After a whirlwind start to 2025—becoming the cover star for The Irish Times, performing on The Late Late Show, and representing Ireland at Eurosonic—Qbanaa marks the close of her Elisa EP with the deeply personal track ‘23.Abuelo‘.
The EP was written by Elizabeth Villazon Figueredo and Rafino Miguel Murphy. It reflects on navigating complicated relationships—whether with herself, her family, or her ex-partners. Each song is a search for answers to unresolved emotions, bringing her closer to understanding why things ended as they did. Themes of acceptance, gratitude, and healing run through the EP, with Qbanaa confronting the fractured relationship with her mother while finding lessons in life’s hardships.
’23/Abuelo’ brings everything full circle. It features a recording taken late at night in her grandparents’ back garden in Guaos, Cienfuegos, Cuba, where Qbanaa revisited a song she’d written at 23. As the recording plays, her grandfather, who has dementia, interrupts. Mistaking her for her mother Isis, he recalls how he encouraged his daughter to learn the nylon-string guitar—a gift that he would later pass to Qbanaa herself, shaping the songs on this EP.
Unlike most modern releases, this track remains untouched—a raw and heartfelt one-take recording. For Qbanaa, the moment held a deep significance. “When my grandad mistook me for my mother, it gave me this feeling of connection I’d been longing for. It’s imperfect, but I wanted to keep it as it was, to share that sense of closeness—even when you’re far from someone you love,” she says. “There are pieces of the people we meet that stay with us in our souls, no matter where life takes us. It’s hard to put into words, but it feels spiritual. Writing this song helped me process it, and I hope it gives others a chance to feel that connection too.”
The nylon-string guitar was later donated to a jazz school in Havana, a small gesture to address the scarcity of instruments available to Cuban musicians due to the embargo. Qbanaa saw this as a way to give back to her culture—a culture that had given her so much love and inspiration through music. She encourages everyone to donate musical instruments directly to the people of Cuba whenever possible, to help nurture the country’s incredible talent and passion for music.
Qbanaa feels ready to leave this chapter behind and start looking ahead. “A lot has changed in my life, and I’m ready to love this chapter, let it go, and move forward. I feel like a different person now, and I’ve so much more to say and share this year. It’s an exciting time.”
’23.Abuelo’ is a poignant and fitting conclusion to Elisa, ending this Era of soft sad girl tunes. 2025 promises to be an exciting, more mature era for Q’s music.
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