Paquita la del Barrio

Francisca Viveros Barradas (April 2, 1947 – February 17, 2025), known professionally as Paquita la del Barrio , was a Mexican singer. She was a Grammy-nominated performer of rancheras, boleros and other traditional and contemporary Mexican musical genres.

Her songs were often characterized as a female empowering against Mexico's sexist and "macho" male culture and as criticizing Latino men for causing problems in relationships. It is here where she started using her stage name, Paquita la del Barrio. In the early 1980s, she opened her own restaurant-bar, Casa Paquita, in the Colonia Guerrero, where she performed regularly until it was shut by Cuauhtémoc borough authorities in 2006. Her big break came in 1986, after she performed on a Televisa show that exposed her to a wider audience; this led to a recording contract with Discos Musart.

Songs in Paquita's catalogue usually took a feminist stance against Mexico's sexist and "macho" male culture rooted in society, often pointing the finger at the men in her life in lyrics for causing problems in relationships, and generally making them out to be tontos y bobos (clowns and fools). This theme was present in some of her most notable songs, including "", "Me saludas a la tuya" and "Tres veces te engañé".

In an interview in 2008, with the Miami Herald, Paquita said, "I am defending women. It is very important. I am a woman. I speak of my experiences." Her best-known song is "Rata de dos patas" (English: "Two-legged rat"), in which she compares an ex-lover to a variety of vermin and other untrustworthy animals, including bugs and "goddamn cockroaches". The song is the title track on her album of the same name. Many of Paquita's albums and songs are popular jukebox staples in Mexican clubs and cantinas. Paquita's influences stemmed from ranchera music, and singers such as Antonio Aguilar and Pedro Infante.

Paquita duetted with singer Ricardo Arjona on "Ni tú ni yo" on his album 5to Piso (2008). She also performed at the Premios Lo Nuestro and the Latin Grammy Awards.

In 2017, Imagen Televisión and Sony Pictures Television jointly produced a series based on her life. The production, Paquita la del Barrio, presents a fictionalized version of the singer's life story. Paquita stated that it was difficult to watch a story of her life, but was pleased that her story was being told.

Awards and nominations

Political career

In the 2021 state elections, she ran for a seat in the Congress of Veracruz, representing the Citizens' Movement party. She contended for the Misantla local electoral district, where she placed fifth with 13,284 votes. It was her only venture into politics.

Personal life and death

Paquita la del Barrio was born Francisca Viveros Barradas in Alto Lucero, Veracruz. Her first marriage ended when she discovered her husband was married to another woman and had a family. Her second marriage started in 1970s and ended 31 years later with her husband's death in 2001, with whom she had three children: twins who were born on December 26, 1977, and died three days later, on December 29. Her mother died on 11 December from a cancer. In 1979, they adopted Martha Elena, who is Paquita's niece.

In 2022, she was hospitalized for pulmonary thrombosis, which affected her mobility and caused her to limit her appearances.

Paquita died at her home in Xalapa, Veracruz, on February 17, 2025, at the age of 77.

Controversy

The singer was criticized by the LGBTQ community when she said, in a 2010 interview, "It is better for orphans to die than to be adopted by a homosexual family." Following the backlash, she apologized to the LGBTQ community and gave a special performance and a press conference at a gay club called Spartacus Disco.

Selected discography Studio albums

Desquítate Conmigo (1992)

La Del Barrio (1994)

Te La Voy a Recordar (1995) Bórrate (1995)

Me Saludas a la Tuya (1998) Al Cuarto Vaso (2000) Azul Celeste (2000) Piérdeme el Respeto (2001) El Club de los Inútiles (2001) Taco Placero (2001) Duro y Contra Ellos (2001) Verdad que Duele (2002) Pa' Puras Vergüenzas (2002) Hombres Malvados (2003)

Falsaria (2004) Qué Mamá tan Chaparrita (2004) Para los Inútiles (2004) Me Estás Oyendo, Inútil? (2004) Lámpara Sin Luz (2004)

Qué Chulos Campos (2005)

Llorarás (2005) En la Bohemia (2005) El Estilo Inconfundible de Paquita la del Barrio (2006)

Puro Dolor (2007)

Las Mujeres Mandan (2008)