Snow Tha Product Explains Why Refusing to Stay ‘Calladita’ Matters More Than Ever (Interview)
In her new mixtape, 'Next Time, Believe Me,' rapper Snow Tha Product shares raw emotions and refuses to stay 'calladita
Credit: Snow Tha Product | Courtesy
Growing up, my mother and grandmother would often tell me, “calladita te ves más bonita,” which, as an angst teen, meant nothing but “shut the f–ck up.” It was a common phrase I came to despise and always question as a certified “rezongona,” or backtalker. But as the years went by, it became apparent that I wasn’t the only one feeling this way, and now, listening to artists like Snow Tha Product, the message is crystal clear. I am sick of it; she’s sick of it—we’re sick of that machista phrase. And in her new mixtape, Next Time, Believe Me, the outspoken Mexican-American rapper shows she’ll keep putting her emotions out there—and never stay “calladita” in any situation, whether in relationships or politics—becoming a voice of encouragement for Latines everywhere.
Last year, Snow—born Claudia Alexandra Madriz Meza—shocked the Latine community with her anti-Trump “SABADO,” which might have ruffled some feathers. The song basically called out Latines who voted for Trump—and encouraged others to do so, even if they were your family members. After the track went viral, Snow Tha Product kept the momentum going with a tour, popular livestreams, and a follow-up mixtape that came out last week (November 6). In her new mixtape, the fierce rapper continues to express her inner emotions through her alter ego, Snow Tha Product, which she created to counter her introverted personality. “I made Snow Tha Product up to be the person that could speak those things, you know? So I think it’s just being true to what the plan always was, which is [that] Snow Tha Product is supposed to speak up. And it’s supposed to be the tough person that maybe sometimes I don’t feel like Claudia is,” she says.
This alter ego not only helps Claudia touch on topics like grief, relationships, queerness, and politics, but also lets her do it with unapologetic, tongue-in-cheek humor that makes her one of our community’s most beloved rappers. In her opening track “Should’ve Been Worse,” one of the mixtape’s standouts, she tackles the “calladita te ves más bonita” phrase with verses like: “You and I know that I should’ve been worse / All this anger I’ve been holding / I should’ve been worse.” When asked how she felt about the aforementioned outdated phrase, she said it holds women back. “Exactly, it’s outdated. I think it’s something that culturally, you know, held women back, especially, you know, Latinas. It held us back, and it put us in certain, you know, boxes, in certain positions,” Snow says.
She continued: “And to be honest, you know, it’s killed a lot of us, or it’s made a lot of us disappear or be victims of domestic violence and stay quiet or not speak out against their abusers. Or, you know, just the fact that, you know, a lot of us speak up about abuse or, like, trauma that’s happened, and we’re just told to, you know, be quiet and you better, you know, like be a good girl and just keep it quiet and don’t make the family look bad.”
However, Snow sees a shift in our culture on both sides. “I think there’s more empowerment and more of us are speaking up [now]. But at the same time, a lot— there’s— it’s still very rampant, like very out there,” she explains. “There [are] a lot of people that don’t like me, and they quite can’t put a finger on it. But when you really think about the type of person I am and the type of person they wish I was, we know exactly why they don’t like me. They don’t like me because they want me to be exactly what they want to put me in the box to be in. I just can’t be that.”
Known as a voice in our community who stands up for what they believe in, Snow also thinks the same phrase applies to politics. “What’s important is to reeducate a lot of our people, and especially a lot of the young people. It’s like you think you won by not talking about politics, but really you’re just buying into exactly what they [politicians] want you to do. ‘Calladito te ves más bonito.’ Don’t speak about politics. Don’t get educated. Don’t fight against the system. Don’t look for a better way for your life and your family and your neighborhoods.”
So how should people prepare themselves for the next elections? Snow wants people to think for themselves and prepare themselves. “More than anything, researching, not buying into propaganda and headlines and AI, making sure that you really protect your critical thinking skills and use them and nurture them and fight for the ability to have critical thinking skills.”
Next Time, Believe Me is out now.
