Nick León and Ela Minus happened to each other

On a call between Mexico City and LA, I could feel the warmth between the pair. León had just come off the back of playing an all-night DJ set in LA, while Minus had just landed back home after some time in the UK. There was an ease between them that made our conversation about their new collaborative EP, qué les pasó a mis amigos?, feel completely natural.

The day they met felt the same. They’d known of each other for a while through different collaborators and as fans of each other’s work. But it was in Mexico City, where they both happened to be at the same time, that their worlds grew closer. “We met for coffee and just ended up chatting for hours, walking around the city,” León says, smiling at the memory. “It was super nice and easy.” They stayed in touch after that, each of them working on their own projects.

For Minus, that was DÍA, her acclaimed second album – a record that pushed her experimentation within electronic and synth-punk into something more expansive in its vision, earning her a Latin GRAMMY nomination for standout track “QQQQ”, which León would later remix. And for León, it was A Tropical Entropy, his debut album, a portrait of Miami through the influences and sounds that made him who he is today. Minus appeared on “Ghost Orchid” – another thread in a collaboration that kept growing over the years.

“We just kept in touch for a while after, both working on our respective things,” León says. “Ela asked me to do a remix for her project, which I gladly accepted. I asked her to help me with a song I was working on for my album.” Ideas were exchanged, loops sent back and forth with no particular deadline in mind. And then, eventually, the inevitable: “At one point, we said, we should probably finish these. So we made it happen. Got together in LA and took it all apart and put it all back together again.”

qué les pasó a mis amigos? – translating to “what happened to my friends?” – was mixed by Patrick Holland and mastered by Heba Kadry, whilst being co-produced by León and Minus. It spans three tracks, featuring additional remixes from Loidis, Brenda, and Guedra Guedra. Once they got into the studio together in LA, the ideas kept coming just as easily as those .wav swapping sessions. 

“We were just chatting the whole time actually,” León says. “I’m on the computer doing whatever, but fully having a conversation at the same time.” Minus remembers being surprised by it: “The person I think of when I think of the word multitask is you. I was so impressed.” Between takes, that conversation never really stopped, with cigarette breaks turning into more talking. “It all just found its way into the music,” León says, “where our heads were at and all the ground we covered.” Nothing about it felt forced. “It was interesting but super easy – the whole thing.”

What ties the EP together is the feeling that was shared when creating it. Both had arrived at a point where things were moving too fast – pressures building from every angle, careers hitting breakthrough moments that don’t leave much room to breathe. The EP became a place to fall into with grace, and a kind of calm they built together. 

“What I really appreciated about Ela when we first started talking was trusting,” León says. “I was in a place where I was really anxious about not stopping, grinding it out all the time.” A phone call about touring turned into something that held so much meaning for León: Minus had just taken a long stretch of time off, and told him it had been fine. “I took that to heart 100%,” León says. “It’s been very helpful.” 

For Minus, it came from the same place. “I had just gone through what Nick was going through – I guess we met in kind of similar moments,” she says. “I was able to be like, here, this is what I wish someone would have said to me a year ago.” As León puts it: “You have to be the one to say wait. Otherwise nobody’s gonna say wait for you.”

Heartbreak, friendship, exploitation within the industry – it all poured into the tracks. The EP keeps the space and atmosphere that makes León’s work so distinct, layered with Minus’ signature vocal delivery. “lose my cool” is the project’s more reflective moment, exploring what it feels like when someone close to you becomes almost unrecognisable – injecting the EP’s title with extra context. It was written by Minus on a rainy train ride across Europe. 

That same instinct, to let things happen naturally and not force anything, carried into everything else around the project, too. The cover art was shot at sunset, at a friend’s studio in New York, the sky turning that deep orange fade over the city skyline, lights scattered across it, making everything else feel small. No overthinking, and just the right moment. 

It’s the same approach they’re taking into their first live show together, at the ICA in London this September. Neither of them has performed alongside another artist before in this way. “I’m excited to step out of what I usually do,” León says. Minus feels the same: “It’s what we talked about when we were like, we should do it. Now it’s happening.” 

qué les pasó a mis amigos? is two people who trust each other enough to let things unfold at their own pace, to do what feels right. “No rush,” Minus says. “We’ve been sitting on things for a while and it was never like, we have to do it now. I was like, the time will come. And it did, and it was great.” As if to prove her point, mid-sentence, a hummingbird appears at her window, hovering there for a second before it flies off. “Oh my God,” she laughs. “Perfect.”