Loyal Lobos Celebrates the Cycle of Life on Stunning New Track ‘Funeral’

Andrea Silva, who performs as Loyal Lobos, spent a lot of time singing at funerals growing up. She joined a choir when she was about five years old, and part of her role was to sing “Ave Maria” at ceremonies and remembrances. The experience connected her to death in a profound way, helping her understand the cycle of life beyond loss and mourning.

“I’ve never seen death as a tragic thing,” she tells Rolling Stone on a recent Zoom call from Los Angeles. “I’m fully empathetic to what it means to lose somebody, but to me, death is such a natural part of life, so I wanted to write about it.”

She started to explore the idea of death as a celebration and a track called “Funeral” quickly poured out of her. “It triggered something in me where I was thinking about how we have such specific goals in life and the only definite is death. To me, it was like, ‘How do I want to arrive there and how do I want to leave?’” she explains. The final result is an upbeat evolution for Silva, one heightened by her pop prowess and the emotional weight of her lyrics — which are entirely in Spanish.

“Funeral” marks a new chapter in her career as she experiments with more music in Spanish after writing in English on her last few tracks, “Bummed” and “Sleeper.” “It’s still very Loyal Lobos, but it was a jump for me — it’s also poppier. It’s the first Spanish release I’m doing with [label Saban Music Group], so it was a whole moment,” she says. “But I always really believed in this song.”

The video, premiering exclusively on Rolling Stone today, is a visual feast that captures the joyous message and outlook embedded deep into the song. For the video shoot, Silva returned to Bogota, where she’s from, and had a collective of friends and loved ones help her bring “Funeral” to life. “We got a lot of people involved and it felt very full circle to be back home, shooting a video that’s my first video done with a label behind it,” Silva shares. “All these people came through to make this video happen, so I was humbled and grateful, and it was such a beautiful project for me.”

She explains that usually when she’s writing, she sees the visuals unfold in her head, and wanted them reflected in the scenes on “Funeral.” “For this one, I’d imagined a celebration and more of a party — kind of like how I’d like my funeral to be. I’d heard a lot of stories of people who have gone that way, and I always really loved that,” she says.

“Funeral” is just the beginning of what Silva has planned. She has more tracks in Spanish that she’ll be rolling out throughout the year, many of them tying her back to where she grew up and showing the depth of her writing and introspection. The song kicks off a new beginning while sharing intimate feelings with her listeners. “I wanted to give a song to people where they can join in on this sentiment I’d been thinking about,” she says. “It can be beautiful, letting go of people. It hurts, but to me it was important to show it can also be a celebration.”