When Paquita la del Barrio stood on stage and sang “Rata de dos patas”, a song that calls an unfaithful man a two-legged rat, women in the audience sang every word back at her. The Mexican singer, whose songs about betrayal and male cruelty became anthems across Latin America and among Mexican Americans, died at her home in Veracruz on Monday, February 17, 2025. She was 77. Her family announced her death on social media and gave no cause. She had faced several health problems in recent years.
From Veracruz to Mexico City
She was born Francisca Viveros Barradas in the state of Veracruz in 1947. She began her career singing in Mexico City, where she performed for years in the working-class Guerrero neighbourhood, the barrio that gave her the stage name. Her break came in the 1980s with a recording contract, and over the following decades she released more than 30 albums.
Songs of betrayal
Her best-known songs, “Rata de dos patas” and “Tres veces te engañé” (“I cheated on you three times”), turned the traditional ranchera, often sung by men about the women who wronged them, on its head. She sang from the point of view of women who had been lied to and were not going to take it any more, often pausing to ask the crowd, “¿Me estás oyendo, inútil?” (“Are you listening to me, you useless man?”). Her concerts drew women in large groups, and men too.
Recognition
She was nominated for both Grammy and Latin Grammy awards, and in 2021 she received the Billboard Latin Music Lifetime Achievement Award, presented to her by Bad Bunny. The Latin Grammys and Apple Music were among those who paid tribute after her death, alongside many Mexican artists.
Paquita la del Barrio spent years singing in a working-class neighbourhood before she became famous, and she never stopped singing to the same audience: anyone who had ever been let down by someone they loved.