Girl Ultra has never been confined by the concept of genre.

The Mexico City–based singer-songwriter (born Mariana “Nan” de Miguel) recently released El Sur, an EP of seven sonically luscious tracks full of ’80s house beats and playful pop-punk melodies. The project is a sonic departure for the 27-year-old, who has been a leading voice in R&B en Español (Spanish-language R&B) since her 2017 debut, Boys. She’s best known for sultry covers of smooth classics like Daniel Caesar’s “Get You” and collaborations with fellow trailblazing Latinx musicians such as Cuco. But with El Sur, she’s returning to her roots as a dance music DJ—and reminding us that singing in Spanish shouldn’t be a limiting factor when it comes to the kind of music an artist can make.

BAZAAR.com catches up with Girl Ultra over Zoom to talk about her new EP, her upcoming U.S. summer tour, and navigating the music industry as a creatively limitless Latina.

What made you want to go in this direction for the El Sur EP?

I wanted to go back to my roots. I come from a house music DJ background—I started with Girl Ultra deejaying in Mexico City. I also grew up with a rock dad, so that music has always been very present with me. I was just waiting for the musical maturity to make these specific genres a part of my work.

I really loved the opportunity to blend the rock era with club music. Most of my favorite albums, for example, like, Madonna’s Ray of Light, are pop-centric and radio friendly, but also club music with rock textures. There are many albums from the late ’90s and 2000s that mix and match those two things. It felt very natural to me to make it part of my narrative.

El Sur is a result of a year and a half, two years of investigation and experimenting with sounds. My producer, Keith, who…