''La Bala'' is the third

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

by Latin hip hop artist

Ana Tijoux Anamaría Tijoux Merino (; born 12 June 1977), commonly known by her stage name Ana Tijoux or Anita Tijoux, is a Chilean-French singer and musician. She became famous in Latin America as the MC of Hip hop music, hip-hop group Makiza during the l ...

, released in 2011 by Oveja Negra and in 2012 by

Nacional Records Nacional Records is an independent record label based in Los Angeles, California. It is home to numerous artists including Manu Chao, Grammy-nominated Mexican electronica group Nortec Collective, Colombian rock band Aterciopelados, Argentine rock ...

. The album was nominated for the

Latin Grammy Award for Best Urban Music Album The Latin Grammy Award for Best Urban Music Album is an honor presented annually at the Latin Grammy Awards, a ceremony that recognizes excellence and promotes a wider awareness of cultural diversity and contributions of Latin Americans, Latin re ...

in 2012, and the

Grammy Award for Best Latin Rock, Urban or Alternative Album The Grammy Award for Best Latin Rock or Alternative Album (until 2020: ''Best Latin Rock, Urban or Alternative Album'') is an award presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, ...

in 2013.

Reception

Critics have noted the thematic shift in focus from the exploration of personal history and identity in Tijoux's previous album, 1977, towards pointed political critique. Tijoux has stated the album was partly inspired by the global politics of 2011 and 2012, particularly the growth of protests such as

Occupy Wall Street Occupy Wall Street (OWS) was a protest Social movement, movement against economic inequality and the Campaign finance, influence of money in politics that began in Zuccotti Park, located in New York City's Financial District, Manhattan, Wall S ...

, 15M in Spain, and the Chilean Student Movement. Reviewers at NPR have praised the album for being both "musically solid and socially conscious." Some suspected the opening track "La Bala" ('The Bullet"), which describes the shooting of a young man, was based on the death of Chilean student protester Manuel Gutierrez Reinoso. Tijoux has denied this, noting how she wrote the song several months before the incident. "Shock" was the first single released from the album. It was inspired by and named after

Naomi Klein Naomi A. Klein (born May 8, 1970) is a Canadian author, social activist, and filmmaker known for her political analyses, support of ecofeminism, organized labour, left-wing politics and criticism of corporate globalization, fascism, ecofascism ...

's book,

The Shock Doctrine ''The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism'' is a 2007 book by the Canadian author and social activist Naomi Klein. In the book, Klein argues that neoliberal free market policies (as advocated by the economist Milton Friedman) have ri ...

, which discusses how global powers have used violence and "manufactured crises" to maintain power and exploit workers, including how the policies of economists like

Milton Friedman Milton Friedman (; July 31, 1912 – November 16, 2006) was an American economist and statistician who received the 1976 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for his research on consumption analysis, monetary history and theory and the ...

affected the Chilean people under the

Pinochet Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte (, , , ; 25 November 1915 – 10 December 2006) was a Chilean general who ruled Chile from 1973 to 1990, first as the leader of the Military Junta of Chile from 1973 to 1981, being declared President of ...

regime. The song went on to become an anthem for Chilean student protesters. The music video for "Shock" was directed by Aldo Guerrero and features footage from schools and universities occupied by student protesters.

Track listing

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bala (Ana Tijoux album) 2011 albums 2012 albums Ana Tijoux albums Political music albums by Chilean artists