Working with Ableton and her MIDI controller and alongside producer Owen Pallett, Pimienta felt herself repeatedly drawn to the Luboš Fišer soundtrack for the film Valerie and Her Week of Wonders. Despite not being classically trained, Pimienta was excited by how this music felt like the opposite of Miss Colombia.

“Mango” took me back to my territory, to nature, to my people, to my village, where I watched love unfold all around me,” Pimienta says. That seed of love for her country and people became an expansive love song. “I’ve always had an aversion to writing love songs—especially if they’re about a man (insert barfing sound). But at the time, my love life was in a nebulous state: unrequited love, love from the past, love in the present—it was all I could think about. I resolved the hetero issue by keeping my love songs genderless. The sensuality is in the innuendo, in the nuance. I’m very proud of this song.”

Just as she began this classical experimentation, choreographer Andrea Miller reached out to Pimienta about composing a piece of music for the New York City Ballet, becoming the first all-female team to do so. Additionally, Pimienta was the first woman of color to create a piece for the Ballet. When asked by The New York Times about seeing her music accompanying Miller’s choreography, Pimienta said: “It feels potent, it feels extreme — I feel an abundance. When I see the dance responding to the rhythm, the sound, the melody, it’s very emotional for me.”

This Is Pop? today’s song of the day is here for you.