Latin
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Back in October 2019, Bad Bunny, already a huge star, posted a video of himself on Instagram, drinking tequila and singing along to a song in Spanish set to strumming guitars. It was “Soy el Diablo” by Natanael Cano, the then-18-year-old making waves in regional Mexican music with his corridos tumbados, a subgenre blending hip-hop swagger with traditional música mexicana instrumentation.
That Bad Bunny would gravitate toward the sound at first seemed counterintuitive: Reggaetón, built on beats, tracks and loops, ostensibly has little to do with regional Mexican music, which is created mostly with live instruments.
But upon further consideration, it made complete sense. Corridos tumbados, like Bad Bunny’s blend of trap and reggaetón, are as much about attitude and lifestyle as they are about music. Within weeks, a remix of “Soy el Diablo,” featuring Bad Bunny, hit No. 16 on Billboard’s Hot Latin Songs chart.
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The unlikely pairing at the time was revolutionary, and it set off a wave of collaborations between reggaetón and Mexican music acts that’s still going. Since “Soy el Diablo,” at least 14 songs that blend both genres have entered Hot Latin Songs — including Karol G and Peso Pluma’s “Qlona,” which shot to No. 1 in September 2023. And now, this year’s Rumbazo festival — taking place Sept. 13-14 in Las Vegas in partnership with Billboard — will reflect the kinship between the two genres; headliners Nicky Jam and Luis R Conriquez released a single together, “Como el Viento,” in 2023.
For Jimmy Humilde, the founder and CEO of powerhouse indie label Rancho Humilde (home to Cano and Fuerza Regida, among other Mexican music artists), Mexican and urban music are like brothers from another mother, and the new wave of Mexican music, much of it spawned on the West Coast, is inextricably linked to hip-hop and, by extension, to reggaetón.
“Hip-hop was my heart,” Humilde told Billboard last year of his upbringing, like that of many of his artists, in Los Angeles. “I was a huge fan of old-school hip-hop.” But Humilde was also a huge fan of bad boy Mexican corridos sung by the likes of Chalino Sánchez. Early in his career, when he started working with corridos singer Jessie Morales (also raised in L.A.), he had a simple yet brilliant idea: Instead of donning the traditional garb of boots and cowboy hat, “I told him, ‘Bro, why don’t you dress hip-hop, how you really dress? You don’t have to come out with a hat or a suit.’ ”
The notion of inserting hip-hop style into Mexican music slowly but surely became the norm for a new generation of artists that now includes Cano, Fuerza Regida, Junior H, Peso Pluma, Eslabon Armado and Yahritza y Su Esencia, who all dress more like rappers than singers of traditional Mexican music.
Actual cross-genre collaborations, however, only began in earnest after the Bad Bunny-Cano remix. In 2020, they went even further when Snoop Dogg (another Angeleno and a longtime fan of banda music) recorded “Que Maldición” with Banda MS (which went to No. 4 on Hot Latin Songs) and later joined the group onstage in L.A.
Then, in 2021, Colombian superstar Karol G released “200 Copas,” a veritable ranchera ballad. Colombians in general (and Medellín natives like Karol, in particular) have long been die-hard fans of ranchera and mariachi music — and later that year, Karol’s fellow paisa and reggaetón star Maluma also recorded a ranchera: “Cada Quien,” with Grupo Firme, which became his first No. 1 on the Regional Mexican Airplay chart.
“Being on a Mexican chart in the U.S., well, that’s a big deal,” Maluma told Billboard at the time. “I always dreamt of that. When I travel to Mexico, it’s like being at home. I feel part of it, and I am very grateful to Grupo Firme for making this possible.”
The growing list of urban/Mexican collaborations also includes the cover stars of this issue of Billboard. And while Nicky Jam and Conriquez’s “Como el Viento” didn’t chart, for Conriquez, it’s a sign of the future.
“If we’re intelligent about it, there will be more songs like this, because it’s an opportunity to bring the two genres together and for one to get into the other’s world,” says Conriquez, who has also already recorded with reggaetonero Ryan Castro. “I always thought reggaetón was global. But now, regional Mexican is global too.”
Billboard Latin Music Week is returning to Miami Beach on Oct. 14-18, with confirmed superstars including Gloria Estefan, Alejandro Sanz and Peso Pluma, among many others. For tickets and more details, visit Billboardlatinmusicweek.com.
As the California sunset paints the sky bright orange on a scorching August day, a caravan of luxury SUVs makes its way across the dirt roads outside Los Angeles that lead to Pico Rivera Sports Arena. When they arrive, the door of one pristine white Mercedes-Benz G-Class opens and 28-year-old Luis R Conriquez emerges. Clad in black jeans; a white, black and yellow-patterned button-down shirt; black boots; and a suede tejana adorned with feathers, he fits right in with the Instagram-ready aesthetic of the largely millennial crowd gathered here. The heavy silver chain resting on his chest is the only obvious signifier that Conriquez isn’t just another attendee of the inaugural Belicolandia: The singer-songwriter is one of today’s biggest corridos bélicos stars, and the thousands assembled here will soon see him close out the festival-like event produced by his label, Kartel Music.
As Conriquez makes his way to his trailer just behind the stage, an intimidating security detail follows — but the musician himself offers friendly smiles to everyone he encounters. Once settled inside the trailer, where he’ll spend the next hour or so, Conriquez really lets down his guard, cracking jokes with good friend Tony Aguirre about how early his fellow corridos singer (another Kartel signee) had performed that day. “That’s how we get along; it’s all jokes,” Conriquez says. “We like to have a good time.” The trailer becomes a revolving door as emerging and established regional Mexican artists alike pop in and out to say hello and snap a quick photo with, as Conriquez’s fans anointed him early in his career, the King of Corridos Bélicos. The moniker isn’t an overstatement: Since debuting in 2019, Conriquez has pioneered the Mexican subgenre that has gone global in the past couple of years thanks to him and peers like Peso Pluma.
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It’s been two years since Conriquez last performed at Pico Rivera, the ranch-like, 6,000-capacity multipurpose venue just 15 miles west of L.A. that has catered for decades to música mexicana fans. But even in that short time, much has changed for the Sonora, Mexico-born artist — who catapulted to stardom with his breakthrough hit, “El Buho” — as regional Mexican music has become the largest Latin subgenre in the United States, according to Luminate. Conriquez, who the then-new Kartel signed in 2019 at an audition in Mexicali, Baja California, is known for his corridos bélicos — a term he says he coined himself to describe the subgenre’s sound (not its lyrics, which often name-check Mexican drug kingpins or cartel figures, but are “less violent” than other corridos, Conriquez points out). “ ‘Bélico’ means that something has a lot of presence, and this music stands out thanks to instruments like the tololoche and charchetas,” he explains. “Now, it’s joined forces with corridos tumbados [which fuse the bélicos sound with trap and hip-hop], and that has made this movement even stronger.”
Conriquez, whose raw vocals and in-your-face delivery often sound closer to rapping than singing, has become a go-to collaborator for both regional Mexican acts and other Latin artists, including Nicky Jam, Ryan Castro and Peso Pluma, while dominating the Billboard charts. With 1.42 billion on-demand official streams in the United States, according to Luminate, he has 20 tracks on the Hot Latin Songs chart, and most recently scored his first Hot 100 entry with “Si No Quieres No,” a collaboration with up-and-comer Neton Vega. His Corridos Bélicos, Vol. IV, released in January, earned him his first entry and top 10 on any albums chart, debuting at No. 5 on Top Latin Albums and No. 3 on Regional Mexican Albums. It also became Conriquez’s Billboard 200 entrée with a No. 36 debut.
“That album is like The Last Supper,” he says, beaming with pride. Hyperbolic, but only a little: The set is packed with Mexican music heavy-hitters, bringing together two generations of corridos singers, from Gerardo Ortiz to Tito Double P (Peso Pluma’s cousin and go-to songwriter). “Everyone on that album is my friend,” Conriquez says confidently. “I had been planning this for a year because I wanted to bring artists from the past and current ones. Most of them I invited personally, others called me and asked to be a part of it. If I see you have talent and are a good person, I’ll give you a hand. I do it from my heart. It’s how I’ve always been.”
Martha Galvan
His journey to música mexicana’s top tier didn’t happen overnight. When Conriquez decided in his early 20s that he wanted to be a singer, he had no clue how to make that happen, since he didn’t come from a family of musicians or have a formal music education. But he let nothing stand in his way — not even the naysayers who told him he had no future in music. “I became my biggest fan,” he says. “I come from a family that knows how to have a good time. My mom and dad were always playing music. I grew up listening to corridos and reggaetón. I remember I’d put on my headphones when I was going to sleep and when I woke up, music was still playing in my ears,” he adds with a big smile.
Conriquez began writing corridos around 2017, given the subgenre’s popularity in Sonora, and offered one of his early compositions to a neighborhood camarada (friend) to sing. “Then I was like, ‘Wait, let me try singing it,’ ” he recalls. “I got excited about myself; I knew there was something there, so I kept writing.”
He recorded his first corridos with his guitarist friend Daniel “El Bocho” Ruiz (now a key member of Conriquez’s band), but he wasn’t sure where to go from there — until he came across the YouTube channel of a teen who uploaded videos by other artists. “I contacted him and he uploaded my music, and then people started asking who was singing,” Conriquez says. “It was working.”
Soon after, he started getting DMs on Instagram from an unlikely group of fans. “Some construction workers in the United States wrote me asking if I would write corridos for them,” he says. An unusual request, maybe, but not one Conriquez questioned; after all, it was a source of income. “I asked them to send me a short summary describing themselves so I could get inspired,” he continues. “I’d write, record and send it to them.” Initially, he charged $150 per corrido, but as demand grew, he tripled his fee. “I was my own manager at the time, my own distributor, collecting my own money,” he explains. “I did everything on my own for almost two years. Until I met Freddy and Leo from Kartel Music.”
Alfredo “Freddy” Becerra and Leonardo Soto have known each other since childhood. Both grew up in a trailer park in Santa Maria, an agricultural hub in California’s Central Coast region, and their parents worked picking strawberries. “We became friends because we both had the same mission,” Soto says. “It was the mentality of ‘What are we going to do for our families?’ ”
A few years before they launched Kartel Music, Becerra and Soto started Los Compas, a labor contracting company for agriculture work. But the budding entrepreneurs were looking to venture into other businesses, and they had always shared a love of music. They wanted to be part of the industry, despite not even knowing how it worked. “We weren’t looking to start a label,” Becerra says. “We wanted to be promoters because we felt that the labor contracting company gave us enough experience to try that out first.” But their first event, in 2019, was a total flop, he confesses. They had hired a few local bands for a show in Tijuana, and Becerra explains how they had a stage, tables, chairs, cold beer — almost everything. “The fans were missing,” he says. “No one showed up. We went back home feeling sad, and we said we’d never try this again unless we could handle every single detail, including having artists of our own.”
Luis R Conriquez photographed August 12, 2024 in Riverside, Calif.
Martha Galvan
So, afterward, Becerra and Soto asked the bands they knew to spread the word: They were holding auditions in Mexicali to find the first act for their just-founded label, Kartel Music — rather unconventional but fitting for their atypical approach to the industry. About 12 groups and soloists showed up — including Conriquez, who was then working at a Sonora gas station while writing and singing corridos on the side and had heard about the audition from a friend. “He was so confident onstage,” Soto remembers. He was also the only auditionee who performed originals — his bélico-flavored corridos. “Once he finished performing, we told him he had done a good job and that was pretty much it,” Soto adds. There wasn’t a formal pitch, he says, but both parties wanted to work with each other. Instead of signing a contract, they made a verbal pact to grow together.
Conriquez knew he’d stood out from the crowd. “Freddy and Leo were just starting but so was I,” he says. “It was all about trusting each other. They needed someone to help them grow and I knew I could help them. I would take care of the music; I understood how the business worked because I had been doing this for some time now. I just needed someone to support me.” His first ask of the duo: to buy him new clothes so he could record official videos.
“We took him a bunch of clothes that we bought at Ross [Dress for Less],” Soto says with a chuckle. “You’d be surprised how much we’ve evolved with him. We would go to Ross and Marshalls and show up with a stack of clothes and he’d get so excited because he didn’t have anything. He appreciated it.” Just a few weeks after the audition, they convened in Puerto Peñasco, Mexico, to shoot their first music video — and Becerra and Soto also brought a contract for Conriquez to sign. “But he didn’t even want to see it,” Soto says. “He just said, ‘I’m with you guys.’ ” (Conriquez eventually signed a contract and then some: Today, he’s also co-CEO of Kartel alongside Becerra and Soto; the label now has six other artists on its roster.)
Though Los Compas had no direct connection to the music business, it had been an essential precursor to Kartel. “The story really starts with Los Compas because that provided the money for us to do all of this,” Becerra says, explaining how he and Soto were able to buy Conriquez new instruments and rent studios for him to record in. “Without that first business we wouldn’t have been able to do this. [The money] we made in the labor contracting business would go toward Luis. We didn’t even enjoy ourselves — we put it all toward Kartel.”
During the pandemic, Conriquez and Kartel doubled down on releasing new songs, knowing people were stuck at home and listening to music. “The strategy we implemented of releasing new music constantly, like every week, is what helped him grow in numbers,” Soto says. “The consistency plays a big part. Luis has released a song every Friday since we began working together. For his birthday month, we took a song out every single day. It seems crazy but it’s worked for us.”
Martha Galvan
In 2019, the same year Kartel officially launched, Raymond Tapia, vp of A&R, Latin at Downtown Artist and Label Services, called Soto and Becerra. “I remember hearing [Conriquez’s] song ‘El Buho’ and I was like, ‘Who is this?’ I looked at the song credits and it was Kartel Music. I had never heard of them,” Tapia says. “They had a phone number on their Instagram page so I just cold-called them, and Leo picked up and I told him that I was interested in distributing their music worldwide. That led to a very long work relationship.”
While Downtown doesn’t exclusively distribute Conriquez’s music — Kartel prefers to work with multiple distributors so it can build relationships — the company did distribute Conriquez’s Corridos Bélicos, Vol. IV, his biggest album to date.
“Luis is in a unique space because he came just before the big boom,” Tapia says. “He’s in between two spaces, where he’s not part of the new wave and caters to an older crowd but also brings in the young listeners because of all the collabs he’s done with Eslabon Armado, Junior H and Peso Pluma.”
“I think we both share the thought that collaborating together helps take our music and Mexican culture even further,” Peso says of Conriquez. “[Him] setting that standard from the beginning helped raise our flag to where it is now and will continue to help us grow even more.”
After a streaming boost from “El Buho” and his second big hit, “Me Metí en el Ruedo,” Conriquez began performing small shows in Tijuana, Mexicali and other Mexican cities. Today, he’s selling out back-to-back dates at venues like Guadalajara’s Auditorio Telmex, which holds more than 11,000 people. His touring career stateside and abroad has also taken off. Later this year, he’ll perform at venues including Chicago’s 18,000-capacity Allstate Arena, and he’s set to take his Trakas World Tour to Colombia in November.
One day, he hopes to perform in Spain and Canada. “I don’t see this as a challenge anymore — it’s more like a goal,” he says, nodding to Mexican music’s new global appeal. While changing trends, emerging subgenres and a new generation of hit-makers have rocked música mexicana these past few years, Conriquez is confident he’ll maintain his relevancy. “You have to innovate and, at the same time, not lose your essence, but you do have to jump on the train. It’s why I’m still here.” A corridos singer through and through, last year he dabbled in reggaetón and dembow, proving his versatility. “If I knew how to speak English, I’d be singing in English too,” he jokes but then quickly adds in a more serious tone, “I wanted to record in those styles because I’m a fan. It’s something that feels natural because I grew up listening to that, too. It’s always about adapting because you just never know in music — one day you’re here and the next day you’re not.”
The video for Conriquez and Peso Pluma’s 2022 collaboration “Siempre Pendientes” has more than 40 million YouTube views. In it, the two carry semiautomatic rifles as they tell the story of a soldier who works for Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzmán, founder of the Sinaloa drug cartel. But shortly after its release, the video’s future on YouTube — along with Kartel Music’s entire channel — hung in the balance. As “Siempre Pendientes” began gaining momentum, the clip and Kartel’s channel disappeared from the platform.
“Everything about corridos was stricter then — it was more censored [on digital service providers],” Conriquez says, still visibly shaken by the incident. “And it also happened at a time [when] I was really growing. It’s something that really lowers your morale; it’s like you have everything, but then they try to slow you down. It was frustrating.” (YouTube did not respond to a request for comment by publication time.)
After a few emails to YouTube, Kartel Music was able to get the video and its channel back on the platform. But Conriquez isn’t the first artist — and probably won’t be the last — to face censorship for singing these kinds of songs. Long considered controversial, corridos have been banned from public performance in some Mexican states as cartel violence in the country continues to spiral.
“This censorship has followed regional Mexican music for many years but in reality, it reflects what happens every day in our environment,” says Rafael Valle, programming director of Guadalajara radio station La Ke Buena. “If the song says some word that is not allowed on the radio, obviously we modify the song, but we don’t censor it because that would mean not playing songs that people are constantly requesting. It’s important to note that we’ve also modified Bad Bunny songs because of explicit lyrics. So, it’s not exclusive to regional, but it’s the genre that has been mainly impacted by this stigma.”
Luis R Conriquez photographed August 12, 2024 in Riverside, Calif.
Martha Galvan
At his Pico Rivera show, Conriquez’s provocative corridos bélicos are what really get the crowd going — although his dembow and reggaetón tracks also had his fans perreando (twerking). “My show is like a roller coaster of emotions,” he says. “First you start with corridos and you get all riled up, then a romantic one that makes you fall in love, then a heartbreak one to make you remember your ex and then a dembow to get you dancing. I give the people what they want.”
He plans to keep doing just that — while also inspiring a new generation of regional Mexican singers and songwriters. “I tell the artists we’ve signed to Kartel to not be lazy, to release music constantly and to collaborate because it’ll give value to what they’re doing. I tell them because I care and I want them to grow,” Conriquez says. “The truth is that life has been very good to me. Everything I have wanted I have had through hard work, and I can’t slow down now.”
Billboard Latin Music Week is returning to Miami Beach on Oct. 14-18, with confirmed superstars including Gloria Estefan, Alejandro Sanz and Peso Pluma, among many others. For tickets and more details, visit Billboardlatinmusicweek.com.
As the California sunset paints the sky bright orange on a scorching August day, a caravan of luxury SUVs makes its way across the dirt roads outside Los Angeles that lead to Pico Rivera Sports Arena. When they arrive, the door of one pristine white Mercedes-Benz G-Class opens and 28-year-old Luis R Conriquez emerges. Clad in […]
It’s Valentino Merlo and The La Planta’s winning week on the Billboard Argentina Hot 100 chart as the Argentianians first team-up “Hoy” dominates for an 11th consecutive week (list dated Sept. 14).
With the new week at No. 1, “Hoy” breaks away from a tie with “Una Foto (Remix)” by the all-star team comprising Mesita, Nicki Nicole, Tiago PZK, and Emilia, for the longest-leading song in 2024. Plus, it becomes the seventh-longest run at No. 1 on the almost six-year chart.
Here’s the recap of those longest-leading songs on Billboard Argentina Hot 100 dating back to its 2018 launch:
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Peak Date, Song, Artist, Weeks at No. 1Jan. 11, 2020, “Tusa,” Karol G & Nicki Minaj, 25July 31, 2021, “Entre Nosotros,” Tiago PZK, LIT killa, Nicki Nicole & Maria Becerra, 16Sept. 10, 2022, “La Bachata,” Manuel Turizo, 15May 25, 2019, “Otro Trago,” Sech, Darell, Nicky Jam, Ozuna & Anuel AA, 13Aug. 29, 2020, “Hawai,” Maluma & The Weeknd, 12Jan. 12, 2019, “Calma (Alicia Remix),” Pedro Capo & Farruko, 12July 6, “Hoy,” Valentino Merlo & The La Planta, 10
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Luck Ra and Nicki Nicole add a new top 10 to their chart career with “Doctor,” which arrives at No. 8 as the week’s Hot Shot Debut. While Luck Ra scores his seventh top 10, Nicki Nicole banks her 11th, tying with Karol G for the fourth-most among women. With 11 top 10s each, both trail Maria Becerra, who continues to lead with 28 top 10s, and Emilia and Tini, both with 18 top 10s.
Luck Ra also crosses off a new achievement, as “Hola Perdida (Remix)” with Khea, takes home the Greatest Gainer award, as the song flies from No. 92 to No.19.
Spanish artist Ana Mena earns her first entry with the Emilia collab, “Carita Triste” at No. 26. Meanwhile, Maisak’s “Se Me Olvida,” featuring Feid, debuts at No.45.
Below the top 50, seven other songs make its first chart appearance, starting with Salastkbron and Omar Varela’s “Dímelo Mami” at No. 56.
Elsewhere, Vilma Palma makes its maiden debut thanks to “Auto Rojo,” with Marama, at No. 75. Omar Courtz, De La Rose and Haze follow with “Kyoto” at No. 77, Q’ Lokura and La K’onga’s “La Última Granada” at No. 85, Lisas’ “New Woman,” featuring Rosalia, at No. 88, Ciro’s “Me Gusta” at No. 89, FloyyMenor’s “Tu Ta Rika” at No. 90, while Lira Música and Kingto’s “El Pronóstico” at No. 94.
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Tejano hitmakers Grupo Frontera are giving fans an exclusive look at what a typical day on tour looks like, and how they spend the last few hours leading up to the show.
Hailing from the border city of Edinburg, Texas, the six-piece band is currently halfway through its 38-date Jugando A Que No Pasa Nada Tour in support of their 2024 album of the same name, across the United States, Mexico and Canada.
During a recent stop at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn on Aug. 29, the group invited Billboard backstage to share insights into the dynamics of their tour and the deep connection they forge with audiences, particularly the Mexican community.
“Seeing the Mexican flag in an arena like this honestly makes me feel like I’m at home,” shared one concertgoer. Another fan highlighted the unifying power of their music, noting, “I think it’s a very beautiful thing that Mexican music is bringing a lot of people together, people that do not understand Spanish, or speak the language, but they are still here — and they’re listening to our music.” The event also attracted Dominican and Puerto Rican fans, many of whom were introduced to Grupo Frontera through their collaborations with artists like Bad Bunny and Arcángel.
“Meeting a bunch of Mexicans over here in New York, Chicago, Washington or wherever it is that we’re gonna play, I feel like there’s just that connection. O sea, la raza [the Mexican race],” frontman Adelaido “Payo” Solís told Billboard.
“But what’s even more crazy is that everywhere we go — literally every single place that we play — people tell us, ‘Oh, I’m from The Valley too.’ Which is from where we’re from! That’s crazy, because I’m like, ‘What are you doing over here, bro?’ Like, you’re far as hell from home!” he continued, also noting the universal appeal of Mexican music, which unites people regardless of language.
Billboard‘s Tour Stop with Grupo Frontera also captured the band unwinding with a game of basketball and discussed their personal favorites, from Frontera songs to food. They expressed gratitude to their fans, including a touching shoutout to a blind girl who writes them letters in Braille.
Above, watch Grupo Frontera’s behind-the-scenes video of their tour stop in Brooklyn, New York.
Peso Pluma is bringing his hits (and new haircut) to fans across the country as part of his ÉXODO TOUR sponsored by Corona — and Billboard took to one of his recent shows to speak to some of his biggest fans. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news […]
When Alejandro Fernández takes the stage Sept. 14-15 at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand Garden Arena, it will mark his record 22nd year performing at one of the hottest music events in Sin City. But the event he has been playing for more than two decades isn’t a recurring casino or club residency — it’s Fiestas Patrias, the ever-growing weekend of programming celebrating El Grito de Dolores (when Father Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla’s call to arms ignited the Mexican War of Independence in 1810) and Mexican Independence Day, which are officially celebrated Sept. 15 and 16, respectively.
“Twenty-four years ago, I began what has become a tradition of celebrating Fiestas Patrias with the Latino community in Las Vegas,” the Mexican superstar tells Billboard. “I am proud to say it is now the biggest Mexican Independence Day celebration outside of Mexico and one of the most important single days of live Mexican music anywhere in the world.”
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Fiestas Patrias are celebrated throughout the United States and Mexico in big and small ways — but Las Vegas’ version has become the single biggest Fiestas Patrias weekend for live Mexican music anywhere, with thousands of visitors from around the globe, though mainly from Mexico. The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority calls it “one of the largest sources of international visitation” for the city.
This year’s bookings include returning acts, such as Luis Miguel, Los Bukis (who currently have a residency at Dolby Live), Gloria Trevi, Banda MS, Grupo Firme and Emmanuel, and newcomers like Peso Pluma, Fuerza Regida, Ana Bárbara and Carín León, performing at venues throughout the city. And as in previous years, not all of them are Mexican: Urbano stars Nicky Jam and Arcángel, for example, will join Luis R Conriquez and Codiciado at the third annual Rumbazo festival, taking place at the Downtown Las Vegas Events Center Sept. 13-14 in partnership with Billboard.
But despite what it has become today, Las Vegas’ Fiestas Patrias origins weren’t particularly musical.
“In reality, it wasn’t born as a musical event but as a sporting event, when those big fights began, the great Mexican boxers,” says veteran tour promoter Henry Cárdenas, referring to the September 1992 match where Mexican Julio César Chávez famously beat Puerto Rican Héctor “Macho” Camacho for the WBC super lightweight belt. “Then they brought [musical] talent to join the party.”
This year, the boxing tradition continues with Mexican legend Canelo Álvarez putting his super middleweight titles on the line as he takes on Puerto Rican Edward Berlanga at the T-Mobile Arena on Sept. 14. But today music, not sports, is the driving force behind Las Vegas’ Fiestas Patrias celebration.
WBC Super Lightweight Champion Julio César Chávez (R) lands a right on challenger Héctor “Macho” Camacho in the first round of their September 12, 1992, fight in Las Vegas, NV.
CARLOS SCHIEBECK/AFP/Getty Images
For Luis Medina, executive producer/CEO of Uno Productions and a former manager of Julio Iglesias, the city’s Fiestas Patrias tradition dates back even further, to the late ’80s, when the Spanish star began coming to Vegas twice a year to perform a series of shows at Caesars Palace.
“Julio was perhaps primarily the one who opened Las Vegas to Latinos,” Medina says. “Then came [Mexicans] José José, Juan Gabriel, Vicente Fernández, those classics. And that process began.”
Little by little, he recalls, Las Vegas became a Latin artistic hotspot — and the city’s hospitality industry took note. “Many hotels were surprised that they were being left behind because all these movements were happening, and they were still studying us with a magnifying glass,” Medina says. “They thought it was only with Luis Miguel or Julio Iglesias or Vicente Fernández” that audiences would show up.
Eventually, the demand led not only the biggest hotels to book Mexican and Latin talent but also smaller venues and nightclubs. “This effervescence was created as a result of all these processes, and Las Vegas began to grow,” Medina says. “Today, the millions of dollars that drive our business is impressive and allows Las Vegas to live off the Latin market in the month of September.”
Hundreds of thousands of Mexicans travel from south of the border to celebrate their independence in Vegas; even a decade ago, more than 300,000 Mexicans came by air alone for the 2013 festivities, according to a Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority report. And, Cárdenas adds, most of them have good purchasing power. “When you are coming to Las Vegas to celebrate from Mexico, there are other additional costs — the hotel, the tickets, the food, the good life, the partying. And that patron has distinguished himself because he is high class, and he comes prepared to celebrate … and attend at least three or four events that weekend,” he says.
“The people, culture and traditions of Mexico have made a significant impact on the city both on and off the Strip,” says Molly Castano, Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority president of public relations and communications, adding that “the celebrations that take place in honor of Fiestas Patrias are proof of that impact and connection.”
As for Alejandro Fernández, his Fiestas Patrias Vegas bookings have only grown: In 2022, his show went from one to two sold-out nights at the 17,000-capacity MGM Grand Garden Arena.
“He was the first artist that we worked with that wanted to create his special weekend in Las Vegas, and there’s nothing more mexicano than La Familia Fernández,” says Emily Simonitsch, senior vp of West Coast booking at Live Nation. “I think it’s impactful because he does the traditional celebration halfway through the show, celebrating the tradition of El Grito and Independencia with the flag and the bells and the dancers. So that’s what created it. That’s what El Grito is about.”
“This is a demonstration of the cultural influence and economic power of the Latino community in the U.S.,” Fernández adds. “I look forward to continuing the tradition for many years to come, representing my pride and love for Mexico, our people and our music.”
This story appears in Billboard‘s Rumbazo special issue, dated Sept. 14, 2024.
A musical based on the play by Josefina López and HBO’s movie adaptation Real Women Have Curves will debut on Broadway in 2025.
Featuring music and lyrics written by Grammy Award-winning artist Joy Huerta of the Mexican pop duo Jesse & Joy, producers Barry Weissler, Fran Weissler, and Jack Noseworthy announced on Thursday (Sep. 12) that Real Women Have Curves: The Musical will also feature music by composer and lyricist Benjamin Velez, a book by Lisa Loomer, additional material by Nell Benjamin, music supervision by Nadia DiGiallonardo, and direction & choreography by Tony and Olivier Award winner Sergio Trujillo.
“I am thrilled to be a part of bringing Real Women Have Curves: The Musical to Broadway,” said Huerta in a press release. “Songwriting for theater is a new undertaking for me, and it’s been a thrill to collaborate with Sergio, Bejamin, Lisa, Nell, and the rest of this extremely talented team. Ana’s story is such a powerful and universal one that already holds so much cultural relevance, and we look forward to bringing it to new audiences in this musical format.”
The show will arrive on Broadway following its 2023 world premiere at American Repertory Theater (A.R.T) at Harvard University. Dates, cast and additional creative team will be announced at a later date.
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Set in East L.A. in 1987, Real Women Have Curves follows 18-year-old Ana García, a daughter of immigrants parents who struggles between her ambitions of going to college and the desires of her mother for her to get married, have children, and oversee the small, rundown family-owned textile factory. The 2002 movie, directed by Patricia Cardoso, put a young America Ferrera on the map with a stellar performance that garnered her a best debut performance nomination for the Independent Spirit Awards and a special jury prize for acting at the Sundance Film Festival.
Fans can get an exclusive first look at the show on Sunday, September 15 with a special live performance of the musical’s title track “Real Women Have Curves” by Florencia Cuenca Jennifer Sanchez, Elisa Galindez, and Aline Mayagoitia. The time and location will be announced on the show’s social media accounts.
In April, “Gata Only,” a sly reggaetón number about flirting online, gave Chilean newcomers FloyyMenor and Cris MJ their first No. 1 on a Billboard chart. It dominated Hot Latin Songs for 14 consecutive weeks — but even beyond that impressive achievement, “Gata Only” was historic. The last time a Chilean artist had hit No. 1 on the chart was in 1991, when singer-songwriter Myriam Hernández’s “Te Pareces Tanto a Él” ruled for four weeks.
“Gata Only” also entered the Billboard Hot 100, Latin Airplay and both Billboard Global charts — and, in the process, put Chile’s thriving urban movement on the map. “The song touched different angles,” says Adrian Mainou, artist marketing manager of Latin/U.S. at UnitedMasters, which released the song. “It had a very cool impact on the culture, where the lyrics talk about something that’s relatable to the younger generation, and it was catchy on TikTok. For us on the marketing side, it was about taking the record outside of Chile.”
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Taking advantage of the song’s organic local growth, Mainou began working with a Chilean press team and engaging influencers in countries such as Argentina, Ecuador and Mexico to use the song in lip-syncing and dance challenges on TikTok. It worked: “Gata Only” has been used in over 4 million videos on the platform, and that spurred superstars Ozuna and Anitta to jump on a remix. “Chile felt proud,” Mainou says. “It translated from just being a big song to a cultural representation.”
In the ’90s and early ’00s, Chile’s music scene leaned more alternative, as artists like Mon Laferte, La Ley, Álex Anwandter and rapper Ana Tijoux all had presences on the Billboard charts. Then, in 2004, Puerto Rico’s booming reggaetón scene infiltrated the South American country — but although local artists began to create their own reggaetón music, it took more than a decade for Chile’s urban movement to really gain momentum.
“Everything changed in 2019,” explains Josue Ibañez, who with his brother Oscar is co-CEO of Chile-based label Wild Company. (Both are also A&R executives with Rimas Publishing.) “There are various artists who made the change, like Marcianeke, who made Chilean music start to be heard in clubs, but in a massive way. He got Chileans to start dancing to the music of their own artists, because previously we consumed a lot of music from outside like Puerto Rico and Colombia.”
Oscar Ibañez (who is also a producer under the name David Wild) adds, “If you ask any Chilean artist, they will tell you that our Daddy Yankee, our OG, is Pablo Chill-E. At the same time, we had Paloma Mami, and we started to take big steps outward. That was when the big record labels started to want to invest in Chile.”
Pablo and Paloma both entered the Billboard charts, the former on Hot Latin Songs with 2020’s Bad Bunny and Duki collaboration, “Hablamos Mañana,” the latter on Top Latin Albums with Sueños de Dalí and on Latin Pop Airplay with the Ricky Martin-assisted “Que Rico Fuera,” both released in 2021.
Since, Chilean reggaetón tracks have increasingly appeared on the charts, including Cris MJ’s “Una Noche en Medellín” (2022), Polimá Westcoast & Pailita’s “Ultra Solo” (2022) and Jere Klein’s “Ando” (2024).
“I feel like we created our own sound,” Oscar Ibañez says. “We gave our own reggaetón an identity that we didn’t have before. What we did at first was replicate a sound that was playing elsewhere; it was very neutral. Our ‘Chilenismo’ wasn’t applied to it. We gave reggaetón music a more Chilean twist with our idioms, our phrases, and it often happens that almost nobody understands what we say, but that same cadence became the DNA of Chilean music. Just by the accent, you know when it’s a Chilean artist.”
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And even as the movement has grown beyond Chile, it has done so in large part because of the faithful and loyal audience for its music within the country itself. “The key to Chile today is self-consumption,” Josue Ibañez explains. “We have a lot of fans. I think it was the fandom that made us get onstage and out into the world. That has been the most beautiful thing of all, that our culture through music has been able to expand internationally.”
“It used to be very difficult for that to happen,” Cris MJ says. “So now the fact that Chileans themselves are supporting us is good for the movement. They trust us, the talent. It was hard, but it was achieved. Personally, I’m dedicating myself to creating music that can be heard outside of Chile.”
Now, with the global success of “Gata Only,” Chile is on the wider music industry’s radar. Earlier this year, Rimas Publishing expanded its services to the country, where through a strategic agreement with Wild Company it will provide A&R services, artist development, musical composition creation and more.
“Chile is a market that has impressed us a lot. The growth has been exponential,” Rimas Publishing managing director Emilio Morales says. “It is a phenomenon like what’s happening in Brazil, where they are very proud of their national artists. In Chile, the support for their artists has a lot to do with education and culture. It’s a market where numbers and consumption are very significant.”
“One of our dreams is for Chile to become a musical powerhouse,” Oscar Ibañez says. “We want to educate the industry in Chile so that music is a blessing and not a problem. I believe in giving Chilean culture a healthy and educated music industry.”
Chile’s New Urban Leaders
Meet some of the artists driving the country’s burgeoning music movement.
Clockwise from left: Jere Klein, Pablo Chill-E, Marcianeke, Polimá Westcoast
Illustration by Israel G. Vargas
Cris MJ and FloyyMenor
Though both started as solo acts, Cris MJ and FloyyMenor achieved their greatest chart success thus far collaborating on “Gata Only,” which reached No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot Latin Songs chart, spending 14 consecutive weeks there.
Jere Klein
Known for his distinct, high-pitched voice, Klein made his first Billboard chart appearance in January with “Ando” on the Billboard Global 200 and Billboard Global Excl. U.S. lists; his second entry came on Global Excl. U.S. in February, “Princesita De…” with Chilean acts Nickoog CLK, Lucky Brown and El Bai.
Pablo Chill-E
Another Chilean urban pioneer, the trap artist born Pablo Acevedo has his own label, Shishigang Records. In March 2020, he secured his first entry on Hot Latin Songs, joining Bad Bunny and Duki on “Hablamos Mañana,” which debuted and peaked at No. 22.
Marcianeke
Though he doesn’t have a U.S. chart history, the trap and reggaetón artist revolutionized the urban movement in Chile. Known for his raspy vocals, he was the first Chilean urban act to perform at local nightclubs back in 2019 — which encouraged the country’s listeners to begin embracing their own urban artists.
Polimá Westcoast
The artist with a trap-meets-rock-star attitude got to No. 9 on the Billboard Global Excl. U.S. chart in 2022 with “Ultra Solo” featuring Chilean act Pailita; that same year, Feid, De la Ghetto and Paloma Mami jumped on the remix. He’s now collaborated with J Balvin and Quevedo and in 2023 signed a global deal with Sony Music U.S. Latin.
This story appears in Billboard‘s Rumbazo special issue, dated Sept. 14, 2024.
Billboard Latin Music Week is returning to Miami Beach on Oct. 14-18, with confirmed superstars including Gloria Estefan, Alejandro Sanz and Peso Pluma, among many others. For tickets and more details, visit Billboardlatinmusicweek.com.
Over his nearly 20-year career, Arcángel has become one of reggaetón’s most influential and enduring artists, landing 10 No. 1s on the Billboard charts and collaborating with superstars like Daddy Yankee, Romeo Santos and Bad Bunny. So it came as something of a shock when, in an interview with the famed Puerto Rican radio host Molusco late last year, he called the genre “musically poor.”
“If we compare it to any other genre, it’s much more complex to make another genre than to make reggaetón,” Arcángel tells Billboard today, explaining his controversial comments. “We don’t need a real instrument. It’s not the same where musicians are needed and you must know how to write real music. I am not criticizing it; I am just telling you the truth.”
But as he looks forward to a year packed with potential new projects — a new album, a book and a docuseries are all on the table — he readily admits that it’s reggaetón, uniquely, that got him here: “This genre has made me rich. I don’t think that another genre would have given me everything that I have today.”
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Growing up, the artist born Austin Agustín Santos lived in New York with his father and Puerto Rico with his mother, Carmen Rosa Santos, who was once a member of the all-girl merengue group Las Chicas del Can. Music surrounded him, including the emerging reggaetón scene of the ’90s, even if he says that the burgeoning genre wasn’t his favorite — at least, until one CD changed his mind.
“When I was still in school, they gave me a CD called Planet Reggae, and when I heard Tego Calderón, I fell in love with urban music from Puerto Rico,” the 38-year-old says. “That’s when I thought, ‘Wow, I like this. I respect this. This is the future,’ and it motivated me to move to Puerto Rico and want to sing reggaetón.”
Arcángel finished high school and only had one job — dressing up as Elmo to entertain pediatric cancer patients at a local hospital — before he dedicated himself to music. In 2004, he formed the underground duo Arcángel & De la Ghetto and signed with Baby Records (owned by Puerto Rican artist Zion of Zion & Lennox). Two years later, he launched his own label, Flow Factory, where he released his debut solo studio album, El Fenómeno, in 2008 after going solo the year prior. (He and De la Ghetto, now a star in his own right, remain friendly and appeared together on Bad Bunny’s “Acho PR” in October of last year.) Today, he credits el bajo mundo (the streets) for jump-starting his career.
“I didn’t invest any money in music. I gave my music away for free at first. I put it on Myspace,” he explains. “I’m a guy who came from the streets, and I didn’t make commercial music. I don’t owe my success or my status to radio impact.”
But while he downplays the importance of record sales and radio airplay (“When I sing in front of thousands of people, and thousands of people repeat my lyrics, that’s much more powerful”), such success did soon come. Arcángel scored his first Billboard hit in 2006 with his feature on Jowell & Randy’s “Agresivo,” which peaked at No. 27 on the Latin Rhythm Airplay chart. But the song that really changed his career, he says, was his romantic 2008 track “Por Amar a Ciegas,” co-produced by Luny Tunes, Tainy and Noriega.
“I was already popular in the urban scene, but that song gave me a respect that went beyond just being a reggaetón singer or rapper,” he says. “It made a lot of people, not [just] fans of urban music, listen to me.”
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Slim and small in stature but with a powerful, raspy voice, Arcángel is perhaps best known for his strong-willed personality and unapologetic self-confidence — qualities that have both helped and hurt him over his career.
In 2012, he signed a record and management deal with producer Rafael “Raphy” Pina’s Pina Records, where he was co-managed by Pina and Omar “Omi” Rivera (the latter, founder of Omi Management, still manages him). While there, he released Sentimiento, Elegancia y Maldad, which conquered the Top Latin Albums chart in 2013 — still his only No. 1 album — and became his first entry on the Billboard 200.
But in 2018, Arcángel parted ways with Pina due to personal issues, negotiating himself out of his longtime contract. His career stagnated for a year — until he signed a deal with the then-emerging label Rimas Entertainment in 2019.
“We had two options: We go with a traditional major label, or we try it out with [Rimas’] Noah Assad and Jonathan ‘Jomy’ Miranda, who are visionaries, who are modern, who are creative,” Rivera says. “Besides, the era of physical was also changing to digital, and they had a lot of knowledge in that area. It was a risky decision at that time because it involved money, but on the other hand it gave us peace of mind because we knew that they would adapt to what we wanted to present in the project.”
Rimas helped Arcángel get back on track, including with a pair of No. 3-peaking singles on Hot Latin Songs: 2019’s “Sigues con Él” with Sech and 2022’s “La Jumpa” with Bad Bunny. He’s now released five studio albums with the label, including Sr. Santos — a tribute to his late brother Justin Santos, who died at age 21 in a 2021 car accident — which debuted at No. 3 on Top Latin Albums in 2022. He’s also become a major supporter of Latin music’s next-gen stars, teaming up with Feid, Peso Pluma, Bizarrap, Eladio Carrión, Young Miko, Grupo Frontera and more.
But huge hits and vibrant collaborations alone aren’t what’s kept Arcángel relevant for this long.
“Arca took risks at very crucial stages of the movement,” Rivera says. “He’s very peculiar and unique. He’s not afraid to speak his heart out. This whole industry is so complicated because you must please so many people, but by being himself, he has been able to earn the respect he has today.”
“I’ve fallen a couple of times and had to learn new tricks,” Arcángel admits. “I’ve won more when I lose than when I win, and I still managed to do what can truly make a human being happy: live off what you really like.”
This story appears in Billboard‘s Rumbazo special issue, dated Sept. 14, 2024.
Billboard Latin Music Week is returning to Miami Beach on Oct. 14-18, with confirmed superstars including Gloria Estefan, Alejandro Sanz and Peso Pluma, among many others. For tickets and more details, visit Billboardlatinmusicweek.com.