songfacts®:

  • "Pasajeras" is a Spanish-language song from Alisa Amador, who sings in both English and Spanish. The title translates to "passengers," and the last line, "Pasajeras en barcos de papel," means "If I knew what the future held, I wish I knew, but we're passengers on paper boats."

    Amador wrote the song in honor of a good friend that died in 2020. She describes it as "A love song to a best friend, worrying about them, wishing that they would be well, wishing there was something you could do."
  • The song was released as a single from Alisa Amador's debut album, Multitudes. She grew up in a musical family and had some success with some EPs she released in 2020, but after her friend died she had a hard time writing songs. In 2022 she entered the NPR Tiny Desk Contest with a song she released in 2020 called "Milonga accidental," which won the competition. Rejuvenated, she started writing again and came up with "Pasajeras" and the rest of the tracks on Multitudes.
  • In his 1855 poem "Song Of Myself," Walt Whitman wrote, "I am large, I contain multitudes." Amador borrowed this affirmation for the Multitudes album. In a Songfacts interview, she explained: "This album is called Multitudes, spelled the same way in Spanish, and this album is multitudes. I know I can't describe a specific genre or vibe. The songs come out the way they are, and I have very little control over it. I do think that everyone contains multitudes, and everyone needs a space to feel safe being all the versions of themselves. I really hope that Multitudes can be one of those spaces."

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