“This whole album feels like that nostalgic summer night,” Ivan Cornejo tells Apple Music about MIRADA. While that statement alone could be misconstrued as optimistic, rest assured that the sad sierreño star’s follow-up to his 2022 effort Dañado continues his moody explorations of romantic setbacks and the long tail of heartbreak. While the album offers plenty of what Cornejo’s youthful fanbase desires from him, here he intentionally expands his artistry through this genre he’s been so key in defining. “I think I have grown up a little bit more as an individual and just through experience,” he says, further citing MIRADA’s expanded instrumentation—the majority of which he plays himself. Nestled among these original compositions about irrevocable breakups and perpetual longing is a cover of “Quiero Dormir Cansado”. Made famous by Mexican pop balladeer Emmanuel way back in 1980, it nonetheless feels very much at home within Cornejo’s oft-dour modern repertoire. “A lot of influence comes from sierreño and sad music,” he acknowledges, “but I’d definitely say it's not only sad sierreño.” Read on to learn more about MIRADA—in the artist’s own words. “Sale Para Ser Feliz” “That song actually started on my last tour, the Terapia Tour. It was my second show out of, like, 47 shows. I remember wanting to spice up the intro to my concerts and kind of guiding the musicos, telling them to do this little melody I had in my head. And funny enough, that’s the melody you hear in ‘Sale Para Ser Feliz’, which is the lead guitar in the beginning. It just felt suspenseful and it fit perfect for the intro.” “Intercambio Injusto” “It’s such a soft and sparkly song. I don’t think I have one like this one yet, and so I’m really excited to just share this. Lyrically, the story of this one is really deep and relatable. My fans tend to be very young, and I remember when I was barely in high school, I was going through my first breakups. I think those are the ones that really torture you. I feel like maybe my music touches them in the way that just makes them feel a bit of comfort.” “Quiero Dormir Cansado” “My parents would play this song a lot when I was seven, eight years old. I just have these vivid memories of when that song would be playing on a Sunday or something and my mom’s cleaning or something. I hadn’t heard it in a while until this year. I felt like I heard it for the first time again. All the classics just grow onto you and you start to understand the lyrics. They hit you more and you relate to it. I wanted to just recreate it with my little twist. These are the songs that make my parents the most proud. It’s a wholesome moment. It’s the one that they’re very excited to hear, and it creates a connection with my parents and me.” “Mirada” “Something about the song just felt euphoric. It felt very happy, but with a twist of darkness with the lyrics. The storyline, too, just really fits with the whole idea of a gaze, of a stare. There’s very Spanish guitar in there, there’s very alternative guitars in there, and it’s all meshed together. When we first recorded it, I did it with an acoustic guitar and then we put an effect on it that made it sound like a classical nylon-string guitar. We were like, We’ve got to do it with the real deal. So we switched it over to the nylon.” “Atención” “I incorporated the corrido trombone and tololoche, which I don’t normally do, but I really wanted to step my feet into that direction, into that world. I love the new sound that’s going around right now, and I wanted to just step my feet into it a little bit. I feel like the song ties in the album a lot, because it has to do so much with falling in love with someone with just a gaze and creating this whole fantasy over eye contact.” “Dónde Estás” “I remember being in the studio just having that gut feeling that it’s going to be a really good song. I knew there was a lot of emotion being put into it, but I was hoping that fans would also feel that, and they did. Every concert I’ve done, they show nothing but love.”