Ruslana released her new single "Veranos condenados" (Cursed Summers) on Friday, September 4, 2026, marking the second track to surface from the studio album she is currently working on.
The accompanying music video turns the inside of a house into a makeshift beach. An inflatable pool sits in the middle of the living room, surrounded by water guns, beach balls and chairs arranged as if planted in sand.
The song itself marks a shift in sound for the singer, carrying more of an indie touch than material she has released before. A guitar keeps the rhythm running through the track, backed by a very subdued drum line, giving the whole piece a softer, more relaxed mood than her earlier work.
Ruslana said she had learned that, in the end, a person is something that drifts away, a mirage that was never really there, a film she watched a long time ago. She said that line best sums up the message behind the new track.
Without quite becoming a ballad, the song deals with heartbreak, building in intensity as it moves forward before pulling back sharply, as if hitting a handbrake, and closing on the same half whispered tone it opened with. That play with intensity, she has noted, has become something of a signature in her music.
Rising through Operación Triunfo
Ruslana first became known through Operación Triunfo, the long-running Spanish singing talent show, in the edition that moved the format to Amazon Prime Video a couple of years ago. Inside the show's Academy, she stood out for a strong personality that has since shaped a career built on blending genres and styles, moving her past the "promising newcomer" tag and into an established name in the current music scene.
Second single from a new album
"Veranos condenados" picks up where "Favorita de la vida" left off, the first single released from the same forthcoming project. Where that earlier track introduced the new record, this one leans further into a calmer, more intimate, less rock-driven direction than fans have heard from her so far.
The upcoming album will be Ruslana's second full studio record. She released her debut, "Génesis," in mid-November 2024, a strong introduction that was followed a year and a half later by "Catársis," a shorter EP that acted as a bridge between full-length albums while she reset and found her footing. The way she has spaced and shaped each release, she has said, shows she knows exactly what form each project should take, a maturity that stands out given her age: she turns 21 next week.
A step into acting
Alongside her music, Ruslana has also moved into acting. She appears in the film "A fuego" (On Fire), and beyond stepping in front of the camera, she is also responsible for the movie's main theme song, which shares its title with the film. That track was released in August, adding another dimension to a year in which she has continued to widen her creative range without stepping away from the music that first brought her attention.
