The Viña del Mar International Song Festival is a music festival that has been held annually during the third week of February in Viña del Mar, Chile. Started in 1960, it is the oldest and largest music festival in Latin America.
Norma Monserrat Bustamante Laferte (born 2 May 1983) is a Chilean and Mexican musician, singer, composer and painter . Her musical style is diverse, spanning across different genres such as pop, rock, bolero, cumbia, and salsa, showcasing her versatility and creativity. Throughout the 2010s, she gained widespread recognition for her she gained acclaim for her melodramatic style and "captivating stage persona". And has been named the Chilean artist with the most listeners on Spotify worldwide.
The MTV Europe Music Awards was established in 1994 by MTV Europe to award the music videos from European and international artists.
In 2003, Laferte, then known as Monserrat Bustamante, entered in the Chilean reality competition series Rojo. The same year she released her first studio album, La Chica de Rojo. The album had great success in Chile, receiving Gold and Platinum certifications. She became part of the Clan Rojo and was on the television series for four seasons.
In 2007, Laferte decided to start a new chapter in her musical career by moving from Chile to Mexico City, where she began singing in nightclubs and recording cover songs. In 2009, she released a single titled "Lo mismo que yo", which was to be the lead single from an upcoming album. The same year, Laferte was diagnosed with thyroid cancer, effectively putting a halt to her album.
Laferte decided to scrap the album she was recording in 2009, and returned two years later with her second studio album, titled Desechable. The next year, in 2012, she was invited to judge the second season of the Chilean version of The X Factor, called Factor X, along with Karen Doggenweiler, Tito Beltrán and José Luis Rodríguez.
In 2013, she released her third album, Tornasol. She received media attention in 2015 with her single "Tu falta de querer" from the album Mon Laferte, Vol.1. In 2016, she won a MTV Millennial Award for the "Latin Video of the Year" and receiving two nominations on the Latin Grammy Awards of 2016 for Best New Artist and Best Alternative Music Album.
The MTV Millennial Awards, held annually in Mexico, were established in 2013 by MTV Latin America to award music artists.
In October 2013, Laferte became a vegetarian for ethical reasons. As of 2017, she is a vegan.
It is also at this time her presentation at the beginning of 2012 as a vocalist of the Mexican heavy metal female band Mystica Girls, with whom in February 2014 she recorded the album titled Gates of Hell.
The Pulsar Awards were created in 2015 by the Chilean Copyright Society (SCD) of Chile to recognize the best of the musical creation of that country in the period of one year.
Laferte released her fifth album La Trenza, her most acclaimed album to date, in 2017. Her single with Colombian rock star Juanes, "Amárrame", won the Best Alternative Song award at the 18th Latin GRAMMYs, in which she was also nominated for Best Alternative Music Album, Song of the Year, Album of the Year, and Record of the Year. She also wins the category "Best North Latin Artist" in the 2017 MTV Europe Music Awards.
In February 2018 she released the single "Antes de Ti" that was nominated to the 19th Annual Latin Grammy Awards as "Song of the Year". The video for the single was also Mon Laferte's directorial debut. In June 2018, she co-hosted the 2018 MTV Millennial Awards in Mexico City at the Mexico City Arena along with the Venezuelan YouTube personality La Divaza.
During the year 2018, Mon worked on her sixth studio album, Norma , which was recorded in a single session in studio A of Capitol Studios of Los Angeles, the recording was made in one shot, without using the overdubbing technique of audio layers, but all the instruments playing simultaneously to give the material the feeling of live recording. In this recording 13 musicians participated. The production of this album was in charge of Omar Rodríguez-López, the recording engineer was Bruce Botnick. The album was released on 9 November 2018.
In January 2019, she was announced to participate in the American Music Festival Coachella. In February 2019, Mon Laferte received her first nomination at the Billboard Latin Music Awards in the Top Latin Albums Artist of the Year category, Female. Also the Album Norma received a Gold record in Mexico for 30,000 copies sold.
In May 2019, the singer announced her U.S. tour, under the headline "La Gira de Norma". The first tour date is set for 10 August 2019, in Seattle's Neptune Theatre, following a European tour that same Summer. On 14 November 2019, Mon Laferte made headlines with her act of political protest, exposing her breasts at the Latin Grammys to display the message "En Chile Torturan Violan y Matan" (English translation: In Chile they torture, rape and kill) on her bare chest.
On 19 November 2019, Laferte was interviewed by Patricia Janiot from Univision. In that interview, Mon Laferte justified the looting and burning of numerous supermarkets and other buildings by saying that "they were only material goods". When asked if she condemned violence, she said, "I do not approve of any kind of violence. Now, if you ask me personally, if I have to go burn down a supermarket that has robbed from me my entire life to demand the basic rights I feel I deserve, I will do it!" She accused the police and armed forces of burning the dozens of subway stations that were burnt by rioters on 18 October 2019.
On 30 November 2019, Laferte was subpoenaed by Chilean prosecutors to give a statement regarding the evidence she may or may not have to support her accusation that Chilean police and armed forces actively participated in the burning of subway stations. Chilean police announced that, depending upon her statement, they might press criminal charges against her. The charges were later dropped.
The Spotify Awards founded in 2020 is the first-ever award ceremony 100% based on user-generated data from Mexico and Latin America.
On 11 March 2020, she debuted as a visual artist in the solo exhibit entitled Gestures at the Museum of the City of Mexico, containing 76 art pieces. Laferte commented she has painted for ten years as a self-taught artist with some lessons from her father, a painter himself.
In 2021, Laferte contributed a cover of the Metallica song "Nothing Else Matters" to the charity tribute album The Metallica Blacklist.
In June 2022, she announced her Mexican citizenship during a press conference stating “Llevo 15 años en México, tengo un hijo mexicano, mi pareja es mexicana. Pero esto es hermoso, es la cereza del pastel!” The now Chilean Mexican singer stated that she was happy to have her new nationality since she has called Mexico her home for the past 15 years. During which time she built up and created her career as the persona we now know as Mon Laferte.
On 30 November 2022, Laferte became a naturalized Mexican citizen.