This past Friday, Nov. 15, popular indie rock artist St. Vincent released her ninth studio album, “Todos Nacen Gritando.” The title’s English translation is “all born screaming” and is a direct Spanish translation of her April album called … you guessed it, “All Born Screaming.” The sounds and rhythms of every song off the new album perfectly match their English counterpart; the only real difference is the language the lyrics are sung in. Despite St. Vincent’s long history on the indie pop/rock stage, this is the first release of one of her albums in a different language.

The imagery of “Todos Nacen Gritando” is very similar to “All Born Screaming,” which is to be expected. But what I find interesting is the paradox of how the imagery of “Todos Nacen Gritando” stays true to its original source while also finding ways to contrast it. The album cover of “All Born Screaming” depicts St. Vincent on fire against a brown backdrop, thrashing about in a seemingly futile attempt to extinguish the flames. The cover art for “Todos Nacen Gritando” shows the singer—still on fire!—smiling from a triangular window and flipping the viewer off against a black backdrop. In this version of the cover art, she appears much more relaxed and seems to accept the fiery fate that awaits her. But there is also a sense of anger present, almost passive aggression, which is exemplified in her action of flipping us off. The background color being black instead of brown too feels intentional, almost as if she has accepted the burnt ash that will arrive shortly after the fire. While these differences are somewhat subtle, and the united theme of both album covers is fire, the differences should be noted when comparing the two.

The musicality of St. Vincent is another thing that I find intriguing in the comparison of these two albums. There will be obvious fluctuations in the pronunciation of words even in the same song when it is in a different language. But somehow she manages to keep the general flow and rhythm of the songs from the two albums fairly similar, all things considered. Of course, words are pronounced differently. But the flow of syllables and musical construction of each track is very much recognizable. Listen to the same song first in English and then in Spanish, and there is no doubt that they would be immediately recognized as the same song.

The main question I had after listening to Todos Nacen Gritando was, “Why Spanish?” St. Vincent does not come from a Spanish-speaking background, and this is her first time translating a previously released album of hers into a different language. She explained in an interview with New Musical Express (NME), “This was the right record to [translate]. This record is essentially about life and death and love. There’s a lot of iconography. It’s very Catholic, very sacred.” She went on to further explain that much of the album “All Born Screaming” was heavily influenced by the Spanish romantic artist Francisco Goya. She even directly cites the Goya painting “Saturn Devouring His Son” as a direct inspiration for her song “Broken Man.” I understand her urge to translate a body of your work into a medium that you feel it could not exist without. For St. Vincent, that was translating her most recent studio album into a different language because the inspiration she found for that album was primarily from Spanish texts. I find this to be an interesting way to approach one’s art and have not seen it done before. And I can always appreciate something new and unique done by a long-standing musician.

I am left wondering if St. Vincent will continue to rewrite her albums to better fit into the mold from whence they came. Will she redo her 2009 album “Actor” into Dutch? Or perhaps her 2021 album “Daddy’s Home” into Portuguese? I’m certainly curious to see whether this trend of hers continues in the coming years.