Wonder Woman of the Week: Francisca Valenzuela
- May 11, 2022
- 2 min read
Our Wonder Woman this week hails from Chile as a musician making her country famous for producing incredible talent over the last two decades. But while there are several male performers of renown, this week's Wonder Woman is one of the few Chilean women dominating the airwaves in this thin South American country. Francisca Valenzuela was born in the US in 1987 to Chilean immigrant scientists. From an early age however, young Francisca had clearly developed an interest in music rather than any field of science. At twelve, Valenzuela and her family moved back to Chile where the young girl attended the prestigious Saint George's College where she developed her poetry.
A teenage Francisca Valenzuela became mildly famous as a child poetess in Chile as her work appeared in magazines and other media (not to mention her proud parents spreading their daughter's poetry among friends). This paired with performing in small-scale music events in Chile. The teenaged Valenzuela had trouble landing a record label however, so she began leaking her music online to spread her name and her music across the globe- and people were listening. After the resounding success of her independently released first album, Valenzuela landed a record deal to release her first official album in 2007. Although Valenzuela did tour in New York City, her Latin American tour was far more successful in building her fanbase.
After a successful partnership with Julieta Venegas in 2007, Francisca Valenzuela spent three more years collaborating with other Latin American artists- especially Chileans. In 2014, she released her third studio album before launching her own record label the same year. Over the next few years, Valenzuela worked closely with several programs to provide music for documentaries and sporting events, and performed in music festivals. In 2018, Valenzuela began working on her fourth studio album which released in 2020. What makes Valenzuela important is not just being one of a handful of Chilean women making a name for themself in the global music industry. Through her talent at songwriting and poetry and her ambition to produce her music on any platform- independently released or through studio records- Valenzuela has helped open the doors for more Chilean women in music to make a name for themselves as well.
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