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Venesti celebrates a double win with “Es Normal,” as his latest single crowns Billboard’s Latin Rhythm Airplay and Latin Pop Airplay charts (dated July 27). The track is the fourth single from parent album De La Nada to enter a Billboard chart.
“It’s really important to lead the Latin Rhythm Airplay and Latin Pop Airplay charts, both for me and my team,” Venesti tells Billboard. “Actually, it’s the song we picked as (the) first single and the one I listen to the most.”
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On Latin Rhythm Airplay, “Es Normal” ascends from No. 3 to crown the 25-song ranking with a 21% gain in audience impressions, up 6.6 million, logged during the July 12-18 tracking week, according to Luminate. With the ascension, Colombian Venesti picks up his second No. 1, after the one-week takeover of “Umaye” last October.
Further, the new champ also takes indie label AP Global to its second coronation on Latin Rhythm Airplay –and third top 10 overall– after it secured its first top 10 through “Pura Maldad” in June 2023.
“When we were composing the song, I was going through a real-life situation about mistrust and chatter, so we decided to write it because so many people go through the same thing,” Venesti remembers. “When the person involved heard it, she started questioning whether I had changed. But nothing, it’s been proven that such is the case, and yes, that makes the song even more special for both, me and my team.”
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The Pop-Afrobeat “Es Normal” also stands steady at No. 1 for a second week on Latin Pop Airplay. There, it joins Venesti’s first champ, “No Es Normal,” with Nacho and Maffio, which held strong at the summit for 10 weeks, the longest-leading song in 2024 so far.
“Es Normal” joins three other songs stemming from Venesti’s debut studio album De La Nada, released Sept. 28 on AP Global. Those songs are the No. 11-peaking “Necesidad” (Latin Rhythm Airplay, Dec. 2022), and top 10s “Pura Maldad” (No. 10 high, June 2023) and as mentioned, “Umaye,” which granted Venesti his first ruler on any chart.
Beyond Latin Rhythm Airplay and Latin Pop Airplay, Venesti reaches for his third top 10 on the overall Latin Airplay, where “Es Normal,” produced by Milo Beat, jumps 8-4. The Colombian singer-songwriter and producer landed two champs previously on the overall radio ranking, both in less than a year: “Umaye” (Dec. 2023) and “No Es Normal,” with Nacho and Maffio, in March.
The 2024 Premios Juventud is just around the corner, and as tradition holds, the event will recognize artists and young people for their “extraordinary accomplishments in society, celebrating music, new artists, community and creators,” according to a press release. Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news This year’s nominations […]
Last week Ricardo Montaner released Ricardo Montaner 2 (Versión Montaner), a re-recording of his 1988 album that included classics like “Tan Enamorados” and “A Dónde Va el Amor.” The new set comes less than a month after Ricardo Montaner (Versión Montaner), and is part of a broader project in which the acclaimed Latin pop singer-songwriter aims to give his old music a more contemporary sound.
“I think it has a lot to do with responsibility,” Montaner tells Billboard Español about this initial six-album project, all under his own independent label Hecho a Mano. “The sound of my music from that era does not match the technical advances available today. […] I want fans from that time to enjoy my music today and to do so under exactly the same conditions as the music people make today.”
But that is not the only motivation for the Argentine-Venezuelan musician. A contract he signed at the beginning of his career with Love Records, part of then-Venezuelan record company Sono-Rodven, did not include rights to his masters, which he says are now in the hands of Universal Music Group. (In 1995, Sono-Rodven transferred its operations to PolyGram, which was later acquired by the multinational).
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“I need my artistic legacy to pass into the hands of my children,” Montaner explains. “I never earned a penny in royalties from any of my first six albums. To this day, with more than 40 years of career, I have not received a single penny from the sales of ‘Yo Que Te Amé,’ ‘Tan Enamorados,’ ‘La Cima del Cielo,’ the album Los Hijos del Sol, the album En El Último Lugar del Mundo.“
“The contracts at that time were predatory and totally disadvantageous for the artist, so that is a very, very strong motivation. If I didn’t earn a single penny for my music at the beginning of my career and at the time when I was most successful, today I am looking to record independently so that my children will have, at least from now on, the peace of mind that the music of their father — especially the most important, the most emblematic or iconic music of his career — will pass into their hands,” he continues. “I am also complaining to the people who have the original masters, the first masters of my career, considering they have been recorded already 40 years ago. I am asking that they return them to me.”
Neither Montaner nor his team has specified whether there is a formal complaint or lawsuit, “beyond the fact that Ricardo is trying to get his masters back,” a person from his team told Billboard Español. Universal Music Latin had not replied a request for comment sent on Monday (July 22) by the time of publication.
Montaner’s re-recording of his albums — something reminiscent of Taylor Swift‘s successful “Taylor’s Version” series — is a meticulous project with “exactly the same” musical arrangements as the originals, and the art cover from the era reproduced with great detail (from set design and wardrobe to the pose of the singer) in a fun and exciting nostalgia trip.
Montaner’s voice remains practically entirely intact. The only change, besides the better sound quality, is in the freedom that comes with age and maturity.
“I recognize that today I sing ‘Me Va a Extrañar,’ ‘Tan Enamorados’, ‘La Cima del Cielo’ or ‘Yo Que Te Amé’ differently than I sang them at that time,” he admits. “But today, sitting from another angle of my life, seeing that I have nothing else to prove in the sense that these songs do not have a risk as they did at that time […] it gives me a lot more freedom to sing them.”
The next releases from the project will arrive Sept. 6 with the album Un Toque de Misterio (Versión Montaner) and the single “La Cima del Cielo (Montaner Version),” followed by En El Último Lugar del Mundo (Versión Montaner), with “Será (Versión Montaner)” as the focus single, on Nov. 1. The re-recordings of Los Hijos del Sol and Una Mañana Y Un Camino would arrive by early 2025.
After these, three more versions of later albums in Montaner’s career will come, this time only for pure pleasure: “I felt like repeating the albums Con La London Metropolitan Orchestra, which were two unforgettable projects for me,” he says excitedly, without revealing what the third one would be. “We already have Abbey Road studios booked for the beginning of November of this year to record the three versions in a single session.”
Retired from the stage at least for a while, Montaner is now enjoying going in and out of the studio while making the most of his time with his family, which includes his wife Marlene, his children Alejandro, Héctor, Mau y Ricky, and Evaluna (all musicians), as well as six grandchildren who will soon become seven with the imminent arrival of Evaluna and Camilo‘s second baby.
“I want to have time to live this,” Montaner says from Medellín, Colombia, where his wife was releasing a new book, El Libro del Corazón. He also traveled recently to Spain and to Argentina to watch his children perform. For many years, he “missed many things of Marlene and my loved ones, because I was doing my own thing, so […] I don’t want it to be once in a while and because time allowed it. Today I want to own my time and be everywhere with them.”
Ruidosa Fest, self-proclaimed as the first Latin American festival focusing on women in music, is poised to make its U.S. debut at New York City’s Lincoln Center on August 10. The festival, part of the venue’s “Summer for the City” program running from June 12 to August 10, will transform Lincoln Center into a hub of Latin music, featuring live performances, a panel, and cultural exchanges.
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Founded in 2016 by Chilean singer-songwriter Francisca Valenzuela, Ruidosa Fest has evolved into a prominent platform that champions visibility and opportunities for “women who make noise.”
The festival’s lineup will feature a diverse array of talent, including Valenzuela herself, along with iconic Brazilian singer Bebel Gilberto, indie synth-pop duo Buscabulla, Puerto Rican singer-songwriter iLe, Colombian indie pop artist Salt Cathedral, Tijuana punk rocker Bruses, Venezuelan newcomer Nella, as well as Renée Goust + Khylie Rylo, Mireya Ramos, DJ Riobamba, and more.
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The day will kick off with an industry panel titled Latinx to the Front: Nuestro Ruido Is Worldwide. The event will explore the media influence of Latin artists, moderated by radio producer Jeanne Montalvo and feature YouTube’s Stephanie Carvajal, Sirius XM’s Ellen Flores, Rolling Stone‘s Julyssa Lopez, Amazon Music’s Angie Romero, and Billboard Español‘s Sigal Ratner-Arias and Isabela Raygoza.
Motivated by a stark gender disparity at Latin American music festivals, Ruidosa Fest was conceived after discovering that women constituted only 9.5% of acts at surveyed festivals in 2016 and 2017, a figure marginally improved to 22.5% when considering mixed-gender groups. This deep-seated imbalance spurred the creation of Ruidosa Fest, dedicated to enhancing the representation and contributions of female performers inside the industry.
The performances will begin on August 10 at 4:30 p.m. ET. For further details about the full schedule and more, visit the event’s website.
Ruidosa Fest
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Karol G‘s history-making Mañana Será Bonito World Tour will come to an end on Tuesday, July 23, with the Colombian superstar wrapping a year of touring at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium in Madrid, where she will become first artist to have four sold-out nights at that venue.
For the special occasion, Karol’s Mañana Será Bonito Forever concert — billed as a global celebration of the tour’s unprecedented success across the U.S., Latin America and Europe — will livestream via the hitmaker’s official YouTube channel.
Kicking off at 6 p.m. ET tomorrow, the show’s livestream was announced by Karol earlier this month in an emotional Instagram post in which she wrote in Spanish, “The time has come to close an unforgettable chapter in our lives. This album, more than songs, has been a journey of overcoming, of desire, of motivation and a band-aid for the soul.”
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She continued in her post: “Every stadium we stepped in vibrated with the beautiful emotions that each one of you brought and we had the opportunity to fill thousands of hearts around the world. We are about to have the last concert of this tour and yes, it is hard to say goodbye to something that has meant so much to all of us, but the time has come and I want us to celebrate together! This July 23rd, our last concert, we will broadcast it through my YouTube channel, in real time, so that EVERYONE, anywhere in the world, can watch it and celebrate this beautiful thing we built together.”
The trek was in support of her record-breaking 2023 set, Mañana Será Bonito, which became the first Spanish-language album by a female artist to top the Billboard 200. The LP went on to win the Latin Grammy for album of the year and a Grammy for música urbana album.
Karol is the first Latina to headline a global stadium tour and was the highest grossing Latin touring artist of 2023. According to Billboard Boxscore, she grossed $155.3 million and sold 925,000 tickets from 20 shows, placing at No. 11 on Billboard’s all-genre year-end Top Tours chart.
This year so far, Billboard previously reported that Karol G’s Mañana Será Bonito Tour had earned $45.1 million and sold 419,000 tickets from nine shows. It landed at No. 2 on the gross-based Top Tours chart for April 2024.
“When I take the stage in a stadium, one of the reasons I cry is because I know one day this will all be over; I’ll be home remembering the time I was No. 1,” Karol told Billboard back in February. “That’s life.”
Below, find the YouTube link to watch Karol G’s Mañana Será Bonito Forever show live from Madrid:
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A little over two decades ago, Ramón Luis Ayala Rodríguez sat in the tiny apartment he shared with his wife and three children in Villa Kennedy, a housing project in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
“¡Cómo le encanta la gasolina! (She really likes gasoline!),” shouted the voices beneath his window, taunting the pretty girls who accepted rides from guys with flashy cars.
“’A ella le gusta la gasolina, dame más gasolina.’ I had the phrase, I had the chorus,” Ayala, better known as Daddy Yankee, would tell me a decade later. “I sat in my studio there in Villa Kennedy and started to harmonize the flow.”
Back then, in 2004, Ayala was already Daddy Yankee inside Puerto Rico, the leader of a new musical movement born in the barrios and connecting with hundreds of thousands of fans who identified with a message created in their streets. But outside of Puerto Rico, Yankee and reggaetón were little known. Until “Gasolina” and Barrio Fino.
“Gasolina” would become the first single off Barrio Fino, which debuted at No. 1 on Billboard‘s Top Latin Albums charts on July 31, 2004, becoming the first reggaetón album to hit No. 1. The set would become the top-selling Latin album of 2005 and of that decade, making Daddy Yankee the Messiah of reggaetón — a genre that would revive sales of Latin music, usher in a new radio format in the U.S. (Latin Rhythm Airplay) and for the next decade would evolve to provide the urban base that dominates much of Latin music to this day.
And while “Gasolina” was the big motor behind Barrio Fino, the entire album was chock full of groundbreaking hits. With features by the likes of Wisin & Yandel, Zion & Lennox and salsa star Andy Montañez, Barrio Fino — in its blend of styles and personalities within urban music — was a harbinger of things to come. It not only opened the door to collaborations from within and outside the realm of urban music, the album intuitively commercialized a genre that had lived largely locally and underground.
“I had a really different vision,” Yankee said in 2004. “I could feel the impact reggaetón was having in the streets, in South America, in the streets of the United States. I knew we were close to exploding. So I said, ‘OK, I’m going to be the one to do it.’ All the money I had, I invested in Barrio Fino.”
Two decades years after its release, Barrio Fino continues to be a definitive album that still sounds and feels radical, and is acknowledged as one of the great inspirations behind the rise of reggaetón. Barrio Fino ushered in not just a musical movement but a lifestyle, built on a beat with irresistible global appeal that would eventually be the basis for other movements, from Medellín’s romantic reggaetón to Argentine trap.
Celebrating its impact and enduring appeal, we at Billboard have ranked its 18 tracks (excluding the intro and outro) with a rare caveat: Every track in this set deserves more than one listen. — Leila Cobo
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Throughout her Mañana Será Bonito World Tour, Karol G has brought out surprise guests to join her onstage, including Nathy Peluso in Argentina and Pabllo Vittar in Brazil. Her stop in Madrid was no exception. Marking a show-stopping moment, Spanish singer-songwriter Amaia Montero joined Karol G onstage on Sunday (July 21) to perform her hit […]
Lasso and Sofía Reyes‘ “Siempre Llegas Tarde,” a fusion of cumbia and pop, has topped this week’s new music Latin poll. In a poll published on Friday (July 19) — in support of the weekly New Music Latin roundup and playlist, curated by Billboard Latin and Billboard Español editors — music fans voted for the Venezuelan artist’s team-up with Reyes as their favorite […]
Brazilian singer Ayres Sasaki has died after being electrocuted during a live performance in Brazil. The 35-year-old musician died almost instantly after hugging a soaking-wet fan during a concert on July 13 at the Solar Hotel in Salinopolis. The contact between the two triggered a nearby cable to jolt, causing the fatal electric shock, according […]
From career milestones to new music releases to major announcements and those little important moments, Billboard editors highlight uplifting moments in Latin music. Here’s what happened in the Latin music world this week.
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Premios Juventud’s 2024 Lineup
Earlier this week, Univision announced a new wave of artists confirmed for the 2024 Premios Juventud set to take place Thursday, July 25 in San Juan, Puerto Rico via Univision. Farruko, Lenny Tavárez, Joss Favela, Chris Jedi, Gaby Music, and Corina Smith, who will make her PJs debut, will all take the stage at the coveted awards show. This year’s nominations are led by top nominees Maluma, Carin Leon, and Peso Pluma, with seven nods each. Premios Juventud recognizes artists and young people for their “extraordinary accomplishments in society, celebrating music, new artists, community and creators,” according to a press release.
The Good Bunny Foundation
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Bad Bunny’s “Good Bunny Foundation” continues its mission to educate the youth in Puerto Rico through art, music, and sports. For a second consecutive year, the foundation returned with its “Un Verano Contigo” summer camp in San Juan and Ponce. In Ponce, the camp included interactive activities with the Juan Morell Campos Institute, the Charles H. Terry Sports Complex, and the Escuela Libre de Música. In San Juan, the camp included workshops at the Puerto Rico Museum of Art, the Puerto Rico Conservatory of Music and the San Juan Sports School / Rebekah Colberg Sports Center, among other destinations.
“For us at the Good Bunny Foundation, it’s a priority to identify talents in our society who can imagine a professional future in their area of interest, whether in the arts, sports or music,” said José “Che Juan” Torres, Director of the Good Bunny Foundation in a press statement. “We want to inspire young people through a fun summer, while continuing to provide them with the support, resources, contacts and connections to continue their development. Even providing them with extracurricular experiences that serve as a reference in a university application.”
Bad Bunny’s “Good Bunny Foundation” offers educational “Un Verano Contigo” initiatives in Puerto Rico
Fundación Good Bunny
Selena Foundation Gives Back
In other positive news, The Selena Foundation has teamed up with the Corpus Christi Police Department to help give school supplies to students of all ages and grades in the community. “The Selena Foundation is honored to be the main sponsor for this amazing program called ‘Operation Safe Return,’” Selena’s sister, Suzette Quintanilla, shared the news on her Instagram account, and in a video message, she encouraged Corpus Christi locals to donate supplies such as paper, crayons, notepads, and pencils. Watch the video below.
Fania Records’ 60th Anniversary
This year marks the 60th anniversary of the iconic Latin label Fania Records, and in celebration, El Museo del Barrio in Manhattan, New York will host a one-day, free community event called “Fania Mania.” On Thursday, July 25, from 6 to 9 p.m., people of all ages will be able to enjoy Afro-Latin and salsa music by DJ Gia Fu. New York City will also declare a special “Fania Day” with a Proclamation presentation in honor of the label’s impact and history. For more information, visit here.
Fania All Stars
Courtesy of Craft Latino