Pitchfork: Why did you decide to move back to Los Angeles after your last album?

Lorely Rodriguez: A huge reason was I just wanted to be closer to my mom and my family. Being back in L.A. has been hugely inspiring for me, to be surrounded by a lot of the cultural things that I grew up with. Being Latin American, that means having all the food from my childhood, the music coming out of everyone’s homes and cars. I didn’t realize I moved to L.A. for that, but in hindsight I can see I was definitely missing it.

What does your community in L.A. look like?

There’s a couple people in the Latinx community in L.A.—comedians, musicians, performance artists—that I’ve been trying to collaborate with. When I directed the “When I’m With Him” video, I tried to feature people from that community who inspire me. There’s a person on the bleachers [Leather Papi] who I saw do a performance piece at the Institute of Contemporary Art in L.A. where she was referencing her heritage in Mexico. I was blown away, so I asked her to be in the video. Roseli Martinez, who’s also in the video, is a DJ in a female POC vinyl collective in L.A. called Chulita Vinyl Club.

Details from your California childhood, like concrete patios and quinceañera dresses, make the “When I’m With Him” video feel like a strong visual declaration of who you are now.

There’s a lot of things on this record I am extremely proud about because I took so much ownership over it. I really followed my gut and did things that I was scared of: the visuals, the album cover, everything. I realized I need to have a huge hand in how my work is delivered to people. Especially as a Latin woman making art, I don’t want to be misrepresented.

As a Latina in the public eye, do you feel like you need to be some sort of political spokesperson?

Activism is such a cultural thing right now, but it’s also being exploited for marketing purposes. I may not always be an activist. I’m just existing as a person who experiences adversities from the world. I may just be trying to defend myself, you know? Obviously some things really hurt me, and it hurts to see people like me suffering. So I do speak up about things and try to use whatever value I have to give back. It doesn’t feel like a lot, but yeah.