Jacob Aranda: 'Dream of Mexico'

The Sunday Music Drop is a weekly radio series hosted by the KQED weekend news team. In each segment, we feature a song from a local musician or band with an upcoming show and hear about what inspires their music.

Jacob Aranda says his song “Dream of Mexico” was inspired by a desire to connect, understand and find some healing around his relationship with his father, who passed away suddenly at the height of the pandemic. 

Born and raised in Mexico, his father moved to Utah for college, after which he was politically involved as an activist for bilingual rights education and immigrant rights, while also heading the Latino Institute and Exito!, one of the biggest Spanish-language newspapers in Chicago. 

But Aranda says there was always a big disconnect between what his father was doing and what it was like at home, which Aranda describes as a sense of  “extreme alienation” from both his Hispanic culture and the white, Midwestern culture he was being raised in. 

He experienced frustration, anger and resentment, wondering why his father never taught him Spanish, or ever encouraged him to embrace Mexican culture. “I think he was afraid for us,” says Aranda. “I realized he was trying to protect me somehow.”

Things changed for Aranda when he moved from the Midwest to the Bay Area, where, he says, people embraced his vulnerability and made him want to keep writing and sharing songs that were about what he was going through. “Dream of Mexico” was born from this complex dynamic.

“There’s something beautiful about the Bay Area music scene and culture that really supports people and likes to hear and feel those vulnerable things,” says Aranda. “And it’s been a really healing place for me.”

Jacob Aranda’s release show for his new album War Planes will be at the 4 Star Theater in San Francisco on October 6.