Francisca Valenzuela’s new album Maldita draws from her postpartum experience as she leads Ruidosa Fest and earns LAMC recognition

The album centers postpartum as a creative subject. Valenzuela connects intense emotional states to the postpartum experience and frames the record as a direct account rather than a polished, generalized take on motherhood. The reporting around Maldita situates the record within wider conversations about gaps in health and support systems for mothers, citing recent public cases that have drawn attention to postpartum struggles.

Valenzuela founded Ruidosa Fest in Santiago in 2016 as an international music festival and platform for female-identifying and gender-diverse artists. Ruidosa was billed as Latin America's first all-women-fronted music festival. Research commissioned by Ruidosa uncovered stark representation gaps: only two out of 10 shows at Latin America's largest festivals featured women as solo artists or in all-female bands, and only two out of 10 leadership positions in the region's music industry were held by women.

The festival has expanded beyond Chile. Three years ago it began an annual partnership with Lincoln Center's Summer for the City in New York. The 2026 NYC edition included six concerts that featured headliners such as Lila Downs, Pabllo Vittar's CLUB VITTAR, Elsa y Elmar, Rubio, Edna Vázquez, and duendita. Programming went beyond performances to include expert panels, masterclasses, a book fair, community activism, and a music production masterclass by Ella Bric.

Valenzuela's dual role: artist and organizer

Valenzuela performs as an independent artist while directing a festival and cultural platform. She describes building two complementary skill sets: the creative work of making music and the administrative, curatorial work of running a festival. That dual perspective informs Ruidosa's focus on representation in programming and industry leadership.

At the 2026 Latin Alternative Music Conference (LAMC), Valenzuela was named a "Wonder Woman of Latin Music." The recognition was part of a yearly campaign curated by the LAMC team that has highlighted more than 120 women in the industry. The recognition connected the release of Maldita with Valenzuela's ongoing activism around inclusion and access within Latin music ecosystems.