Latin
Page: 204
Ovy on the Drums and Blessd exclusively premiere their new collaboration, “Billboard,” on Billboard today (June 28)—nine months after they first created it at the 2022 Billboard Latin Music Week.
The three-minute and 54-second song is backed by Ovy’s innovative reggaeton beats (where violins and hard-hitting drums meet) and Blessd’s sultry, raspy vocals. “Billboard,” named after the place it was born — during our “Making the Hit, Live!” panel at last year’s LMW conference — tells the story of a man who can’t forget about the girl he likes and how everything is so insignificant without her.
Though the lyrics are about an infatuated love, the Colombian urban singer born Stiven Mesa Londoño does reference Billboard, chanting toward the end of the track: “Se me fue la musa pa’l Billboard,” which loosely translates to “my inspiration went to Billboard.”
The simple-yet-aesthetic music video also pays homage to music’s leading magazine, showing the two Medellin-born artists performing the song in the recording studio as they take breaks to read the 2021 “Greatest Hit” issue with The Weeknd on the cover.
Watch the exclusive video premiere below:
Making The Hit, Live!
“Billboard” was created in only 30 minutes during the “Making the Hit, Live!” panel held on Sept. 28, 2022, at Billboard Latin Music Week.
With a laptop, microphone and headphones in hand, both Ovy on the Drums (real name: Daniel Echavarria Oviedo) and Blessd got to work while a sold-out venue observed how they create music in real-time. “It’s the first time I produce a song this way, so much pressure,” said Ovy after taking the stage at the Faena Forum in Miami Beach.
Blessd, on the other hand, felt comfortable as he improvised the lyrics about heartbreak. “I come battling on the streets so my thing is to improvise. I never sit down to write lyrics. Improvising allows me to feel the music,” he said.
Almost nine months after creating the track, Ovy and Blessd released the song — which was mainly finished after reading all the positive feedback on the panel and fans encouraging them to unleash the track. A couple of weeks leading up to the release on June 28, both artists shared snippets of the “Making the Hit, Live!” panel, and shared a preview of the head-bopping reggaeton tune.
“Billboard” is the pair’s fifth collaborative effort, following “Mi Niña,” “Te Extraño,” “Tendencia Global” and “Medallo,” which hit No. 1 on Billboard‘s Latin Airplay chart in 2022.
“Our chemistry is great,” Ovy said during the panel. “We have a lot of things in common, which was really important when it came to creating music together.”
Revisit the discussion below:
The video for Maluma‘s 2020 smash hit, “Hawái,” has just hit a new milestone on YouTube.
The visualizer has surpassed the one billion views, according to the video streaming platform. It’s his 10th video as a lead, featured artist or collaborator to achieve this feat after videos such as “Chantaje” with Shakira, the Ricky Martin-assisted “Vente Pa’ Ca,” and “Felices los 4.” Currently, the Colombian star comes in at #59 on Global Top Artists.
“I thank God and the universe every single day for giving me a song that has taken me around the world,” Maluma tells Billboard. “It’s allowed me to achieve new dreams. Now, with more than one billion views, we’re thinking what comes next and what can take my career to the next level. This is just the beginning.”
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
The drama-filled music video finds the chart-topping singer-songwriter heartbroken and plotting his next move to get his girl back — even if that means crashing her wedding. Produced by Rude Boyz, the melodious pop song was penned by Maluma, Keityn, Edgar Barrera and Bulle Nene with lyrics set in present day that tell the story of a toxic relationship and the aftermath of a breakup in the Instagram era. “Stop lying to yourself, the photo you put up with him saying he was your everything, I know you only posted it to make me jealous,” Maluma sings.
After releasing “Hawái” in August 2020, Maluma recorded the blockbuster bilingual remix with Canadian star The Weeknd two months later, which spent nine weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot Latin Songs chart. It also scored him his highest ranking Billboard Hot 100 hit, where it peaked at No. 12.
“I was in Miami catching up with my close friend Yovanna Ventura [the model in the music video] and she played me the song and I absolutely loved it,” The Weekend previously told Billboard. “I was inspired so I reached out and it was an easy answer from me when I was asked to get on the track. “Big shout out to Maluma for allowing me to try out my Spanish on the song!” he added.
Revisit the video for “Hawái” above.
After an unquestionably fruitful performance across Billboard’s charts, Peso Pluma scores his first top 10 on an album chart as Génesis, his third studio set, debuts at No. 10 on the Regional Mexican Albums ranking (dated July 1). The debut comes after less than one day of activity, following its off-cycle release late on Thursday, June 22 — the final day of the chart’s tracking week.
The set is bound to move up the tally on the July 8-dated list, once it has its first full chart tracking week captured. (Albums are typically released on a Friday.)
Génesis was released via Double P, and according to Luminate, the set starts with a little over 3,000 equivalent album units earned in the U.S. in the week ending June 22. Streaming accounts for the majority of the 14-track album’s first-week results, which equates to 4.3 million official on-demand streams of the album’s songs.
Génesis follows Sembrando (EP), Pluma’s first appearance on an albums chart, which took him to No. 13 on Regional Mexican Albums (May 13-dated tally) and No. 48 on Top Latin Albums (May 6). Génesis concurrently debuts at No. 35 on Top Latin Albums, a ranking that will likely change next week after the album’s first official tracking week.
Pluma’s first top 10 album arrives following a strong performance across the Billboard charts, placing 20 songs throughout in just over a year, an impressive achievement for a regional Mexican artist.
Further, the 24-year-old changed the regional Mexican music conversation as he took over Hot Latin Songs with 16 simultaneous songs on the May 20-dated list, the most ever for a regional Mexican artist in the chart’s 37-year-old history. Plus, he logged a historic top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 thanks to Eslabon Armado’s “Ella Baila Sola,” as the collab became the first regional Mexican top 10 in the chart’s 64-year history.
“Ella” has also paid additional dividends for both Eslabon and Pluma, becoming the first regional Mexican tune to hit No. 1 on the Billboard Global 200 chart (April 29). The song has since, remained atop the tally for six weeks, and counting.
Génesis was preceded by three songs on the multi-metric Hot Latin Songs list: “Rosa Pastel,” with Jasiel Nuñez, peaked at No. 24 (May 6), “77,” with Eladio Carrión, reached No. 34 (May 20), while “Bye” holds at its No. 7 high for a third week.
Peso Pluma’s first top 10 album foray on the Billboard charts comes on the heels of his first U.S. tour, Double P Summer tour, which kicked-off July 20 in Inglewood, Calif., and will wrap on Oct. 20 in Anaheim, Calif.
Shakira has been very open and honest about the demise of her relationship with former professional footballer Gerard Piqué, and the “Hips Don’t Lie” singer is continuing her showcase of vulnerability. In a new interview with People en Espanol published Monday (June 26), Shakira shared the extenuating circumstances that made the split even more devastating […]
Chayanne returns to the top 10 on Billboard’s Latin Airplay chart chart for the first time in nearly six years, as “Bailando Bachata” ascends 14-10 on the July 1-dated survey. The new top 10 follows the song’s debut on the upper region on Tropical Airplay, his first since 2008 there.
“Bailando Bachata” pushes from No. 14 after a 16% jump in audience impressions, to 6.09 million, earned in the U.S. during the June 16-22 tracking week, according to Luminate. It’s week-over-week improvement –the song debuted at No. 19 (June 10-dated chart) and hits the upper region in its fourth week– takes Chayanne back to the top 10 after almost six years. He last placed a No. 10-peaking song with “Qué Me Has Hecho,” featuring Wisin, in Sept. 2017.
With “Bailando,” Chayanne captures his 20th top 10 on Latin Airplay, tying with Luis Fonsi for the eighth-most among all Latin pop acts since the list’s inception in 1994. Here’s the scoreboard:
41, Enrique Iglesias
26, Shakira
28, Ricky Martin
25, Cristian Castro
22, Alejandro Fernández
21, Juanes
21, Luis Miguel
20, Chayanne
20, Luis Fonsi
Chayanne’s 20 top 10s span four decades. He first broke the top 10 barrier in 1996 with the hit “Solamente Tu Amor,” which reached No. 6 and held in the upper region for eight weeks. The Puerto Rican joins the exclusive club of artists who have achieved top 10s on Latin Airplay during the ‘90s, ‘00s, ‘10s, and ‘20s: Enrique Iglesias, Shakira, Ricky Martin and Luis Fonsi.
As mentioned, “Bailando” also takes Chayanne to new heights on Tropical Airplay as the song drives 4-3, his highest ranking since “Amor Inmortal” landed at the summit in October 2008, where it remained for five weeks.
Natti Natasha Takes-Off on Tropical Airplay Chart
Elsewhere on the Latin charts, Natti Natasha’s “La Falta Que Me Haces” debuts at No. 5 on Tropical Airplay with 5 million in audience impressions earned in the U.S. during the same tracking week.
“La Falta” was originally released April 20 as a slow-tempo tune and did not enter the charts. The new bachata version was released June 1 via Pina/Sony Music Latin and produced by the Dominican Polo Parra and written by Natti alongside Joss Favela. All versions of the song combined for tracking and charting purposes.
The No. 5 debut marks the highest start for Natti among her six total Troical Airplay appearances. It also becomes her fifth top 10, dating back to her featured role in Don Omar’s one-week champ “Dutty Love” in 2012.
Further, “La Falta” picks up speed on Latin Airplay, jumping 21-17 in its fourth week.
Young Miko is officially a Billboard Hot 100-charting artist as she scores her first entry on the July 1-dated chart with her collaboration with Feid, “Classy 101.”
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
The song, released March 30 via Universal Music Latino/UMLE, debuts at No. 99 with 5.5 million official U.S. streams (up 11%) and 1.5 million radio audience impressions (up 11%) in the June 16-22 tracking week, according to Luminate.
The team-up also rises 19-15 on Hot Latin Songs in its 12th week on the chart. Radio-wise, it re-enters Latin Rhythm Airplay at No. 24 (after reaching No. 23).
The song’s worldwide profile also continues to surge, as the track rises 22-19 on the Billboard Global Excl. U.S. chart and 29-24 on the Billboard Global 200, with 33.5 million streams (up 7%) globally.
“Classy 101” is Young Miko’s first song to reach a U.S.-based Billboard chart. It first appeared at No. 29 on the April 15-dated Hot Latin Songs survey. Before that, she charted once before with her solo hit “Lisa.” The song debuted and peaked at No. 147 on Global Excl. U.S. in March.
Young Miko (real name María Victoria Ramírez de Arellano), 24, from Añasco, Puerto Rico, worked as a tattoo artist and studied at the University of Puerto Rico before releasing music. She dropped her debut EP, Trap Kitty, in July 2022 through The Wave Music Group. She has also collaborated with prominent names in Latin music: Arcángel, Brray, Caleb Callloway, Omar Courtz, Chris Jeday, Jowell & Randy, Lyanno and Casper Magico, among others. She also appears on Yandel’s latest LP Resistencia, on the song “Cuando Te Toca,” released in January.
Young Miko is currently on the road on her Trap Kitty World Tour, which runs through October.
On a bright, sunny day in May in the rural Santa Clarita Valley, a 45-minute drive north of Los Angeles, the quintet known as Fuerza Regida and its clan roll up in three luxury cars: a 2023 black Cadillac Escalade SUV, a graphite off-roader Lamborghini Urus and a white Chevrolet Corvette. As the band members made their way to the shaded area, sporting brands like Rhude and Dior along with custom-fitted Dodger caps, their necks and wrists sparkled, dripping in diamonds.
Given their style, one could easily label the members of Fuerza Regida as rappers. But the group from San Bernardino, Calif., is a trailblazer of the burgeoning música mexicana (or regional Mexican, as the music is also known) movement that has taken over the Billboard charts since the beginning of the year.
Born and raised in the United States, the members of Fuerza Regida — frontman and lead songwriter Jesús Ortiz Paz (known as JOP), lead guitarist Samuel Jaimez, second guitarist Khrystian Ramos, tuba player José García and tololoche player Moisés López — have become one of the main drivers of a homegrown music that celebrates Northern Mexican roots with a trap bravado. “We’re all American, so we like to dress with American swag. Whatever we sang about, it wasn’t the regular ranch stuff. It was about what’s going on in the hood, what’s going on in California, what’s going on in these different [U.S.] states. Then it just started growing,” JOP tells Billboard Español.
“The worst enemy of a Mexican is another Mexican. There’s not as many duets now. You know why? Because in regional, they’re all enemies.”— JOP, leader of Fuerza Regida and businessman
It grew so much that it outpaced any other genre. On the Billboard Hot 100 dated July 1, 17 Spanish-language songs appear on the chart, and 13 of them are música mexicana. In May 2021, Gera MX and Christian Nodal made history with “Botella Tras Botella,” becoming the first regional Mexican title to enter the all-genre list. Before 2021, only three regional Mexican acts had appeared on the Hot 100 since 1958, but they were classified as Latin pop in the charts. This year, however, consumption of música mexicana has skyrocketed: As of May 25, its popularity jumped by 42.1% in the United States, topping all genres but K-pop, according to Luminate.
As for Fuerza Regida, the group earned its first entry on the Hot 100 in January with “Bebe Dame” alongside Grupo Frontera, a swaggering romantic cumbia jam with a grupera persuasion that peaked at No. 25. Since then, the group has placed three other tracks on the all-genre chart: “Ch y La Pizza” with Natanael Cano, “Igualito a Mi Apá” with Peso Pluma, and the band’s penultimate solo single, “TQM.”
José Garcia, Moisés López, Jésus Ortiz Paz, Khrystian Ramos and Samuel Jaimez of Fuerza Regida photographed on May 23, 2023 at Tranquility Canyon Ranch in Santa Clarita, Calif.
Martha Galvan
And while Fuerza Regida’s music falls under “regional Mexican” or “música mexicana” — an umbrella term that covers Mexican music genres from accordion-based norteñas and brass-powered banda to corridos, cumbia, mariachi and sierreño — the band takes things a bit further by mixing in a hip-hop mentality and swagger into its norteño sensibility.
“Fuerza Regida are transgressors in the música mexicana space, who really show us how the new generation of Mexican Americans in the U.S. have their own language, they know how to use it, how to reach fans. I feel that today they’re the voice of the people,” says Carlos Quintero, senior manager for artist relations and marketing at Sony Music.
Today, the rugged desert scenery of our Santa Clarita location and the band’s high-end urban gear, bling and luxe cars all collide neatly to highlight the rustic borderland sound with a trap twist that Fuerza Regida has been brewing to global hype.
Como En Familia
Gathered around the snack table, the members of Fuerza Regida are messing around like rowdy cousins at a family carne asada function. They, along with Ángel Ureta and Diego Millan of Calle 24 — two artists that JOP signed to his label, Street Mob Records — place bets on what is clearly an exhilarating game of dice. “Boom! It happens, foo, it happens,” exclaims López, as he and García split a wad of $10 bills for their winning round. “That was a beautiful hand, bro,” says Jaimez.
The name Fuerza Regida (pronounced REH-hee-dah, with the emphasis on the “e”) denotes, for its members, a dominant or ruling force, although the word “régida” does not exist in the dictionary of the Real Academia Española and “regida” without the accent means “governed.” But in the band members’ street language, it makes perfect sense.
Jesús Ortiz Paz of Fuerza Regida photographed on May 23, 2023 at Tranquility Canyon Ranch in Santa Clarita, Calif.
Martha Galvan
The group tends to speak primarily in English, with smatterings of Spanish. “La neta [or “the truth,” in Mexican slang], I didn’t learn English or Spanish. I got bad vocabulary,” says JOP. “Me too,” adds López. “We all do,” echoes García. “Yeah, man, I’m not good at that. I probably have like third grade level,” JOP jokes.
JOP navigates not just as a wildly entertaining and spontaneous frontman but also like a boss. He is assertive yet jokes around and doesn’t hold back when speaking his mind. “I wanted to be famous for whatever: a boxer or an actor. But I was like, ‘No, I’m going to go through the singing stuff, because I’ve been doing it since I was little with my dad,’ ” says JOP, who doesn’t shy away from making shockingly bold and controversial statements.
“The worst enemy of a Mexican is another Mexican,” he says bluntly. “There’s not as many duets now. You know why? Because in regional, they’re all enemies. I’m trying to tell everybody, ‘Hey, let’s get united,’ like we did a year back [when] the genre wasn’t popping like that,” he says. “The five, six that are on top [of the charts] don’t want to duet. Now that we got here, everyone’s like, ‘I’m cool, I’m cool,’ ” he says. While the Hot 100 is loaded with música mexicana collaborations, the skyrocketing money at stake has sparked more competition and caution among artists when selecting their collaborators, he alludes.
The five San Bernardino natives met through “destiny,” in their words, and word-of-mouth at JOP’s old gig. “I used to cut hair, and one of my clients said, ‘Hey, I know this band that’s looking for a bass player,’ ” he recalls. “I came in and I played the bass during practice. Then they asked me, ‘Hey, do you sing?’ I sang them a song, and they were like, ‘Hey, you want to be the singer?’ I’m like, ‘Yeah, we’re a group!’ ” That was six years ago.
With JOP’s raw, passionate vocals, Jaimez’s fiery requinto riffs, Ramos’ driving rhythmic guitar and García’s whirling yet powerful melodies on tuba, the first iteration of Fuerza Regida was born. In 2021, López, who’s about six years younger than the others (who are all either 26 or 27), joined the troupe on the tololoche (a kind of Mexican contrabass).
The first-generation Mexican Americans loved regional Mexican music from a young age, although they were shy to admit it back then. “You had to only listen to it at home,” JOP admits. “Now, it’s the opposite. It’s taking over. Now, it’s bigger than rap.”
José Garcia of Fuerza Regida photographed on May 23, 2023 at Tranquility Canyon Ranch in Santa Clarita, Calif.
Martha Galvan
The Power Of Mexican
Mexican music has always been hugely popular in Mexico and the United States thanks to the large stateside Mexican American community that consumed the sounds and looks from home. Regional Mexican artists not only performed genres like banda and norteño but dressed the part with cowboy hats, boots and matching uniforms. But in the past decade, regional Mexican artists lost ground to a new Latin urban movement that took over the charts.
In that climate, Fuerza Regida didn’t debut strong but instead steadily built momentum as its sound, and moxie, evolved. “We were the group that was the suckiest in town,” JOP recalls with a chuckle. “Although we sucked with the instruments, we had a unique style.” In 2018, Fuerza Regida released its first local hit — “Uno Personal,” a Chayín Rubino cover — and things began “popping off,” as the members say. That year, they also released their live debut, En Vivo Puros Corridos.
During this time, a phenomenon on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border began to occur. Música mexicana equipped with a trap beat began to cross-pollinate and dominate streaming services. In 2018, corridos tumbados pioneer Natanael Cano from Hermosillo in Sonora, Mexico, and California group Herencia de Patrones began out-streaming some of the most notable players in pop and hip-hop.
Fuerza Regida also began making noise with its riveting corridos track “Radicamos En South Central” (2018), which was soon released by Rancho Humilde Records — the label that has been spearheading the música mexicana movement to unfathomable heights. “It really opened the doors for us,” JOP told Billboard in 2020. “Thanks to that song, Ramon Ruiz from Legado 7 discovered us and we got signed to two labels: his, Lumbre Music, and Rancho Humilde.”
Another turning point for the wider visibility of the movement was the group’s studio album Del Barrio Hasta Aquí (2019), which emerged as one of the leading trap corridos releases. On the cover, the then-four-piece appears to be crossing a street in front of a Santa Fe, N.M., pawn shop, like the cover of The Beatles’ Abbey Road. Sonically, the group took the rancheras out of Mexico and gave them a street-style, bicultural spin with a rags-to-riches lyrical approach, while still fondly reflecting on its neighborhood hustle. The album wound up appearing on several year-end critics’ lists.
Khrystian Ramos of Fuerza Regida photographed on May 23, 2023 at Tranquility Canyon Ranch in Santa Clarita, Calif.
Martha Galvan
It’s a sound that’s attracting both U.S. and Mexican fan bases. In the month of June, Fuerza Regida clocked 343 million views on its YouTube channel. And in one year’s time, the group has accumulated a staggering 2.9 billion streams on the platform, with Mexico responsible for 1.6 billion views and the United States 872 million. Guatemala, Colombia and Honduras follow. The band’s top two streaming markets by city in the last 12 months are Mexico City, at 219 million, and Los Angeles, with 91.7 million. Following them are Mexican cities Guadalajara (65.4 million), Monterrey (61.7 million) and Tijuana (52 million), Dallas (49.7 million) and Guatemala City (47.4 million).
On Spotify’s most-streamed list, Fuerza Regida is No. 196, as of June 22, gathering 24.2 million monthly listeners, with most from Mexico: Mexico City has 3.7 million listeners, followed by millions more in Guadalajara, Monterrey, Zapopan and Puebla.
Last year, the band signed a bigger deal with Sony Music Latin through Rancho Humilde, whose founder, Jimmy Humilde, “transmits the emotion he has for the music and the genre,” says Quintero. “From the first song I heard by them in 2019 up until now, I’ve always thought they’re artists with the street cred and language that makes them very current in Mexican music.”
But the group is looking to go beyond that. “We’re actually trying to manifest [a collaboration] with Karol G,” says JOP. “We got that song ready for her whenever she wants to hop on. We would love to expand our relationship with other genres and make this bigger than what it is now.”
When Billboard Español spoke to Fuerza Regida in May, the band was fresh off releasing its latest hit, “TQM.” The song debuted at No. 35 on the Hot 100 and No. 19 on the Billboard Global 200. The group was also in between tour stops on its Mexico trek, preparing to embark on its first arena tour in the United States. The Otra Peda Tour (or “Another Drunken Tour” in Mexican slang) begins July 7 and has already sold out multiple stops including the band’s first two shows, in Dallas at the Dos Equis Pavilion and in Los Angeles at BMO Stadium.
“[The fans] all need to be lit,” JOP says excitedly. “If they’re not lit, I got to get them lit — and make sure they’re all singing each song. If they’re not singing it, I got to figure it out and change that. They go to turn up, not to be bored,” he says, before adding with a smirk: “I love drinking too much on tour.”
Moisés López of Fuerza Regida photographed on May 23, 2023 at Tranquility Canyon Ranch in Santa Clarita, Calif.
Martha Galvan
Through it all, JOP has made big efforts to support up-and-coming talent, which he mentors under his label, Street Mob Records, founded in 2018 in partnership with Rancho Humilde. This year, Street Mob signed a distribution deal with Cinq Music, which will be working label artists including Chino Pacas, Calle 24 and Ángel Tumbado.
“Regional Mexican is one of the hottest and fastest[-growing] genres in the world right now, so to have that relationship with someone like Jesús means a lot to us,” says Cinq Music president Barry Daffurn. “From the time we first started working in regional Mexican music and the first time I sat down with Jimmy of Rancho Humilde, our goal was to bring this music global. The vision at that point was not to make it regional Mexican music, but more música mexicana, expanding it outside that network, to all the countries outside of [Latin America].”
The multiple deals are very much in line with how Jimmy Humilde works. “He’s like a mini me,” he says of JOP. “He listens to me a lot, and he’s a firecracker. He works very, very, very hard. We work together, we plan everything together.”
Samuel Jaimez of Fuerza Regida photographed on May 23, 2023 at Tranquility Canyon Ranch in Santa Clarita, Calif.
Martha Galvan
JOP’s artist Chino Pacas recently entered the Hot 100 with his groundbreaking song “El Gordo Trae El Mando,” a testament to the label’s support and JOP’s business acumen.
“I started my label a year after my career,” he says, “because I’ve always liked…”
“Business,” García chimes in.
“…Money,” JOP adds. “Hard work beats talent, always. A little bit of luck, a little bit of talent, and hard work. I consider myself an artist, but I got to work a little harder because I’m [also] an entrepreneur. I’m a businessman. I got my whole company. I’m doing these big deals with my artists. I’m probably going to make more money with my label than I ever did with my career, with Fuerza Regida, but that’s fine because I enjoy being an artist.”
“[JOP] is an entrepreneur, and now he has his own label,” Quintero says. “But independent of anything else, he’s on TikTok, on Reels, on the YouTube charts, everywhere, always sharing his music. I think that’s the big key to success for this new generation of música mexicana, and he’s a big leader in that.”
There’s even a YouTube clip of the band visiting the Tijuana border crossing and performing in the line of cars awaiting entry like músicos callejeros, or buskers. That’s where they met one of JOP’s latest signees, Chuy Montana. “We went to the line because we wanted to experience how it felt to play for the cars,” JOP says. “[Montana] used to work there about a month ago. Now he’s in concert with us.”
Samuel Jaimez, Moisés López, Jesús Ortiz Paz, Khrystian Ramos and José Garcia of Fuerza Regida photographed on May 23, 2023 at Tranquility Canyon Ranch in Santa Clarita, Calif.
Martha Galvan
In December, Fuerza Regida ambitiously released two full-length albums a few days apart, Pa Que Hablen and Sigan Hablando. The band supported the releases with publicity stunts like performing on the rooftop of a supermarket in San Bernardino. “Thousands” showed up, according to Quintero. “They really are the voice of the people when it comes to música mexicana today,” he says.
And increasingly, the group is becoming the voice of the people beyond Mexican and Mexican American audiences.
“Artists like Natanael Cano, Fuerza Regida and [others] are writing about things that are different from the stories in Mexico or about drug cartels [like traditional corridos or narcocorridos],” says Krystina DeLuna, Latin music programmer at Apple Music. “[JOP] is very proudly Mexican American, but he has always had that global mindset, [so] their approach to música mexicana is innovative. Whether they do a more traditional-leaning song or take risks and push boundaries, their essence always comes through and connects.”
Being Mexican American, JOP says, means that “you hit the gold pot. It’s the best.”
“I wouldn’t want to be Mexican. I wouldn’t want to be American,” he says. “I’m perfect.”
On a bright, sunny day in May in the rural Santa Clarita Valley, a 45-minute drive north of Los Angeles, the quintet known as Fuerza Regida and its clan roll up in three luxury cars: a 2023 black Cadillac Escalade SUV, a graphite off-roader Lamborghini Urus and a white Chevrolet Corvette. As the band members made their way […]
Tainy surprised fans with “La Baby,” a new single off of his upcoming studio album, DATA, last week. This week, the Latin hitmaker brought in a host of celebrity women for the summer-friendly track’s official video, released on Monday (June 26).
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
The star-studded music video features Becky G, Camila Cabello, Lali, Elena Rose, Bad Gyal, Evaluna, RaiNao and PaoPao singing along to the verses from Daddy Yankee, Feid and Sech.
In a 90’s-inspired selfie clip, each artist is seen doing their own respective thing, such as getting ready for a night out (Bad Gyal), working out at the gym (Lali), drinking a morning coffee (Evaluna) or enjoying a late-night drive around town (Elena Rose).
“La Baby” sees Tainy opting for infectious reggaeton with hard-hitting drum beats and lyrics meant to empower and motivate the ladies. “That kitty is lost/ She doesn’t have an owner/ An architect/ She’s building her dreams/ Everyone I show her off to/ Says she’s hot like a jalapeño,” he sings on his verse.
“Thank you to these incredible women for being a part of it,” Tainy expressed on his Instagram account.
“La Baby” is part of Tainy’s debut solo studio album DATA, slated for a June 29 release. The release also comes on the heels of Tainy unveiling its stacked tracklist including Bad Bunny, Rauw Alejandro, Myke Towers, J Balvin, Arcangel, Kany Garcia, Young Miko and many more.
“[DATA] is a representation of who I am as a person, and as a fan of music,” Tainy previously told Billboard Español. “To be able to have my own album is so special. I’m putting my everything into this, all the knowledge I’ve acquired since I started working with the people I admire.”
Watch the visual for “La Baby” in the video above.
In late 2022, Latin urban music appeared to be an indomitable force after nearly a decade of chart supremacy. Bad Bunny, Billboard‘s Artist of the year, topped both Latin charts and global charts — and on top of that, he was the highest-grossing touring artist of 2022. Other urban-leaning global hits were churned out at lightning speed: Karol G and Becky G’s “Mamii”; Rauw Alejandro and Chencho Corleone’s “Desesperados.” Bizarrap’s music sessions became fabled.
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
Six months later, the pendulum has swung in a different direction. Sharply. This week, 13 of the 17 Spanish-language tracks on the Billboard Hot 100 are regional Mexican tracks, or “música Mexicana,” as it’s called by some. They include the highest-charting Latin track on the chart, Eslabon Armado and Peso Pluma’s “Ella Baila Sola,” which ranks at No. 10 for its second consecutive week after peaking at No. 4.
Of those 13 tracks, one features Bad Bunny — who, smartly recognizing the new wave, recorded “unx100to” with Grupo Frontera. Even Bizarrap’s new music session, “Vol. 55,” features Peso Pluma, the hottest regional Mexican act of the moment and only the second Mexican artist to be featured in a session (the first, Sno Tha Product, is an urban act).
It all couldn’t sound more different to reggaetón, which not only explains part of the appeal — but also signals that Latin listeners may be suffering from reggaetón and urban music fatigue, and ready to discover new sounds. Led by acts like Peso Pluma, Eslabón Armado, Fuerza Regida and Luis R. Conríquez, today’s Mexican music is earthy, guitar- and brass-based and devoid of Auto-Tune and drum machines, the hallmarks of reggaetón for over a decade. Mexican music shows, like those by the likes of Peso Pluma, Natanael Cano, Carín León, Fuerza Regida and Conríquez, are live music spectacles, with full bands — whether big or small — playing live onstage, rather than using tracks and pads.
While reggaetón acts often cite the cost of their dancers and pyro as a primary budgetary concern, regional Mexican acts largely eschew those frills in favor of sheer musical manpower. Mexican music shows rarely incorporate dancers; the live music is meant to be the center of attention and it’s also the heart of the genre, for artists young and old. How could an act like Yahrtiza y su Esencia, for example, possibly exist without those two dueling guitars? How could Pepe Aguilar sing without his mariachi? When one sees Peso Pluma performing with that fierce, seven-piece band behind him, the thought of replacing them with dancers feels anathema to the spirit of his performance; the mere choice of a tuba line or a guitar is deliberate and congruent with the style of each particular song, whether it be a corrido or a sierreño.
While many reggaetón acts hone their chops in front of a computer in the recording studio, Mexican acts do so by playing together in their garages and learning from each other, much like punk and rock bands always did. That organic feel and camaraderie translates into the recordings and onto the stage and fans are devouring it.
And then, there’s the lyrics: Mexican music remains, in essence, focused on romance and story-telling. Yes, narcocorridos — the tales of drug users, drug lords and their exploits — abound, and the lyrics, full of bravado and braggadocio, often glorify the subject matter, something that’s far less common in reggaetón (and that I’m not a fan of). On the other hand, Mexican music largely avoids the blatant misogyny of reggaetón and the genre’s continued obsession with assessing the size and heft of women’s breasts and butts and their levels of arousal. There is sexual innuendo — these are no choirboys either –but there is barely any sexual explicitness, either in the music or in the visuals, where women are depicted as sexy temptresses, but rarely as purely sexual objects.
The new Mexican music does take many of its aesthetic cues from reggaetón and urban music: The clothes, the accessories, the jewelry, the swagger. This is, after all, youth pop culture. Beyond that creative aspect, regional Mexican music has also learned from reggaetón as an industry. The genre, which was once notoriously averse to collaborations, now boasts them in spades, a factor that’s been key to its rise in popularity — as Peso Pluma openly said during his South Florida show on Saturday.
But the roots of the music have remained solid, and it’s clearly having an impact outside the Mexican audience. As Mike Tyson put it as he danced to the strains of Peso Pluma’s guitar accompaniment on a social media video touting the singer’s new album, Génesis: “This is my s–t.”
We’re with you, Mike.