I don’t like Lin Manuel Miranda’s hubris in trying to cast himself in everything he writes, but the man is a genius.
I say this after finally knuckling down and finding translations for the Spanish in “Breathe” from In The Heights. For those of you unfamiliar with the structure, the song is almost a duet with Nina, a college student who’s recently had to drop out of Stanford due to trying to go to Stanford and work at the same time, and the chorus, her neighborhood of low-income Spanish speakers. Everyone is speaking Spanish, except for Nina.
Which is where things get interesting.
My Spanish is not great, but I was able to pick up on a few key words. “Mira” is “look.” “Te adoro” and “te quiero” both mean “I love you” with varying degrees of intensity. “Respira” means “breathe.” For months, I figured I had the basic gist. Nina even translates what they’re saying at one point, and the translation sounded right.
It’s important to note that Nina is extremely frustrated with herself and sad in this song. She’s really worried about what her neighborhood is going to think of her dropping out. Some of the best lines to illustrate this come at the beginning of the song:
The biggest disappointment you know.
She’s back and she’s walkin’ real slow
Welcome home, just breathe.
To say she’s down on herself is an understatement.
This brings me back to the translation part of the song. Nina tells us that the neighborhood is saying:
They’re not worried about me.
They are all counting on me to succeed.
I am the one who made it out.
Only the first line is a truly accurate translation. What the neighborhood actually says is:
Mira, allí esta nuestra estrella.
Which actually translates to:
I’m not worried about her.
She’s definitely good enough.
This is a much more positive message than what Nina translates. Nina translates their words as filled with pressure and taking on an almost accusatory tone. Their actual words are a lot prouder and less condemnatory. Would she still be “nuestra estrella” if she told them what happened? Maybe. She hasn’t really given anyone the chance to say anything. She assumes the worst and that assumption worms its way into her translation of their words.
Add to this that a common refrain for the chorus throughout the song is “respira” or “breathe.” In addition to being the title of the song, it’s also what people commonly say when they want to help someone who’s freaking out or panicking. You tell them to breathe or take deep breaths. “Breathe” is definitely what you’d say to your nervous over-achiever who’s having an anxiety attack on the street if you care about them. “Breathe. I’m not worried about you. You’re our star. You’re good enough. Breathe.”
If you just have the English and Nina’s translations, it seems like Nina is right. The tone they sing in could mean any number of things, and they do seem to have her on a pedestal. It’s only when you know Spanish (or look up the Spanish) that you realize the neighborhood is encouraging her and just seems glad to see her again. That the pressure is coming largely from Nina and her assumptions about how people will think of her.
That is the beauty of the song. Your average person listening to this is going to think this is a song about pressure from the community and self-doubt. The careful listener sees that it’s about self-pressure and how our expectations for ourselves often warp our reality to the point where “You’re good enough” sounds like “You are all counting on me to succeed.”
snowghoul
origamiaround
turnnoffyourmind
dailybridgerton
baratheonpilled
jacobvanloon
