Me Voy

Julieta Venegas was born in Long Beach, California in 1970 but grew up in Tijuana, Baja California from the time she was one month old. She started piano lessons at age 8. By her teens she was playing in Tijuana’s rock scene, including a stint with the ska band Tijuana No!. Later she moved to Mexico City, connected with the circle around Café Tacuba, and took up the accordion. It would become the signature of her solo sound.

Her debut album, Aquí, came out in 1997 on BMG, produced by Gustavo Santaolalla. The follow-up, Bueninvento (2000), was later ranked third by Rolling Stone in its list of the ten greatest Latin rock albums of all time. Sí (2003) went triple platinum in Mexico and won the Latin Grammy for Best Rock Solo Vocal Album. For Limón y Sal, her fourth album, she traveled to Buenos Aires to record with producer Cachorro López at Mondomix Studios.

The lead single, “Me Voy” (I’m Leaving), was released in Mexico on March 28, 2006. Venegas wrote it herself and plays accordion, acoustic guitar, and keyboards on the track. The music video, directed by Picky Tallarico and shot in Buenos Aires, opens with her singing to a man who has fallen asleep. She packs her things and floats off in a hot air balloon, landing in a desert, at the South Pole, and in a forest before flying away each time.

“Me Voy” spent twelve consecutive weeks at number one in Mexico and was certified Gold there. It reached number one in Spain, Colombia, and Italy and hit number nine on the US Hot Latin Songs chart. Limón y Sal won the Grammy for Best Latin Pop Album in 2007. In 2025, Rolling Stone named “Me Voy” one of the greatest Spanish-language songs of the 21st century. Natalia Lafourcade has called Venegas “my heaviest teacher.”