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This week, Sofia Reyes is blessing fans with a new pop anthem titled “Luna.” The track thrives on a soothing calypso beat and finds the Mexican singer-songwriter as free and honest as ever, not shying away from saying exactly what she wants in her next rendez vous with a lover. “Luna” is Reyes’ first single from her forthcoming album due next year.
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Meanwhile, Colombian star and rocker Juanes imagines secret lovers separated during the pandemic in the seductive song “Amores Prohibidos,” which fuses cumbia, electro rock/funk rhythms and classic guitar riffs and solos. “The song idea began from an article I read during the pandemic on the difficulty of maintaining private relationships, those that could not be known to the world,” Juanes says in a press release.
Grupo Firme and Joss Favela have both stepped out of their comfort zones on their first-ever collaboration “La Bailadora.” Instead of dropping a Norteño or ranchera track, Firme and Favela unleashed a captivating cumbia sonidero-style, where they sing about a woman who loves to dance and is the center of attention at every party.
Another first collaborative effort? Pablo Alborán and María Becerra join forces for the musical love letter “Amigos.” The Spanish crooner and Argentine powerhouse beautifully lace their vocals to bring to life a story about two friends who have feelings for each other but don’t dare to take the next step
Also in the poll are new releases by El Fantasma and Pepe Aguilar, Julieta Venegas, Nathy Peluso and Danny Ocean.
What’s your favorite new Latin music release this week? Vote below!
Julieta Venegas cherishes the past to enrich the future, as she explores the different facets of personal histories. That’s the crux of Tu Historia, her eighth studio album, in which the Mexican singer-songwriter rejects a mainstream mentality, goes independent from her former major label, and comes full circle to find more intimacy.
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On her journey to penning these perspectives, she revisits her roots in Tijuana, which was the inspiration of her introspective guitar ballad “La nostalgia,” and where she filmed a few music videos.
Never one to write a vapid hook for the sake of catchiness, Venegas possesses the rare quality of writing both memorable and reverent lyrics with apparent ease to make them relatable. “Respira el tiempo te hará bien/ Algo has aprendido y lo llevarás contigo, ya vas a ver/ Deja tu pasado ser parte de ti” (Breathe time will do you good/ You have learned something and you will take it with you, you’ll see/ Let your past be a part of you”, she croons on the album’s title track, along with her unmistakable accordion riffs. (Venegas can play just about any instrument with keys and strings.)
In talking with the Tijuana native, she is modest about her many talents. Recently, she collaborated with contemporary superstar Bad Bunny on “Lo Siento BB:/”, but the wider exposure is never the driver behind her work — it’s always about the art, and experimenting with new sonic textures.
Her new album was produced by Chilean electro-pop artist Alex Anwandter, who was very impressed with Venega’s level of artistry. “When I was with her in the studio, I was like, ‘Wow, that’s why Julieta is doing amazingly well, because she’s such a genius,’” he told Billboard. “And to see a genius working for me was very impressive.”
Julieta Venegas became a full-blown international pop star at the start of the new millennium with Sí, her third album. But to some longtime followers of her ‘90s-era indie rock days, it was sort of the equivalent of Dylan going electric. She had established herself as a prominent voice and songwriter in the Mexican punk rock scene with band Tijuana No!, and as a solo artist with producer Gustavo Santoalalla (Café Tacvba, Maldita Vecindad, Molotov). “I don’t like to stand still and say, ‘I do rock’,” she says. “I don’t do rock, I make songs.”
While living in Mexico City, she released some of her best work, including Limón y Sal (2006), which entered the Billboard 200 album chart, as well as Los momentos(2013) and Algo sucede (2015), which debuted at No.1 on the Latin Pop Albums chart. At the end of the month, she will present Tu Historia live in Los Angeles and New York. She will also perform at the eclectic Bésame Mucho festival in L.A., along with Los Tigres del Norte, Caifanes, Zoé and Café Tacvba, among others.
Venegas recently talked to Billboard Español from Argentina, where she now lives, to shed light on her story. Below, she speaks at length on her recent work and her earlier career.
On the concept of Tu historia and some songs:
Tu Historia is the album, but there are also many stories. They’re different songs that have to do with everything — friendship, love, heartbreak, everything. What [the title song] is telling you is to carry your past with you and never abandon it. Don’t think you have to erase it.
And “En Tu Orilla” is inspired on a poem by Chilean poet Raúl Zurita. He is asking [an ex] that when time passes, to continue keeping him in her corner. It is a request that I thought was very tender, because he is asking [a former lover] — even though the two of them are a done story — to keep him somewhere within.
About her creative process and her collaboration with Alex Anwandter:
With Alex, we’ve been friends for many years. In fact, we collaborated on another album, [2016’s Amiga, in the song “Caminando a la Fabrica”] and we see each other a lot. I told him I was making these songs, and asked him to listen to them and tell me if I had something for a record. From there, we started talking about “hey, I want to work with you.”
The most important thing is the choice of songs, the repertoire. That’s the foundation for everything, and the essence of the album. Alex is that type of producer — like, “First let’s focus that the songs are great, and from there we start thinking about the sound.” I really liked the idea of having the acoustic elements, but also putting lots of synthesizer into it. And he is very into synths, he is also a violinist. Of the ten songs, about seven of them have strings.
On transitioning from Sony to an independent label:
I think you have to try different routes. Since Algo sucede, I had already done a Sony distribution. In other words, little by little, I naturally began to distance myself from such a large structure. I wanted to work on a smaller scale, perhaps build everything in a more personal way with my team. I don’t know if I ever identified that much with the huge structure like what a large label requires. I really like what it means to work with a distributor like Altafonte. It’s involved in the promotion and marketing part. In other words, if someone is going to be the label person, it’s going to be me. I was interested in this new way of doing things.
From doing underground punk and indie rock to being a pop powerhouse:
First of all, the songs come first. I always look at the songs from a songwriter’s point of view. I started composing with Chantaje, the group before Tijuana No!, and I learned a lot there. Later, I began to experiment more in my way of writing. Then, on my third album, Sí, I liked the idea of trying more simpler compositions, because I had been making more complex albums prior. It was more intuitive and played a lot with structures. I am very curious and I always like to try different things. Then, you see what style you want for it — whether that’s electronic, acoustic, rock, if you want to add an electric guitar with distortion, or a charango.
I don’t like to stand still and say “I make rock”. No, I don’t make rock, I make songs. In fact, there are hardly any electric guitars on my [new] record. There are like two in a couple of songs, but it’s minimal. I’ve always been more about the piano, accordion, drum machines, synths — those are my elements that I can’t stop coming back to.
About her collaboration with Bad Bunny and Tainy on “Lo Siento BB:/”:
It’s a Tainy song, actually. Tainy, Bad Bunny’s producer, was the one who called me. He’s produced a lot of reggaetón, urbano and pop artists. He started producing for reggaetón artists, but he’s expanded his reach. I like him a lot because he has a very broad vision of music, and I very much agree with that vision. He identifies these parings and links his teams with artists that come from the pop, folk, Mexican music world.
He told me: “I would very much like you to write a response to what Benito is saying.” It seemed very gracious to me, and at the same time he gave me complete liberty to be able to express what naturally came to me. Originally, the song was going to be sung by Benito, and my part was going to be left at the end, as a kind of interlude. But in the end they decided to put it as an introduction, and I loved it.
On filming music videos on the border and Tijuana:
The video for “La Nostalgia” was filmed on the Tecate highway; and the one for “Tu Historia” was filmed in Tijuana. They were directed by Nicolasa Ruiz, a director from Mexicali who lives in Mexico City, and I wanted the videos to be filmed in those landscapes. I started looking for people and I came to Nicolasa through my sister and friends. I really liked her work, because it’s very personal, very outside the mainstream. She has a very beautiful and biographical vision that tells stories. She had not directed videos, but it felt nice meeting with her.
I left Tijuana when I was very young, but it’s a place that always keeps pulling me back and making me think about my childhood and teen years. That is where I developed as a person, it’s my land. [Being in Tijuana] is a whole package: seeing my family, my friends, eating, and the landscape. The Pacific gives us this Baja Californian beach freshness and the desert. That combination of climate and landscape is very unique.
This interview was originally conducted in Spanish.
In July, Rauw Alejandro wiped his Instagram account and left one short clip featuring him, his go-to producers Caleb Calloway, Mr. NaisGai, Keno, and his manager Eric Duars. “Take care. I love you. Thanks for the love always. See you soon,” he captioned it.
Suddenly, Rauw went missing from social media only to appear a month later in yet another clip surrounded by aliens in a studio. “Do not believe everything you see and everything you hear on the internet, except that I am in Saturn making the most amazing album of the year and the other year and the other and the other,” he expressed.
Almost three months later, the Puerto Rican artist born Raúl Alejandro Ocasio Ruiz unleashes his new studio album Saturno, home to 18 tracks including the previously-released “Lokera,” “Punto 40,” “Dime Quien????,” and focus single “Lejos Del Cielo,” which all set the tone for his new galactical era.
Rauw Alejandro, “Saturno”
Jora Frantzis
The ever-chameleonic singer steps away from his signature trap and perreo, and continues honing his art with a more experimental sound. Think old-school hip-hop, 80’s and 90’s freestyle, and even punk rock laced with otherworldly, innovative rhythms.
And in true Rauw fashion, he couldn’t escape to Outerspace without edgy reggaeton songs and some of his best collaborators, including veterans Arcangel and DJ Playero.
Saturno (Duars Entertainment/Sony Music Latin) marks Rauw’s third studio album following Afrodisiaco (2020) and Vice Versa (2021), which spent two weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Top Latin Albums chart.
Below, Billboard editors recommend seven essential tracks on the new set.
It’s a profitable partnership between Prince Royce, Nicky Jam and Jay Wheeler as “Si Te Preguntan” rallies 18-3 on Billboard’s Latin Airplay chart (dated Nov. 12).
“Si Te Preguntan” earns the highest weekly jump to the upper region thanks to its robust 74% gain in audience impressions, to 7.9 million, earned in the U.S. in the week ending Nov. 6, according to Luminate.
“Si Te Preguntan” debuted on the radio ranking at No. 35 and nearly missed its top 10 visit end of September, lifting 14-11 (chart dated Sept. 24), where it remained for two weeks. It reaches the top 10 in its 15th week amid renewed radio reception, climbing 15 positions. It’s one of eight songs to jump at least 15 positions in a single week into the top 10 in 2022:
Biggest Jumps to Top 10 on Latin Airplay in 2022, Title, Artist, Chart
49-1 (48), “Te Felicito,” Shakira & Rauw Alejandro, May 7, 2022
43-5 (38), “Sigue,” J Balvin & Ed Sheeran, April 9, 2022
36-1 (35), “Forever My Love,” J Balvin & Ed Sheeran, April 9, 2022
18-1 (17), “Llorar y Llorar,” Mau y Ricky & Carin Leon, Oct. 1, 2022
25-9 (16), “Cuéntame,” Los Rieleros del Norte, Sept. 24, 2022
18-3 (15), “Si Te Preguntan…,” Prince Royce, Nicky Jam & Jay Wheeler, Nov. 12, 2022
23-8 (15), “Con Un Botecito A Pecho,” Adriel Favela & Carin Leon, May 28, 2022
16-1 (15), “Buenos Dias,” Wisin & Camilo, July 23, 2022
With “Si Te Preguntan’s” top 10 trek, Royce collects his 22nd top 10 (including 15 No. 1s). Meanwhile, Nicky Jam claims his 23rd, while Wheeler nabs his third.
Over on Tropical Airplay, the track pushes closer to the summit with a 5-2 jump, a new peak. It previously reached a No. 3 high on the Aug. 30-dated list, and has been in the top five for the last 14 consecutive weeks. Further, for Jam, it’s the closest he’s been to the top since the eight-week ruler “Cásate Conmigo,” with Silvestre Dangond, in 2018. As for Wheeler — it’s his first hit on Tropical Airplay, while Prince Royce has previously notched 22 No. 1s.
Goyo Visits Tropical Airplay’s Top 10 With India Collab
Elsewhere on Tropical Airplay, ChocQuibTown’s Goyo crosses off a new milestone earning her first visit and top 10 with “Nubes Negras,” with India. The track rises 14-10 with 1 million in audience impressions, up 10%.
It’s Goyo’s first entry as a lead act, unaccompanied by her band, ChocQuibTown, which last scored an entry through its featured role in Arthur Hanlon’s “No Tuve La Culpa” (No. 11 high in 2018).
Meanwhile, India collects her 26th top 10 after she took over atop Tropical Airplay for one week with “Víctimas Las Dos,” with Victor Manuelle, in May 2021. India holds her second-most top 10s among female acts on the ranking, trailing only Olga Tañon’s 27 top 10s.
Juan Gabriel was so clear about how he wanted Los Dúo 3 to sound that he recorded all his parts and had a list of guest singers. Six years after his death, his heirs and team are finally presenting the last project the prolific Mexican singer-songwriter was working on: a third album of duets of hits, including the singles “Déjame Vivir” with Anahí, “Ya” with Banda El Recodo and La India, and “Mía un Año” with Eslabón Armado, as well as the focus track “De Mí Enamórate” with Danna Paola.
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Los Dúos 3 makes its debut on Thursday (November 10) at 8:00 pm EDT under Música Eterna / Virgin Music US Latin. Produced by Gustavo Farías, a longtime collaborator of Juan Gabriel, the 14-track set filled with pop, ballad, ranchera, mariachi and banda songs also includes “Por Qué Me Haces Llorar” with Gloria Trevi, “He Venido a Pedirte Perdón” with Mon Laferte, “Luna tras Luna” with George Benson, a bilingual version of “Have You Ever Seen the Rain” with John Fogerty, and “Venecia Sin Ti,” with the late French-Armenian artist Charles Aznavour, who died in 2018.
“My dad’s plan was always to record with these people. The list was already there, he knew who he wanted to do the duets with, he knew the genres, he wanted to try new things. All the ideas were his, we simply took his ideas and produced them the best we could,” his son Iván Gabriel tells Billboard Español about the project. The tracklist is rounded out by “Cada Vez y Cada Vez” with Pepe Aguilar, “Nada Más Decídete” with Angela Aguilar, “Yo No Nací Para Amar” with Lasso, “Te Doy 8 Días” with La Adictiva, and “Déjame” with Luciano Pereyra.
Juan Gabriel, “Los Dúo 3”
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The plans were put on hold temporarily when the 66-year-old star, known throughout Latin America for classics like “Querida” and “Amor Eterno,” died on August 28, 2016 at his home in Santa Monica, California, in the midst of a tour. “Unfortunately, when he passed away, several things came to a halt and we had to review everything, we had to — I wouldn’t say start from scratch, but take our time so we didn’t come up with something incomplete,” Ivan explains.
Inducted into the Billboard Latin Music Hall of Fame in 1996, Juan Gabriel built a legacy as a multifaceted artist over a more-than-four-decade career, recording songs in genres as diverse as ranchero, ballad, pop and bolero as well as producing other artists. Among his many accomplishments, the “Divo de Juárez” sold more than 150 million records, wrote over 1,800 songs, released 34 studio albums, was a six-time Grammy nominee, won three Latin Grammys posthumously and had seven No. 1s on Billboard‘s Hot Latin Songs chart. (“Yo No Sé Qué Me Pasa” even led the first edition of that chart in 1986.)
For Farías, who also produced Los Dúo and Los Dúo 2, being able to complete the album without his star was “a very profound emotional and professional experience.”
“After 6 years since starting this ambitious project, to be finally able to listen to it, finished and just as Juan Gabriel and I imagined it in the summer of 2016, I relived memories and emotions in his studio in Cancun,” continues the producer in a statement, praising the work of everyone involved and stating that he had “Juan Gabriel’s musical desires in mind in every arrangement and song.”
When it came to choosing “De Mí Enamórate” as the focus track, Iván explains that his father always wanted to “push” that song — which was originally recorded by Daniela Romo in 1986, when it topped the Hot Latin Songs chart for 14 weeks — “a little more… and I think it turned out very well for us!”, he adds enthusiastically about the new version with Danna Paola. “Well, I can’t honestly take any of the credit, it was all my dad.”
Víctor González, President Virgin Muisic Latin America & Iberian Peninsula, says in a statement that “seeing this album evolve as Juan Gabriel imagined it is a goal that we set for several years. It is an honor for me to be able to collaborate in preserving the great musical legacy of Don Alberto,” he adds, referring to Juan Gabriel by his real name, Alberto Aguilera Valadez. “I’m sure he would be proud of the production of each of the songs.”
Los Dúos 3 arrives a few days after the premiere of “Cirque Musica Querida,” a circus show that celebrates the life and work of Juan Gabriel, staged with the endorsement of his son and heir in Mexico City. It’s all part of a strategy to keep his legacy alive.
“For me it is obviously very important, because my father left this to us — he left this to his fans, his family — and it is our job and our duty to make it grow as much as possible, to celebrate it as best as possible,” says Iván of his father’s body of work. And there is still more to come: Without providing any details, Iván reveals “there is a lot of material with which we continue to work — so I think that many more beautiful things are on the way.”
The 23rd annual Latin Grammys is a week away, where Bad Bunny is the top contender with 10 nods, including album of the year for his Billboard 200-topping Un Verano Sin Ti. The Puerto Rican artist is followed by Mexican hitmaker Edgar Barrera with nine nominations; Rauw Alejandro with eight nominations; Christina Aguilera and Rosalía with seven nods each; and last year’s top winner, Camilo, with six nominations.
But one of the most coveted awards of the night is best new artist. This year, the Latin Recording Academy recognized 11 up-and-coming talents from different regions of the world such as Mexico, Brazil, and Peru, and of ages ranging from 15 to 95 years old.
Cuban singer-songwriter Angela Álvarez, for example, becomes the oldest musician to ever be nominated for best new artist. “It was a very big but very beautiful surprise, and I thought afterward that all my dreams came true. At 95, but that doesn’t matter,” she previously told Billboard.
Meet all of this year’s nominees and vote for who should win below. (Editor’s Note: The poll is solely fan-based and not tied to any award decision.)
The Latin Grammy Awards — which “promise to honor the legacy, celebrate the present and embrace the future of Latin music, with deliberate consciousness, paying-it-forward to the next generations of music creators,” according to a press statement — will be held Nov. 17 at the Michelob Ultra Arena at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, and will air live on Univision beginning at 8 p.m. ET.
The Latin Grammy Premiere, a non-televised ceremony in which the winners in most categories are announced, will take place before the broadcast.
In honor of the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, which kicks off Nov. 20, Billboard has reached out to Latin artists who are big fútbol fans to ask what the sport means to them. For our first installment, we spoke to Mexican actor and singer Diego Boneta (Luis Miguel: The Series) who is a self-declared soccer aficionado and is ready to support La Selección Mexicana — of course proudly wearing “la verde” (Mexico’s jersey) — during the tournament. Below, Boneta’s “What Fútbol Means to Me,” as told to Billboard.
My earliest memories of fútbol go back to when I was a kid, definitely. I’d play at recess with my friends. I even got signed up for fútbol classes when I was younger. I wasn’t amazing, but I was good and I really enjoyed playing. I grew up watching La Selección Mexican games. Fútbol matches were and are to this day a big deal for my family. Whenever La Selección is playing, nos ponemos la verde, and we watch the game at home, we’ll have friends and family over, we’ll have micheladas and root for them. I’m the type that will be on the edge of my seat the whole time and just start screaming at the television. I’m a screamer for sure.
The one World Cup song that has truly stuck with me is Ricky Martin’s “Cup of Life.” To this day, I love that song so much and it brings back many memories. Music is a big part of the World Cup and fútbol. Especially after personally having sung at some big stadiums, like Maracanã [in Brazil] back in the day, I feel like music goes hand in hand, that’s why having a great World Cup song is so important. It makes the event much more memorable.
The game that, as Mexicans, we’re probably all waiting for during this World Cup is the Mexico vs. Argentina game. That is the match to watch. I’ll be at home, watching with my family and friends, having some tequila, of course it all depends on what time they’re playing … But hopefully we’ll be celebrating afterwards and eating all the botanas you can think of, like guacamole, some tacos, cacahuates japoneses, papitas preparadas. Fútbol is really about us coming together, celebrating our country and roots. It’s about unity, culture, food, having fun. It’s very powerful, if you think about it.
My prediction for the México-Argentina game? 2-1, Mexico wins. Viva México!
Singer Gal Costa, an icon in the Tropicalia and Brazilian popular music movements who enjoyed a nearly six-decade career, died on Wednesday. She was 77.
Her death was confirmed by a press representative, who provided no further information.
The soprano with wild curls of dark hair was best known for lending her unique voice to compositions such as Ary Barroso’s “Aquarela do Brasil” (Watercolor of Brazil), Tom Jobim’s “Dindi,” Jorge Ben Jor’s “Que Pena” (What a Shame) and Caetano Veloso’s “Baby.”
“Gal Costa was among the world’s best singers, among our principal artists to carry the name and sounds of Brazil to the whole planet,” President-elect Luiz Inácio da Silva wrote on Twitter alongside a photo of him hugging her. “Her talent, technique and courage enriched and renewed our culture, cradled and marked the lives of millions of Brazilians.”
Gal Costa foi das maiores cantoras do mundo, das nossas principais artistas a levar o nome e os sons do Brasil para todo o planeta. Seu talento, técnica e ousadia enriqueceu e renovou nossa cultura, embalou e marcou a vida de milhões de brasileiros.📸 @ricardostuckert pic.twitter.com/4jU2SBcHuq— Lula (@LulaOficial) November 9, 2022
Costa was born Maria da Graça Penna Burgos in the northeastern state of Bahia and came onto the scene alongside future legends Veloso, Gilberto Gil, and Maria Bethânia.
All were already successful solo artists when they formed the band Doces Bárbaros. Their joint side project became an important counterculture reference during Brazil’s two-decade military dictatorship, inspiring a record, tour and documentary.
In 2011, Costa was awarded a Latin Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.
She remained an active performer until nearly the end, having recently suspended shows to undergo a surgery on one of her nostrils. Her next concert had been scheduled for Dec. 17, in Sao Paulo.
Karol G‘s $Trip Love tour has grossed $69.9 million and sold 410,000 tickets across 32 shows in North America (through the end of October), according to numbers reported to Billboard Boxscore. With those figures, the Colombian star has now earned the highest U.S.-grossing tour by a female Latin act.
With $Trip Love, the “Provenza” singer surpasses Jennifer Lopez‘s $50 million grossing It’s My Party World Tour in 2019. Meanwhile, Shakira grossed $28.2 million in 2018 with her El Dorado World Tour. This year, Rosalía’s Motomami world tour has grossed $28.1 million through the end of October.
The AEG-produced $Trip Love stint, which kicked off Sept. 6 at Chicago’s Allstate Arena and wrapped up Oct. 29 at Vancouver’s Rogers Arena, followed Karol’s Bichota Tour in 2021 — her first-ever headlining trek in the U.S. — which grossed $13.4 million and sold 192,000 tickets across 26 shows in North America.
Compared to her last tour, this one boasted a larger production scale. There was a heart-shaped stage, jumbo screens with a heart border, and a floating turquoise Ferrari that, when she rode it to sing “El Makinon,” brought her closer to her fans. On stage, Karol was joined by eight female dancers, four male dancers, two exotic dancers and, of course, her all-girl band.
After wrapping up the tour in North America, Karol G took to social media to write: “Thank you God for the conviction you have given me. Thank you to all the people that worked with me day and night to make this dream possible and to the artists who shared the stage with me during the tour. You made the show shine even more with your presence. We enjoyed this tour like we were little kids, but worked like machines. This is for my home, Colombia.”
Karol G, who is dropping a new song on Sunday (Nov. 13), is currently working on her forthcoming album, which will follow her chart-topping, Grammy-nominated 2021 set KG0516. The album scored Karol her first-ever No. 1 album on Billboard‘s Top Latin Albums chart.
Karol G is also slated to headline the 16th annual Calibash, taking place Jan. 21-22 at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles. She joins a previously billed group of headliners that includes Ozuna, Myke Towers and Farruko.
After a three-year hiatus from releasing new music, Alex Anwandter has reemerged more built looking like a sex idol, and armed with an anthem for weekend reveries. “Maricoteca” is a risky wide-eyed NSFW statement, where spectators can see Anwandter fortifying his identity politics with a side of mischief — an alluring-yet-provocative queer artist with an unmatched talent for glimmering dance music. The single, however, is an excitingly pervasive dance cut that sinks into the sins of party culture and BDSM… and cautions, like the song affirms in Spanish, “Don’t look for your mother, nobody will save you here.”
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The video for “Maricoteca” was co-directed by himself and Josefina Alen and filmed in Buenos Aires. “I wrote ‘Maricoteca’ as an ode to losing yourself on the dancefloor, a place where you might find love, heartbreak, and the ‘perversion’ of society,” he explains in a statement. “‘Maricoteca’ is also the first song of a new album coming next year, which will explore dance culture and discothèques as the ultimate world where you can become who you really want to be.”
The Chilean multi-hyphenate artist broke into the spotlight at the start of the 2010s with the cult classic album Rebeldes, at a time when Chilean indie pop acts with a passion for electronic productions began to rise — the beloved Javiera Mena, Dënver, Adrianigual, and Astro. Anwandter has always displayed his insatiable knack for dancefloor music persuasions with a riveting queer perspective — look no further than his 2011 breakout single “Como puedes vivir contigo mismo,” which highlights New York ball culture à la Paris Is Burning, or to the iridescent synths and glowing production throughout his discography, including albums like Amiga (2016) and Latinoamericana (2018).
Recently, Anwandter teamed up with Argentina’s Juliana Gattas of electro-pop duo Miranda! fame as the producer for her upcoming debut solo album, due out next year. The dance electronic artist is also the beatmaker behind Mexico’s esteemed Julieta Venegas’ highly anticipated eighth studio album Tu Historia, out Friday, Nov. 11. Billboard caught up with the now Brooklyn-based provocateur to discuss his recent rendezvous.
Warning! NSFW. Press play with caution.
“Maricoteca” is your first single in three years — what did you do during that break?
The break had to do with the pandemic, obviously — but it wasn’t so much of a break because I was making this new album, and I’m going to start releasing singles; I was also producing two other albums, one for Julieta Venegas which comes out this Friday, and the debut album of Juliana Gattas of Miranda! which is coming out next year. So between these two albums, and my album, [it’s been] a lot.
Then “break” is the wrong word.
All good. The world stopped and I stopped doing shows too. For me it is very important to be with people physically. I didn’t feel like doing shows on Zoom either.
Well, thank you for having this Zoom call with me and talking about your single. It’s a dance track about wildly partying, and indulging in pleasures. What inspired it?
Part of it was moving to New York, which put me in more direct contact with a subculture in dance music that have always been interested in. I’ve made dance music before, but I found it stimulating to be here, and experiencing it as well.
You helped spearhead the Chilean indie-pop wave of the 2010s. Talk to me about that transition — from having participated in that movement in your native country to now mixing new sounds with New York influences.
It was a quite natural expansion actually. Being Chilean is not the only thing I am. I’m also Latino, and I’m part of the, quote unquote, queer community. Those identities are beginning to blur. For me it is a purpose to transcend identity politics in music. To be honest, I wanted to make a very entertaining record that was about having a good time, feeling pleasure — which is a pretty close thing to me — and in my case, in dance music. It’s a less cerebral and more corporeal record.
You bring to the forefront topics of identity that can feel profound because they are associated with a political movement. But at the same time the music is playful, and ready for the dance floor. How do you balance expressing your identity politics while making music to release?
That’s a good question. On the one hand, [it’s important for me] to make music that I find entertaining, music that really makes me dance and have a good time — and on the other hand, to be genuine, which I always tried to cultivate. Sincerity is very important in my art. And when you combine those two things, you can read an identity, but I’m not trying to sell it.
I find it a bit tiring that at this point in time identities have been commodified. This music has to do a little bit with getting away from discourses that don’t mean much anymore. It’s a little more abstract, but at the same time it’s much more entertaining, dark and mysterious.
Can you share some details about your upcoming album?
It’s an album that will explore dance music and dance culture as a place of expression and pleasure.
I heard you moved to Brooklyn — what brought you to New York?
I moved to the U.S. five years ago. I lived two years in L.A. and moved three years ago to New York. It’s very crazy here, but it’s very crazy everywhere. Life is very crazy. [Laughs.] Chile is far away, but it’s still intense. I think the world is an intense place, and you just have to get used to the idea. [New York] is very entertaining and I have met very special people. I really like being in a place where people from all over the world live. That’s very nice for me.
Julieta Venegas’ next album, which you produced, maintains her unmistakable style, but your essence and impulse is also noticeable.
The collaboration was a dream for me, in the sense that I have always admired Julieta very much. She is one of the most talented musicians we have had in Latin America. It was a dream in the sense that we had a great time. We have been friends for ten years. I feel that this took our friendship to a different artistic level.
It was a really beautiful experience. As a composer and producer, it was incredible to see someone of Julieta’s level working. When I was with her in the studio, I was thinking, “Wow, that’s why Julieta is doing amazingly well — because she’s a genius.” To see a genius working for me was very impressive. I had a great time.
The minimalist guitar on Venegas’ “La Nostalgia” is beautiful. Her love letter to Tijuana is very poetic, a reflection on her hometown. In your case, do you feel nostalgia for Chile?
I think I go there too much to feel nostalgic. I’m there all the time — I mean, not all the time, but I travel a lot to do shows. But I’m not a person who looks back, for now, maybe because I’ll feel nostalgic.
Aside from the crazy partying shown in the video for “Maricoteca,” it looks like you’ve been working out. Can you tell me a bit about your fitness routine?
Is this also going to be in GQ Magazine? I do normal types of exercise, but nothing crazy. I think the music video has that gymnasium imagery — a prison for physical standards and stuff like that. It’s a very gay world, and [the video is] about being a fan of that.
This interview was originally conducted in Spanish.