“Pa’lante” is off of Hurray For The Riff Raff’s 2017 album, The Navigator. Both the song and the album was #1 on the list of Top 50 Protest Songs and 25 Protest Albums of 2017. A powerful music video was recently made for the poignant tune. The video depicts Puerto Rico in the ravages of Hurricane Maria and it tells the story of Puerto Ricans who are still trying to survive in the aftermath several months later.
The music video was directed by Puerto Rican director Kristian Mercado, who made the following statement in an interview with NPR about her motivations for wanting to make the video: “I heard the song and was really moved by it, I even teared up a little bit. I’m Puerto Rican and [the phrase] “Pa’lante” is such a philosophical concept. No matter how bad things get, you can move forward. It’s this weird life philosophy that permeates day to day for a lot of Puerto Ricans. The poetry break when Alynda has Pedro Pietri’s poem, the “Puerto Rican Obituary” … it’s classic and one of my favorite poems. There was something about the song that I knew I had to work on it, no matter what.”