In 1987 Linda Ronstadt diverged from her successes in rock and other genres to record the album, Canciones de mi Padre. In it, she revived nostalgic Mexican mariachi music to honor her father and Mexican American heritage. Record industry insiders doubted a Spanish-language album featuring decades-old songs could succeed in the mainstream market. Nevertheless, the album reached 42 on the Billboard 200, sold over 2.5 million copies, won a Grammy for best Mexican/Mexican American performance, and became the bestselling non-English music album in U.S. history. This presentation analyzes Canciones in dialogue with interviews with musicians and fans of the album. It contributes to ethnomusicology by understanding music as a political action that mediates affect and emotion (e.g., Chávez 2017; Desai-Stephens & Reisnour 2020; Garland 2020; Gray Kun 2016; Sakakeeny 2024). Specifically, it asks: what are the political implications and effects of the love the album conveys? While romantic love is thematically relevant in many of the album’s songs, I argue Canciones constructs and prioritizes a love for family, community, and Mexican Americanness. Although Ronstadt did not intend to record a political album, this love is political. In 1987 and still today, Canciones challenges the stigmatization of Mexican American people while also contributing to the construction of what scholars call a “third space” beyond the U.S./Mexico binary (Anzaldúa 1987; Licona 2005; Sandoval 2013).