Joaquina’s “Freno” Captures the Push and Pull of Letting Go

There’s a specific kind of emotional paralysis that “Freno” nails perfectly: knowing you should leave, wanting to leave, but finding yourself stuck in the same place anyway. Joaquina doesn’t just sing about this feeling. She builds an entire world around it.

The Venezuelan-American singer, who took home Best New Artist at the 2023 Latin Grammy Awards, released “Freno” as part of her debut EP “Los Mejores Años,” which also earned a nomination for Best Singer-Songwriter Album that same year. At just 3:34, the track distills a cycle of heartbreak into something achingly familiar. The lyrics circle back on themselves intentionally, with Joaquina admitting she’s “on her fifth try” when the saying goes third time’s the charm. It’s self-aware without being self-pitying, and that balance is harder to strike than it sounds.

What makes “Freno” work beyond its confessional honesty is the production’s restraint. Recorded at Miami’s Art House under the direction of 14-time Grammy and Latin Grammy winner Julio Reyes Copello, the track opens with fingerpicked guitar arpeggios that establish a melancholic foundation before Joaquina even enters. There’s no distortion, no heavy effects. Just natural sustain and space, complementing the synth pads and programmed drums underneath.

The guitar work, performed by Colombian session guitarist Ana Liu, deserves particular attention. A Berklee Presidential Scholarship recipient who studied under Danilo Pérez and John Patitucci, Liu brings a jazz-trained sensitivity to the pop arrangement. Her open voicings evoke hesitation, mirroring the song’s “braking” motif with almost literary precision. When the chorus hits, the guitar shifts to strumming for emphasis, adding percussive weight without ever competing with the vocals. It’s warm, woody, and impossibly tender. Every sustained chord feels like a confession you weren’t quite ready to hear.

That restraint speaks to Copello’s broader philosophy at Art House, where he’s shaped records for Jennifer Lopez, Alejandro Sanz, Marc Anthony, and Ricky Martin. The producer has a gift for knowing when to pull back, for letting a song breathe instead of burying it under layers. With “Freno,” every element exists in service of Joaquina’s voice and the emotional weight she carries. The synths hover rather than push. The drums keep time without demanding attention. It’s the kind of production that sounds simple until you try to replicate it.

Joaquina’s Latin Grammy win for Best New Artist wasn’t a fluke or an industry bet on potential. “Freno” and the rest of “Los Mejores Años” showed an artist who arrived fully formed, with a clear perspective on love, loss, and the messy space between. She writes like someone who’s lived more than her years would suggest, finding specificity in moments that other writers would gloss over. The image of watching someone look at another person from across the room, knowing it shouldn’t hurt but feeling it anyway, that’s not a generic heartbreak lyric. That’s observation. The Recording Academy recognized what listeners already knew: Joaquina isn’t building toward something. She’s already there.

That maturity shows in her songwriting instincts. The best breakup songs don’t dramatize the ending. They capture the long, frustrating middle, where you’re still stuck with one foot on the gas and the other on the brake. Joaquina, barely into her twenties, already knows this.