Ana Barbara & Cristian Castro Release Long-Overdue ‘De Vez En Cuando’: ‘It’s Pure Magic’

This week, Ana Barbara was the guest on ‘Live with Billboard Latin.’ Watch the Instagram Live interview below.

Cristian Castro & Ana Barbara
Orlando Naranjo*

After releasing music with Christian Nodal, Bronco, Paquita la del Barrio, to name a few, Ana Barbara joined forces with Cristian Castro, in the long-overdue “De Vez En Cuando.”

Released on Friday (March 25), the Mexican singer-actress explains that the collaboration — a heartfelt mariachi ballad — took more than eight years to make.

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“This song was born after I hung up a call that made me emotional,” she tells Billboard during an Instagram Live interview. “It took me about 40 minutes to write and finish it. I did it with a knot in my throat and a tear rolling down my cheek. This was eight and a half years ago.”

At that time, La Reina Grupera also felt the need to collaborate with someone — but not just anyone. She calls it “a difficult process,” from extending an invitation to Castro, whom she admires and respects dearly, to losing track throughout the years, to later tracking him down. Castro finally began to record the song during the pandemic.

“For me, his voice is magic,” she notes. “He’s one of the icons of Mexican pop music, and for him to add that touch that only he has, for me, it’s pure magic. It honors me that a song that I wrote in a moment of desolation resulted in ‘De Vez en Cuando.’ This was the perfect moment.”

During the interview, Barbara also talked about the song’s creative process and how she’s catering to a new generation of fans with her success on TikTok.

Watch the music video for “De Vez en Cuando” and our interview below:

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