Alfonsina y el Mar paints a hauntingly beautiful farewell to the Argentine poet Alfonsina Storni, who chose to surrender herself to the sea in 1938. Natalia Lafourcade’s warm, modern pop interpretation wraps this tragic story in delicate guitars and her signature airy vocals. Through vivid seaside images—soft sand, singing seashells, glowing seahorses—the lyrics follow Alfonsina’s lonely footprints as they disappear beneath the waves, hinting at the silent pain and unanswered questions she carried. The ocean becomes both cradle and choir, soothing her toward an eternal sleep while whispering promises of new poems hidden in its depths.
Rather than focusing solely on sorrow, the song also celebrates Alfonsina’s creative spirit. It invites us to imagine her drifting into an underwater kingdom where five playful mermaids guide her through coral pathways, and every marine creature joins a luminous parade. The contrast between gentle lullaby lines like “Bájame la lámpara un poco más” and the irresistible pull of the sea turns the story into a poetic embrace of freedom, art, and transformation. Listening to Lafourcade’s version feels like standing on the shore at dusk: bittersweet, mesmerizing, and full of quiet reverence for a life devoted to words and wonder.