“Can’t believe the risks I’m taking,” the Mexican songwriter Ximena Sariñana sings in “Different,” the single and opening track of her newly released, self-titled new album. It’s the way she felt, she said, as she changed languages and moved from Mexico, to Los Angeles, to seize a chance at reaching the wider world.
「簡直不敢相信自己會冒這麼大的險」，墨西哥流行音樂詞曲作者西梅娜‧莎琳安娜在最新發行的同名專輯的首支單曲「與眾不同」中如此唱道。她說，改變語言並從墨西哥搬到洛杉磯，以便把握機會進軍更大的市場，讓她有感而發。

Her second album is mainly in English after she debuted in Spanish with 2008’s “Mediocre,” and it introduces a songwriter who tucks all sorts of eccentricities, musical and verbal, into nimble, succinct songs. From the whistling hook that opens the album, to the music boxes that tinkle under the grungy bass line of “Shine Down,” to the wordless, swirling vocal harmonies that end many songs, the arrangements flicker with surprises. There are hints of Talking Heads, the Beatles, Depeche Mode, Radiohead, Carole King and the Beach Boys.
莎琳安娜2008年以西語發行首張專輯「平庸」後的第二張專輯以英語為主，讓聽眾見識到一位詞曲作者將各式各樣怪異的詞曲融合成靈巧簡潔的歌曲。專輯從讓人跟著吹口哨的第一首歌到融合重金屬與龐克的低音編曲下，音樂鈴鈴作響的「照下來」，再到多首歌曲以沒有歌詞，多重合音的方式結束，讓人稱奇的編曲。聽得出有「臉部特寫」、「披頭四」、「流行尖端」、「電台司令」、卡洛金和「海灘男孩」的味道。

Ms. Sariñana, 25, is well known in Mexico, where she has acted in TV dramas and movies since she was 11. She also proved herself as a musician: songwriter, keyboardist and bandleader. “Mediocre,” released in Mexico, sold 50,000 copies and brought her nominations for a Grammy and two Latin Grammies.
芳齡25歲的莎琳安娜在墨西哥很有名，從11歲起就演出電視劇和電影。她也證明自己是音樂人：詞曲作者、鍵盤手和樂團團長。在墨西哥發行的專輯「平庸」賣出五萬張，且讓她獲得葛萊美獎一項提名和拉丁葛萊美獎兩項提名。

Her father, Fernando Sariñana, is a leading Mexican filmmaker; her mother, Carolina Rivera, is a screenwriter. She was born in Guadalajara, but her family soon moved to Los Angeles, where she lived for five years and became bilingual. She attended a British high school in Mexico City. She first wrote in English but switched to Spanish when, at 17, she joined the band Feliz Un-Cumpleaños (Happy Un-Birthday).
她的父親費南度是墨西哥大導演，母親卡洛琳娜‧里維拉是編劇。她在瓜達拉哈拉出生，但全家不久後就搬到洛杉磯，她在當地住了五年且能操雙語。她高中在墨西哥市念英國學校，起初以英文書寫，17歲時加入「不是生日也快樂」樂團後改用西班牙文。

“Languages open a window to seeing the world wider or clearer, in a different light,” she said. “It adds another color to your spectrum, and it makes things more complete because you see them from two different perspectives.”
她說：「語言開了一扇把世界看得更完整或是更清楚的窗戶，讓你的光譜加添色彩，因為從兩種不同的角度看事情，觀察也更為全面。」

Spanish, she said, is “such a difficult language to master when you write in it. There are so many more syllables to words, and it just takes longer when you want to say something than it does in English. I worked five years of my life to come to a way of saying things that made it comfortable.”
她說，西班牙文是「寫起來很難精通的文字，因為單字有太多音節，同樣的事用西班牙語說就是比用英語花的時間長，我花了五年時間才能說得流利。」

After “Mediocre,” her Mexican label’s American parent company, Warner Music, suggested she write songs in English for worldwide release. “It was way, way harder than I thought it would be,” she said.
在「平庸」專輯之後，她的墨西哥唱片公司的美國母公司華納音樂，建議她用英文寫歌，以便全球發行。她說：「這遠比我想像中困難得多。」

Although she wrote nearly all the lyrics on the album, the one song she wrote alone is in Spanish: “Tú y Yo” (“You and I”).
雖然整張專輯的歌詞幾乎都是她寫的，但是她唯一單獨作詞的歌曲只有西班牙文的「你和我」。

“She has a very complex way about how she hears chords,” said Greg Kurstin, her main collaborator and producer, who is half of the duo the Bird and the Bee.
「小鳥和蜜蜂」二重唱中的葛瑞格‧庫斯汀是莎琳安娜的主要合作對象和專輯製作人，他說莎莉安娜「聽和弦的方式很複雜」。

Ms. Sariñana, who screamed through parts of “Mediocre,” sings more calmly and approachably in English, allowing herself to sound imperfect. While electronics buzz and vocal choruses unfurl, the ambience still feels handmade. And within the songs is a voice filled not only with yearning and uncertainties but also with the confidence to air them.
用尖叫詮釋「平庸」專輯的莎琳安娜，唱起英文歌來較為平靜也更平易近人，容忍聽起來不完美的餘地。電子樂器的嗡嗡聲和合聲開展後，仍給人手工製作的感覺。詮釋歌曲的嗓音不僅充滿渴望和疑惑，還有唱出來的自信。

As a Scorpio, Ms. Sariñana says she is intense. “I try to stop myself a little bit because I see it in me, and it is not the healthiest way to live” she said. “It’s my dark side, and it translates to my writing all the time. So writing with other people is helpful.”
天蠍座的莎琳安娜表示自己的主觀很強烈：「我試著讓自己稍微踩一下剎車，因為我看到了天蠍座在我身上的特性，不是最健康的生活之道。這是我的陰暗面，總是轉化到我的寫詞當中，所以和別人合寫是有幫助的。」

原文參照：
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/31/arts/music/ximena-sarinanas-self-titled-new-album.html

2011-08-16/聯合報/G9版/UNITEDDAILYNEWS 張佑生譯  原文參見紐時週報十二版下