regional Mexican
Mexican music hitmaker Geovani Cabrera has signed an exclusive global publishing deal with Universal Music Publishing Group (UMPG), Billboard has learned. Born in Sinaloa, Mexico, the 15-year music veteran has penned a number of hit songs, including “JGL” recorded by Luis R. Conriquez, Christian Nodal‘s “Se Me Olvidó” and “A Través Del Vaso” by Los Sebastianes, to name […]
With an electrifying roar that resonated in every corner, Carin León took over Madrid’s WiZink Center, marking his historic debut in Spain. Part of his Boca Chueca Tour, the show not only marked the Mexican star’s first performance in Europe but also broke records: With an audience of 17,426 people, it surpassed Metallica’s mark set in 2018, becoming the event with the highest attendance of the more than 1,200 concerts held at the venue.
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The atmosphere at the WiZink was unique, transformed into a 360-degree Palenque style, with spectators surrounding the arena like in a boxing ring, an unprecedented layout for this Madrid venue. Among the attendees were music stars such as Vanesa Martín, India Martínez, C. Tangana, and Ximena Sariñana, as well as the legendary soccer player Sergio Ramos, all witnesses of a night in which Mexican and Spanish music intertwined for two and a half hours of pure spectacle.
From the beginning, León’s excitement about being in Madrid was palpable. “I’ve always said it: the second place I would go after Hermosillo is Madrid,” he confessed, making clear the special place this city holds in his heart. One of the first surprises of the night was the live performance of “Recorrerte,” a song in collaboration with Sen Senra that he described as “sexy,” managing to arouse the audience’s emotions. The song, which has not yet been officially released, will be part of the Galician artist’s album PO2054AZ, VOL. II of the Galician artist, scheduled for release on November 15.
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One of the most emotional moments of the night came with the presence of his great friend and mentor, Álex Ubago, with whom León shared a special bond since he invited him to his birthday party in San Carlos, Sonora last July. Together they performed two of Ubago’s classics, “A Gritos de Esperanza” and “¿Qué Pides Tú?,” in a tribute to the influence that Spanish music has had on the Sonoran’s career. “What a dream to share with the artists I admire, long live Spain and long live its artists and music,” exclaimed León, visibly moved.
The connection between the two artists was reinforced with a dedication by León to those affected in Valencia by the DANA (a meteorological phenomenon that usually causes heavy rains and recently caused a tragedy in the region). “Life is sometimes very uncertain and very unfair. I want to dedicate this concert to the people of Valencia,” he said, receiving a standing ovation from the audience. “More than a minute of silence, I want an eternity of joy. Long live Valencia and this song goes with much affection and respect,” he added before performing “Vida Pasada.”
After singing “Por Culpa De Un Tercero”, the venue rumbled with the arrival of another of the stars of the night: Pablo Alborán. Together they performed “Viaje a Ningún Lado” in a duet that showed their mutual respect and admiration. “This man is a bully, how you sing!” joked León, to which Alborán responded with a wink: “For me, being together on stage in Madrid, there is no better place.” In this musical communion, the artists gave each other another joint performance, “De Piedra a Papel”, which became one of the most acclaimed moments of the evening.
Among the special guests was also Omar Montes, who performed with León the song “Ron con Coca” and, in a tone of admiration, said: “How proud of you, Carin León, who comes to Spain and breaks more than the Spaniards. You deserve all the good things that are happening to you.”
The night progressed with a series of hits, such as “Que Vuelvas,” “Talento de Televisión,” “Tóxico” and “Aviso Importante.” But the energy reached another level with the arrival of Manuel Carrasco. Together, they performed their collaboration “No Me Llores”, as well as a little-known gem by Carrasco that the Mexican himself asked him to sing, “Yo Te Vi Pasar,” which reflected the palpable chemistry between the two artists. “I’m delighted in front of so many beautiful people at your party. Let’s enjoy, brother,” exclaimed Carrasco, infecting the audience with his enthusiasm.
The musical display continued with a surprising version of Enrique Urquijo’s classic “Aunque Tú No lo Sepas,” to which León added his unique style. And, to close the night, the León could not leave out one of his most beloved anthems, “Primera Cita,” which sealed a spectacular debut in the Spanish capital.
“More than faith, I’m sure there will be more dates like this one,” anticipated León, before saying goodbye.
The next destination of his Boca Chueca Tour is London, this Sunday, November 3, followed by Amsterdam and Paris, on November 4 and 5, respectively.
Conjunto Michoacan, the veteran Regional Mexican group known for its ranchera and norteño ballads, released “El Corrido de Fernando Valenzuela,” about the late star Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Fernando Valenzuela, in 1981. But the group didn’t do it because everybody was doing it — even though, in the early ’80s, everybody was. “We knew of a few other songs, but were not really inspired by them, because we were focused on what we were doing,” recalls Alejandro Saucedo Garcia, the group’s violinist for 40 years. “He was the king of baseball and everybody in Mexico loved him.”
“El Corrido de Fernando Valenzuela,” the group’s 1981 single, was one of many musical tributes that dominated Mexico and Los Angeles while “El Toro” was racking up hundreds of strikeouts and winning in the World Series. Among the most popular were upbeat salsa-and-disco jam “Go Fernando” by Everardo y Su Flota, a Chicago group whose bandleader died in 2014, and “Cumbia de Fernando Valenzuela,” a more traditional, name-chanting ballad by Los Gatos Negros de Tiberio.
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Conjunto Michoacan, one of the few surviving groups that dipped into Fernandomania at the time, had a songwriter, the late Magdaleno Oliva, who knew Valenzuela well. “They would have conversations about baseball and stuff,” Saucedo Garcia recalls, through a translator, by phone from his home in Taretan, Michoacán, Mexico. “The song was very famous,” he adds. “On the radio all over the place. We toured in Mexico and the U.S. and played the song.”
Valenzuela, who died last week at 63, was born in a small Mexican town, Etchohuaquila, Sonora, before becoming the only baseball pitcher ever to win the Cy Young and Rookie of the Year awards in the same season. He was magnetic and dominant and a sort of folk hero to Latino baseball fans, particularly those with Mexican heritage. Still outraged about Dodger Stadium displacing a heavily Latino Los Angeles community called Chavez Ravine in the ’60s to bring baseball to the city, many local Hispanics plunged into Fernandomania.
“My parents, right away, you know, they started crying. We all cried,” Sergio Juarez, a baseball fan who grew up near Dodger Stadium, recently told NBC Los Angeles. “It was different because Fernando looked like us. Fernando was someone that was humble, and he broke barriers that a lot of people wouldn’t even reach.
“And to see a person that had a Spanish surname, Mexican-American, came from a small town,” he added. “It was very special.”
Corridos represent a 200-year-old tradition of story-songs that frequently deal with David-vs.-Goliath-type battles of lone heroes taking on institutions; they were an adaptable way of saluting Valenzuela in the ’80s. In a Los Angeles Times essay after the Dodgers retired Valenzuela’s No. 34, Michael Jamie-Becerra, a University of California Riverside assistant professor of creative writing, wrote that Conjunto Michoacan’s track “would have you believe that Fernando’s on-field success could be attributed to his having a noble heart, caring for his parents and being an all-around good guy.”
Conjunto Michoacan recorded “El Corrido de Fernando Valenzuela” for Odeon Records, an imprint owned by major label EMI that is now part of the University of California Los Angeles’ Strachwitz Frontera Collection of Mexican and Mexican American Recordings. Although the track has only 1,087 YouTube views and is not available on most streaming services, Conjunto Michoacan has recently played it live throughout the U.S. and Mexico. Its fans include the Guatemalan YouTube commenter who posted that he listened to the group’s music “when I went to herd sheep in the field with my radio with pure rayobac batteries.”
Saucedo Garcia says the group plans to release a new version of “El Corrido de Fernando Valenzuela” with updated lyrics and perform it on upcoming tours. “New things about his achievements and his passing,” he says.
The 65-year-old violinist continues to follow baseball, including the World Series, in which the Dodgers have a 3-0 lead over the New York Yankees. He has a rooting interest: “I would like the winners to be the team of Fernando Valenzuela,” he says.
Regional Mexican music continues to surf a wave of unprecedented global popularity and expansion, with names like Peso Pluma, Luis R Conriquez, Edén Muñoz, Fuerza Regida and Grupo Frontera crowning Billboard’s global and U.S. charts.
Yet women in the genre are almost nowhere to be found. Just one female artist-led song appeared among the 50 on Billboard’s year-end Regional Mexican Airplay Songs chart: Yuridia and Angela Aguilar’s “Qué Agonía.” And among the regional Mexican acts dominating the Hot Latin Songs chart, only one female name comes up: pop singer Kenia Os as a guest on Peso Pluma’s “Tommy & Pamela.”
Behind the scenes, it’s a different story entirely. In what had long been a world of male dominance in the C-suite of música mexicana, women are now powerhouses. María Inés Sánchez, formerly head of marketing for regional Mexican indie label Afinarte, is now the West Coast vp for Sony Music U.S. Ana Luisa Gómez, who has worked with Alicia Villarreal and Sergio Vega, among others, now manages superstar Muñoz. Rosela Zavala manages Ana Bárbara, and Adriana Martínez manages rising trio Yahritza y Su Esencia.
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And they’re just a few among a growing group of women that also includes Ana Martínez (leading Fonovisa/Disa’s U.S. division), Delia Orjuela (head of creative for música mexicana at Warner Chappell) and managers for some of the most visible artists on the charts, like Ivan Cornejo, Xavi and Eslabon Armado.
Billboard gathered four of these executives for a candid conversation about how they’ve managed to make their marks in a complex genre they readily admit is “full of men” — and the unique skill set that it has taken.
“I’ve always said that I’m one person at home, and another when I leave my house and I become that other person that everyone says, ‘Oh, she’s super angry, super hysterical,’ ” Gómez says with a smile. “Yeah. I’m super all that because if I wasn’t, I think I wouldn’t have made it.”
Spanish singer-songwriter Natalia Jimenez (left) and Gómez
Courtesy of Ana Luisa Gómez
How did you get your start in the world of regional Mexican music?
Ana Luisa Gómez: I graduated from the University of Monterrey [in Mexico] in communications and started working in television, where I spent 14 years producing entertainment and musical programs. Fifteen years ago, I left that and started managing Sergio Vega, “El Shaka,” may he rest in peace. [Vega was murdered in 2010.] Then I started my advertising agency, offering a 360 model of booking, promotion, radio, television. Later I decided to focus more on management, and I’ve been with Edén Muñoz for three years.
María Inés Sánchez: I also started years ago at PolyGram, Sony, Universal, Machete, always in marketing, and when I moved to Los Angeles I started doing public relations. Later, [my client] Chiquis Rivera recommended me to run PR for DEL Records [in 2016], and that’s how I started in the Mexican music genre. I worked with Régulo Caro, Gerardo Ortiz, Ulices Chaidez, Los Plebes del Rancho [de Ariel Camacho].
Rosela Zavala: Like María Inés, I got my start through Chiquis. I came from the pop world, working with Paulina Rubio and later with Gloria Trevi. And from Gloria I went to Chiquis and landed in a completely different world, the regional Mexican music world. I co-managed Chiquis, and Ana Bárbara is the first artist I fully manage.
Adriana Martínez: I’ve only been doing this for two years. The role of manager fell on me. My brothers, Yahritza y Su Esencia, began to be recognized, and since they always turn to me, I had to get a lawyer and all that. When I said, “OK, now you can fly alone,” they said, “No, please don’t leave us.” The truth is I started in this with zero experience.
What has been the most difficult thing about being a manager?
Martínez: Being siblings, and then transitioning into manager mode. At first, the guys didn’t take me very seriously when I said, “We need to do this.” The seriousness of things was there, but it was easier for them to procrastinate because I was the one in charge and I was their sister.
Gómez: The most challenging thing for me is working with men. They’re all men. There are no women, at least not in the teams I have worked on, starting with Sergio Vega. It’s not easy for men to accept that someone is telling them what to do and how, although it’s not a mandate. But I understand. It’s machismo. So the most challenging thing is to deal with that and develop a strong character.
Zavala: I have found it difficult to get Ana’s music heard on the radio. We bring songs and they say, “Oh, the traditional mariachi isn’t playing now. It’s grupero.” So Ana says, “Let’s do grupero,” and they say, “Ah, grupero sounds old.” In Mexico we get played much more, but in the U.S., with so many men on that chart, it’s difficult to get in. Also, in the beginning with Ana, I wrote to a couple of concert promoters that I knew, and they weren’t interested in her tour. A few years later, those same people wanted to work with her. I love making that happen. But I always looked for the people who told me they believed in her, let’s do it. And there are many people, even men, who told me, “Yes, we will give it our all.”
Ana Bárbara (left) and Zavala
Courtesy of Rosela Zavala
Do you remember the first time you had to lay down the law to be taken seriously?
Gómez: With Sergio Vega, of course. I met him through Oscar Flores, a super-renowned concert promoter, and we clicked. But Sergio was a man without reins. He did what he wanted, how he wanted. He was a great talent looking for the right direction, but he didn’t know how to do it. When I said left, he said right. And one day, after an event in Sonora [Mexico], where everything I told him not to do, he did, I grabbed my suitcase, knocked on his hotel room door and told him, “That’s it. I don’t have to deal with you or your people or your party.” I took my bags and flew home to Monterrey. After five days, he came to see me and said: “I am in your hands. What do we do?” And from there, we became family.
Do you think of one moment in your career as particularly defining? María Inés, I remember meeting you when you were a junior publicist, and then seeing you become a powerful executive at the Afinarte label…
Sánchez: That’s where I started, from ground zero. When I began working at Afinarte, they didn’t have a company email, for example. The first year, they uploaded the music to TuneCore and I made the pitches to the platforms. They didn’t have a distributor. I came from working at multinationals, which of course are highly organized and have departments for everything. Here we had to assemble everything, and I was the only woman: The bosses, the musicians, even the photographers were men. So it was a challenge, but I thank them because not many companies would have given me that much autonomy.
Zavala: Working with Paulina was like getting a master’s degree. [Initially], I was the president of her fan club, and she gave me the opportunity to be her personal assistant. Then I finished my “master’s degree” with Gloria. I spent eight years with her. I saw her struggle at the beginning with her shows, and then saw her grow to play arenas. She gave me that opportunity to grow and learn more and do day-to-day management. It was scary at the beginning. When you go from being a fan to being an assistant, you are no longer the friend. Everything becomes much more serious.
Martínez: I graduated [with a degree] in psychology. I worked as an outreach coordinator [for a health provider], and I already had my life planned. [When I started working with my brothers], the most important thing was to make sure that the values that our parents had taught us — keeping our feet on the ground, not forgetting where we came from, manners — were maintained. But there have also been times where I’ve said, “This is as far as it goes; I’m their sister, but if they don’t have respect for me as their manager, then that’s it.” After that, things calmed down and thank God, we are all moving together. But sometimes you have to have those talks or pack your bags and leave. All these battles have made us realize that family is important but also the respect we have as business partners is important.
Yahritza y Su Esencia with their sister and manager Martínez (second from left).
Jesse Sandoval
Aside from the difficulty of being taken seriously, what is most challenging for you on a day-to-day basis?
Martínez: We work with a major label [Columbia] and an indie label [Lumbre Music]. It’s good to have the macro view and the micro view, but our work doesn’t end there. It’s always been super important for us to have that relationship with the fans, to reach a point where they know the artist as people. And we didn’t receive much support in that respect. We said, “If we show people who we are and where we come from, our hearts will connect,” and sometimes big companies don’t understand that.
Gómez: Above all, the people that surround the artist but aren’t part of the music industry and love to mess things up. Going back to something that María Inés said, the daily challenge to be validated.
Are there certain advantages you do have as women in this business?
Martínez: I think we have that emotional balance, and we can see that in our empathy. The balance we give our artists with that empathy is super important, and it helps them know that they can trust us and that we are here to play any role.
Gómez: I am neither Edén’s mother, grandmother nor cousin, but you have to be all of that for him. Understand if he’s had a bad day, if his child is sick that day. A man also understands, but I think that a man has less sensitivity than us, he doesn’t have that sixth sense we have where as soon as I see him, I know what’s up. I think that as a woman you can dig in a little bit further than a man would dare to.
Zavala: The sensitivity we have with them and putting ourselves in their shoes. Even if you’re having a bad day, you still have to get onstage, sing. So the ability to support them from behind, be a cheerleader and look them in the eyes and giving them that support they need at that moment is very important. Because although you’re not family, you become family.
From left: Sony Music Latin president Alex Gallardo, Mexican singer-songwriter Ramón Vega and Sánchez at Sony Music Latin’s 2023 Música Mexicana Celebration in Los Angeles.
JC Olivera/Getty Images
What advice would you give to anyone starting out in the music business?
Gómez: You have to be passionate. If you go for the money or for the “I’m the manager,” bye. The money will come. It’s about fighting to place the artist at the level [they are] and being clean and honest. And don’t be a fan. It’s one thing to admire your artist, but don’t fall into fandom. You won’t be able to help them.
Sánchez: Don’t give up and be patient. And be empathetic. Be attentive. Be a little more human and don’t look at artists as a money machine. And speak up. Before, I stayed back and swallowed a lot of things. You have to raise your voice in the moment. Go for it. If you don’t agree with something, say so.
Zavala: Don’t take things personally. I was 22 when I started. I was so very young. Now that I’m older, I think back to how sensitive I was. Because it’s not about you. You grow thick skin. And, I’d say, speak up. Present your ideas, articulate them and land them as they should be.
Martínez: Be patient. Love, passion for your work, is what will lead you to do a good job with your artist. And most of all, don’t throw in the towel so soon. And ask. I would always hold back. I would talk down to myself. Ask for help, ask questions. I always thought that they were going to see me as “How could you not know that?” But all questions are good.
This story appears in Billboard‘s Rumbazo special issue, dated Sept. 14, 2024.
Ramón Ayala is one of the most iconic figures of Norteño music. He rose to fame in the ’60s as part of the duo Los Relámpagos del Norte, alongside Cornelio Reyna, and for more than half a century he has maintained a successful career with his band Ramón Ayala y sus Bravos del Norte.
So when he announced in February his El Principio De Un Final Tour, many were surprised by that title (Spanish for “The Beginning of an End”). At Coachella, Peso Pluma included him in a tribute to greats of Mexican culture on the screen at the back of the stage, while he performed his hit “Lady Gaga”.
But is Ramón Ayala retiring or not?
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“Of course not,” says the “King of the Accordion” to Billboard Español. “I am now in perfect condition. If I don’t play and tour, I don’t feel happy and fulfilled. I have been a musician all my life.”
Ayala’s history with music began when he was just five years old and he accompanied his father playing the accordion to bring money home in his native Monterrey, Nuevo León, cradle of one of the three strands on which regional Mexican music is based: norteño, mariachi and banda sinaloense.
Throughout his long-lasting career, he has recorded over 100 albums, two of which reached No. 1 on the Billboard Regional Mexican Albums chart: Arriba El Norte (1991) and Antología De Un Rey (2004). He’s also placed 12 songs on Hot Latin Songs, including “Del Otro Lado del Portón”, at No. 12, and “Quémame los Ojos”, at No. 19. And he’s received two Grammy Awards and two Latin Grammys, among other accolades.
On March 9, he began his 50-concert tour in Los Angeles, which includes stops in Atlanta, El Paso, Chicago, Las Vegas, and other U.S. cities. He will soon announce dates in Mexico, in cities like Hermosillo, Tijuana, Ensenada, Culiacán, Mexico City and Monterrey, “where they will pay me a tribute in the Macroplaza,” he says of the latter.
Also in March, he released the corrido “El Retén,” the first single from an upcoming 15-track album.
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In an interview with Billboard Español, Ayala answers 20 questions about his life and career, his last moments with Cornelio Reyna and how much he still has left to do.
1. How do you manage to still get up with such great enthusiasm 61 years after starting your career?
Knowing that there’s a large audience that follows us both in Mexico and in the United States, that fills our concerts and is awaiting our new music, motivates me.
2. When you started in music, did you dream of getting to where you are now?
I have been a musician since I was five years old. At that age, I already played the accordion and worked with my dad in a band in Monterrey — I dreamed of continuing doing what I did and nothing else.
3. Do you remember the first professional recording you made?
Yes, it was in 1963, a song called “Ya No Llores,” and it was such a hit that it opened the doors to Ramón Ayala and Cornelio Reyna, my dear compadre. We were Los Relámpagos del Norte. That’s how we would be until 1971.
4. Los Relámpagos del Norte have remained an inspiration. What does it mean to you to have laid the groundwork for so many generations?
Cornelio and I met when we were 14, so we were like brothers. That made us bond and better transmit our music to the audience.
5. Do you have a special memory or anecdote with Cornelio Reyna?
When we started out, Cornelio was the one who made the contracts. Once, he promised [we would play] three events in one night. We arrived to the first, we did not make it to the second, and we arrived to the third one when people were already leaving. People recognized us and threw stones at our trucks. At that moment we decided that someone should represent us, and a friend offered to do it, Servando Cano.
6. Servando Cano, who would become one of the most important representatives of regional Mexican music…
That’s right. He worked as a cashier at the National Bank of Mexico in Reynosa, Tamaulipas. He offered to be our manager and we accepted. We went to Mexico to sign the contract so that everything was well done and legally.
7. With so many hits, is there a song that’s particularly meaningful to you?
There is one that I have a special affection for, “Mi Golondrina,” because it was one of the first that I recorded. But “Rinconcito en el Cielo” is very important in my career.
8. Why did Cornelio Reyna and Ramón Ayala separate? Was there any problem between you?
There was no problem, we always got along well. What happened is that he wanted to try his luck in Mexico singing mariachi and acting in movies.
9. Did you get a chance to reunite with Reyna before his passing in 1997?
In 1995, he returned to the U.S. and asked me to do a tour as Los Relámpagos del Norte. What I proposed was to go on stage first with Los Bravos del Norte, and halfway through the show, both of us [would come out] as Los Relámpagos. We were able to do two tours like that, but he was already very sick. He returned to Mexico and died there.
10. You went through some difficult moments in your career, didn’t you?
Yes, there have been some difficult moments, but fortunately there have been more good times and successes.
11. The name of the tour “El Principio De Un Final” caused a stir. Is this a farewell for Ramón Ayala?
We just named the 2024 tour that way; we don’t know when the end will be. I feel very good, so unless God has planned something else, we will continue.
12. Have you thought about retiring to be a full-time grandpa?
No, not at all. I do spend a lot of time with my children and grandchildren, though. For example, before starting this tour, I was teaching the kids how to bottle feed the newborn goats on my ranch. But being a grandpa is only for moments.
13. During the COVID pandemic, your brother José Luis, the drummer of the band, died. That double loss must have been hard for you.
It was something very hard for me. It was the beginning of the pandemic, there were no vaccines and my little brother left. After that, I spoke with his son, José Luis Ayala Jr., who is a very good musician and is already very well integrated with us.
14. Do the other members of the band contribute ideas?
No, no. I tell them how I want things to be done and heard. We have worked very well this way; the proof is the response from the fans after so many years.
15. How is Ramón Ayala’s life in the U.S.?
I have been living in the Texas Valley for over 60 years. From Brownsville to Laredo, most of the population is Mexican, so we live and eat our carne asada as in our homeland, in addition to speaking a lot of Spanish.
16. How will you be celebrating Cinco de Mayo?
Working, fortunately. We will perform at the County Fair in Pomona, California. It is a very important event with more than 100 years of tradition.
17. Do you have any collaborative album planned?
Yes, we are going to record several of our hits with other artists. I already participated in an album celebrating Leo Dan’s career and I once did a duet with Lupillo Rivera accompanied by a sinaloense band. I also want to give you a heads up that another album is coming with Los Rieleros del Norte that is already recorded.
18. As an icon of Norteño music, what’s your opinion of the new generation of artists who are following this path?
I really like seeing how some of them have a lot of respect for Norteño music and the accordion — they play it excellently, like Edén Muñoz or Alfredo Olivas.
19. Any dream duet that didn’t get to happen?
I always dreamed of doing a duet with Pedro Infante, and I achieved it by participating in a tribute album. He was no longer with us physically, but his voice was.
20. Is there anything in your life and your career that you regret?
I regret nothing. Thanks to God I have reached the point where I am surrounded by fans, friends and family.
Fonovisa-Disa, Universal Music Group‘s regional Mexican label, has appointed Ana Martinez to U.S. GM. Based in Los Angeles, Martinez, a 19-year music industry veteran, will report directly to Antonio Silva, MD of Fonovisa-Disa for the United States and Mexico.
“The legacy that Fonovisa has historically created, mainly across Mexican music, has been the inspiration and reference for entire generations, and will continue to build long into the future,” Martinez said in a statement. “With the current moment in Latin music, it is exciting for me to join a company and team of this nature, to herald a new era for this historic label, where our music continues to elevate, leaving its mark on history and culture, not only across Latin music, but also globally.”
Martinez previously spearheaded strategy and relations as part of Amazon Music’s global Latin team, where she carried out global campaigns for the likes of Bad Bunny, Karol G and Shakira, as well as multi-platform Amazon livestreams, including Maluma‘s concert from Medellín in 2022, ”Medallo En El Mapa.” Prior to Amazon, she spent seven years at Universal Music México, joining the company as label manager of Anglo repertoire before landing the role of marketing director.
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“I am very excited about the integration of Ana Martínez to the team, her experience across different fields of the industry complements our business vision and strategy for the Fonovisa-Disa roster,” added Silva. “I fully trust that her ability to foster success across projects will further strengthen our vision of generating global hits for Mexican music in the future.”
Martinez’s appointment comes just months after Alfredo Delgadillo was appointed as president/CEO of Universal Music México. Of Martinez’s return to Universal Music Group, Delgadillo said: “Ana is always connected and thinking ahead of the market and this, together with her extensive experience across the Latin music industry from independent labels, booking and production of concerts, artist management, her time in specialized magazines and most recently in her position at Amazon Music, will further nourish our ecosystem and help Fonovisa-Disa to maintain its position as the leader of Mexican music in the world.”
It’s the tattoos that really make Christian Nodal stick out like a sore thumb. With his inked-up body — and face — he looks more like a rapper or rock star than the exploding regional Mexican artist he is.
“I didn’t want to be anyone’s shadow,” Nodal declares. “I felt that the genre was stigmatized under all these stereotypes, and I wanted to break all of that because I was unsatisfied to see that our genre wasn’t going far enough.”
Since launching his career in 2017, Nodal, now 25, has made a name for himself (sometimes with sharp elbows) as a maverick in a genre long bound by tradition. From the time he started at age 18, he has revolutionized regional Mexican music by pioneering mariacheño, a subgenre fusing mariachi’s strings and horns with the norteño accordion.
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“I didn’t want to disrespect anyone, much less the mentality of some of these [regional Mexican] legends who think the genre should sound and look a very specific way,” he explains. “But that wasn’t me. I didn’t feel part of it. I wanted to make it my own.”
Christian Nodal plays Billboard Presents THE STAGE at SXSW on March 15. Get your tickets here.
When we meet in mid-December at Lienzo Zermeño — where charreadas, or Mexican rodeos, take place in the middle of Jalisco’s bustling city of Guadalajara — Nodal beams with pride as he recounts the arc he has followed to become one of Latin music’s biggest stars in a few short years. He may look like a malote (bad guy) — he jokes about the role he would probably get cast for in a movie because of his tattoos — but he’s far from it, offering friendly hellos to the ranch’s workers and flashing a shy smile to the bystanders who recognize him but are too timid to introduce themselves.
Nodal’s entry into the regional Mexican world was a bit less genteel. When he started his career, the music’s leaders were purists who leaned heavily on the traditional sound that had worked for them — and for the genre that has been around for more than a century. That left little room for experimentation, and some in the industry initially balked at Nodal’s unorthodox approach. “I think the first year they saw me as the new kid, but by my second year, I don’t think they liked that I was still around. I saw a face of the regional Mexican that was quite raw, real and ugly,” Nodal says. “I was disappointed and thought, ‘OK, we probably won’t be creating a bond, much less collaborating. Fine. I’m going this way and [making] regional music bigger.’ ”
To that end, Nodal has collaborated with artists well beyond regional Mexican, including Romeo Santos, Kany García, David Bisbal, Sebastián Yatra and Maná — but without sacrificing his mariacheño style. (His few collaborations with regional acts include Alejandro Fernández, Banda MS and Ángela Aguilar.) He has also sought out new songwriting voices, including the Grammy Award-nominated Edgar Barrera, who co-wrote some of Nodal’s biggest hits.
That willingness to challenge genre norms propelled the mariacheño singer — whose urban cowboy aesthetic incorporates leather vests, diamond necklaces, statement earrings and heavy rings on his fingers — to a remarkable year both professionally and personally in 2023. In December, he wrapped his Foraji2 Tour, a 31-date arena run produced by Cárdenas Marketing Network that kicked off in August and followed his 22-date 2022 Forajido tour. He won his sixth Latin Grammy Award (best ranchero/mariachi album) for Forajido EP2, and he scored his 15th No. 1 on the Regional Mexican Airplay chart — a record for a solo artist since the list launched in 1994 — with that set’s “Un Cumbión Dolido.” And he became a father when he and his partner, Argentine rapper-singer Cazzu, welcomed a baby girl in September.
“I remember those times when I would come down from the stage and feel alone,” says Nodal, who now lives in Argentina with Cazzu and their daughter. “Now I come down to a stroller with my baby in it, and it all seems perfect. She has already been on tour with us, and I thought it would be hard, but she’s a rock star,” he says, getting choked up. “When she was born, I was feeling exhausted. I don’t know how I managed to change diapers, but she gives me energy, motivation and strength.”
Dolce & Gabbana shirt, Chrome Hearts vest, belt and jewelry, and Braggao and John Varvatos jewelry.
Lisette Poole
A lot has changed — not just in his personal life, but in the broader Latin music landscape — since Nodal released his first single, the achingly beautiful “Adiós Amor,” in 2017. Powered by wailing trumpets, a stirring accordion and Nodal’s strikingly mature and evocative baritone, the song quickly established him as one of the great vocalists in the genre. It earned him his first Regional Mexican Airplay No. 1 and spent seven weeks atop the chart. “When working with Christian, these two things are always present: He’s like an artist from another planet when making music, and [he sings] it in a spectacular way,” says Afo Verde, chairman/CEO of Sony Music Latin-Iberia, which signed Nodal in early 2022.
Now, thanks to the doors Nodal has opened in just a few short years and the sound he pioneered, regional Mexican is dominating the Latin charts, and a new crop of artists — who sing corridos tumbados, tumbados románticos, sad sierreño, or whatever the latest iteration of the genre is, and are keen to collaborate — has taken the lead, helping globalize the music that, while a backbone of Latin, was long considered meant for a niche audience. But none of those performers have dominated quite like Nodal — and he has done it on his own terms.
“Everything can coexist,” he says. “I enjoy fusing sounds, but I don’t run toward something just because it’s working [for others]. I’m very careful not to deviate from my purpose. I still need to feel proud of what I do.”
Born in Sonora, a northern Mexican state that borders Arizona, and later raised in Guadalajara and Ensenada, Baja California, Nodal grew up in a musical household, listening to pop, rock, rap, bachata and more. But he also developed a great respect for regional Mexican — it “practically fed us,” he says — from an early age. He loved to watch his grandfather play the trumpet: “I think before I wanted to be a singer, my goal was to be a trumpeter like Arturo Sandoval.” His father and manager, Jaime González, who has also played the instrument since childhood, is an industry veteran who managed late sierreño singer Ariel Camacho, a major inspiration to Nodal. Today, González’s record label/management company JG Music includes Nodal, Los Plebes del Rancho de Ariel Camacho and Los Elementos de Culiacán. González met Nodal’s mother, Cristy Nodal, while they were in the same musical group, in which she sang lead.
“We’ve been musicians all our lives,” González says. “From a very young age we instilled music in all our children, but more as a hobby or tool to help them with their emotions. Not so much as a business, because we have been doing this for a long time and it is not easy.” But Nodal wanted to sing, so his mother, a longtime mariachi singer, taught him. “They were committed,” González remembers. “At first, I didn’t want to get on board because I didn’t have the time and I didn’t want this complicated career for him because he’s very sensitive. But when I would come back from tours with Ariel, Christian and his mom had several songs already written, and I said, ‘OK, fine. I’ll produce an album for you.’ ”
AMIRI shirt, Alessandro Vasini jeans, Chrome Hearts, and Braggao and John Varvatos jewelry.
Lisette Poole
That first unofficial album included a cover of “Adiós Amor,” a song previously recorded by Los Dareyes de la Sierra. His mother wanted him to record it in mariachi style, but “I really thought of mariachi as music for older men,” Nodal says. He honored her wish, but at Nodal’s request, his father added the norteño accordion — to represent his “esencia sonorense” (Sonora essence) — along with banda-style trumpets and subtle violins.
“People responded really well to it on social media,” González remembers. “It’s as if the world had been waiting for Nodal.”
When “Adiós Amor” went viral, Nodal’s team comprised Cristy, then his de facto manager, and González, who was his producer. “I remember I would see cars pass by [in Ensenada] blasting the cover I had uploaded to Facebook,” he says, laughing. But then he noticed a problem: No one knew he was the one singing the song. “I think people expected it to be an older man, and it was funny when I would be at clubs in Guadalajara and they’d play my song and I would be like, ‘Hey, that’s me,’ ” he says. “They could identify the song but not the face, and I wanted that to change. It was something that kept me up at night.”
Nodal needed support — and it came by way of Universal Music Latino/Fonovisa, which signed him in 2017 after “Adiós Amor” caught the labels’ attention. By that August, he had released his official debut album, Me Dejé Llevar, which peaked at No. 2 on Billboard’s Top Latin Albums list, his highest ranking on that chart. But after releasing two more studio albums between 2019 and 2021 under Universal, a feud with the label turned public when Nodal took to Instagram Live to reveal he would not be renewing his contract; shortly after, in early 2022, Nodal signed with Sony Music Latin in a partnership with Sony Music Mexico. “When you’re young and you don’t know about these things, you do what you have to do to achieve your dreams,” says Nodal, who won’t share much more about the conflict. “If nothing goes wrong in your life, then you don’t learn.”
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When Nodal met for the first time with Verde and his Sony colleagues Alex Gallardo (president of Sony Music U.S. Latin) and Roberto López (president of Sony Music Mexico), he made his expectations clear. “I told them that I want to have the freedom to work with any artist from any label, that I want freedom to decide when I’m going to release my albums and that I want to own my albums after a certain amount of time,” he recalls. “Afo, Alex and Roberto are people that I love very much, and they have shown me the good side of the industry. They are putting their life, their faith, their effort into the growth of an artist.”
“What helped us to build trust with Christian and a great team was that from the beginning we had great chemistry,” Gallardo says. “We knew how to listen to his needs and concerns, and we worked to provide him with as much support as possible and put at his disposal a team that would work for him and help him achieve his goals.”
For Sony, Nodal was a valuable roster addition — an “ambassador of Mexican music to the world … responsible for spreading the love for Mexican music to new generations in many countries,” as López puts it. He was also already an established star. His 2022 Forajido tour grossed $14.5 million and sold 147,000 tickets from 22 shows, according to Billboard Boxscore, and in 2023, he grossed $21.6 million and sold 259,000 tickets. Under Sony’s supervision, his star has only continued to rise. Nodal’s albums have earned a combined 2.2 million equivalent album units, according to Luminate, and he has 3.2 billion on-demand official streams in the United States. He has also placed 20 entries on Hot Latin Songs; five of them hit the top 10, including the No. 3 debut and peak of “Botella Tras Botella,” with Mexican rapper Gera MX in 2021. The pair’s norteño-tinged, hip-hop-infused track became the first regional Mexican song to enter the Billboard Hot 100 in the chart’s then 63-year history. (Today, more than 30 songs have reached the chart.)
“Christian was more ready for this moment than I was,” Gera MX says. “When we saw the song was blowing up, we called each other constantly. I asked him if this was normal, and he told me, ‘Guey, esto es único. [Dude, this is unique.]’ It had never happened before, much less with a mix of urban and regional. It was like riding the highest roller coaster of my life with one of my best friends.” They recorded the song at one of their carne asadas (cookouts) during the pandemic, when both were living in the same residential community in Guadalajara; Nodal would bike over to Gera MX’s house. “When we first met, I was surprised at how much he knew about rap,” Gera MX says. “He is an artist in constant evolution.”
Lisette Poole
González had been more skeptical of the collaboration. “He was like, ‘No, how are you going to do that? People are going to get angry,’ ” Nodal recalls. “And I told him, ‘Listen to me: This is what we’re going to start seeing in the genre.’ ”
Nodal followed his hunch — after all, it wasn’t the first time he and his father had disagreed. “If I’ve been doing this for six or seven years, it probably took us five to create a healthy relationship between us,” Nodal says. “I would go one way, and he would go another way. I didn’t want to do what he wanted me to do. I wanted to be me. It took many years to fully understand and respect each other, and it had nothing to do with our father-son relationship. Now we are completely aligned when it comes to the business of my career.”
In October, Nodal asked friends back in Guadalajara to get him three string instruments: a tololoche, a docerola and a requinto. “It got in my head that I wanted to do a corrido tumbado,” Nodal says in early February. “I fell in love with the genre. The good thing is that my neighbors in Guadalajara didn’t complain, because the tololoche is a very noisy instrument and my apartment is not very big.” After hearing the demo, Nodal thought Peso Pluma would be a great addition. So, over FaceTime, he asked the corridos singer to meet up — which they did at one of Peso’s Anaheim, Calif., concerts in December, where they agreed to collaborate. “Hassan [Peso’s real name] has a respect for me and my career, and we had great conversations.” Nodal says. “The chemistry was there.”
The resulting team-up, “La Intención,” is both a sign of the times — younger regional Mexican artists now understand that working together only strengthens the genre — and of what has given Nodal’s own career longevity. His adaptability has not only allowed him to move among styles (like pop, cumbia and urban) with ease, but also to transcend generations and remain a constant in an ever-expanding genre that in the years since his career began has become a global movement. “When I started this career I felt a big responsibility, and I still feel it today,” he says. “Not everyone agreed with everything I did early on, but now I feel that my career is projected onto the musical criteria of young artists who dare to do things differently without being afraid.”
At 25 years old, he may be the relative elder statesman of the new (and very young) generation of regional Mexican artists, but Nodal is just as fired up as when he started. “A lot of the dreams I had, I already accomplished, but I’m enjoying whatever comes. I don’t worry about the person I have to be in the genre; the most beautiful thing is to flow with what is happening because the genre will always be there. I’ll just keep releasing music from my heart [and] enjoy the process and what my fans have given me.”
Lisette Poole
Nodal is on a monthslong break through May, which, for him, feels like uncharted territory: He hasn’t taken any real time off since his career started seven years ago. “COVID didn’t count as a vacation, right?” he jokes. “I don’t know myself in vacation mode,” he adds with a nervous chuckle, as if coming to the realization as he says it out loud.
Today, “vacation mode” Nodal sounds blissful yet invigorated. Later this year, he says he’ll release Pa’l Cora, the album of his dreams, which will include a recording session in France with his mariacheño band in tow. The making of it, along with planning and embarking on a tour with stops in countries like the United Kingdom and Switzerland — a major milestone for an artist in a genre that typically doesn’t book European shows outside of Spain — will be captured in a behind-the-scenes documentary.
These shows, and this album, were for a long time simply dreams for Nodal. “I was constantly pressured to keep moving,” he says. Now, from his home base in Argentina, he’s able to lead a more balanced life, one in which peace and moments of inspiration aren’t mutually exclusive. “I don’t think my life has changed because of where I live but because of how I am living my life,” he reflects, sounding wise beyond his 25 years. “I think this time away from being up and down, connecting with what I love has made me realize how lucky I am. I am at my best stage in every way, in all aspects. There is a light in my life that no one can take away.”
This story originally appeared in the March 9, 2024, issue of Billboard.
A sea of tweens and teens (with a few parents in tow) covered every inch of Chicago’s Aragon Ballroom on Nov. 17. Those closest to the stage had stood outside for hours, braving the rapidly dropping temperatures of a typical Midwest fall day as they waited in an entry line that circled around the block. They were there for a therapy session with Ivan Cornejo, the 19-year-old Mexican American artist who has become the unofficial therapist for a generation, providing a healing space at his shows with songs about love and heartbreak. Cornejo, who is soft-spoken and considerably shy, looked the part of a therapist clad in gray slacks, a dark dressy shirt and a piece of fabric wrapped around like a headband that has become part of his signature onstage look.
That night was his second sold-out show at the Aragon as part of his U.S. Terapia Tour, and it was indeed therapy for the fans in attendance, who shed a few tears throughout the night while also singing every song at the top of their lungs. Cornejo performed his Gen Z-approved anthems, like “Donde Estás (Where Are You)” and “Perro Abandonado (Abandoned Dog),” powered by moody sierreño guitars, but he also covered the 2006 folk-pop classic “Hey There Delilah” by the Plain White T’s and Jesse & Joy’s 2011 Latin pop ballad “¡Corre!,” showcasing the remarkable versatility that has made him one of regional Mexican music’s most eclectic acts today.
Born in Riverside, Calif., to Mexican parents, Cornejo epitomizes the modern música mexicana artist. He has embraced the traditional instruments, including the requinto and other acoustic guitars, that have long powered the regional Mexican sound, but has also given the enduring genre an alternative edge, incorporating electric guitars and darker, emo-like lyrics for a sad sierreño approach that has connected with his young and zealous fan base.
“A lot of my influences came from regional Mexican, but it is hard to just identify as just that,” says Cornejo, who broke out in 2021 with his first single, “Está Dañada (She Is Damaged),” which landed him a No. 1 entry on Billboard’s Latin Songwriters chart dated Oct. 30, 2021, while also becoming the second regional Mexican song to appear on the all-genre Hot 100. “All the genres that I listen to, like country and rock, have inspired me. My sound is regional Mexican with a twist.”
His experimentation has paid off. The singer-songwriter has placed 13 songs on the Hot Latin Songs chart, and his second album, Dañado, was No. 1 on Regional Mexican Albums for 37 nonconsecutive weeks, the fourth-most since the chart launched in 1985. The 2022 Billboard Latin Music Awards crowned him new artist of the year, he has generated 1.6 billion on-demand official streams in the United States, according to Luminate. Cornejo landed at No. 10 on Billboard’s 2023 year-end Top Latin Artists chart.
This digital cover story is part of Billboard’s Genre Now package, highlighting the artists pushing their musical genres forward — and even creating their own new ones.
In August, following his Lollapalooza debut and on the heels of his Terapia trek, Cornejo signed with Interscope Records (he was previously signed to independent label Manzana Records), a significant and timely partnership for the mainstream label that, two months before, had added Karol G to its roster. Signing Cornejo felt like an acknowledgement of Mexican music’s global expansion in the past year, which has been led by a new generation of artists like Cornejo who are evolving the genre’s look and sound. In the first half of 2023, overall consumption of regional Mexican music jumped 42.1%, topping all other genres but K-pop.
“I’ve worked in Mexican music for many years and if you tried to step out of the regional Mexican circle 20 years ago, you would get punished,” explains Interscope executive vp Nir Seroussi. “I’m open-minded, but it was hard to think how the next generation would connect with this style of music. Now, here’s this kid who is borrowing from the roots and making it his own and there’s nothing forced about it. It feels powerful and authentic. Ivan could’ve chosen any other path, folk or indie rock, but for whatever reason, he chose regional Mexican as his starting point. But it doesn’t define him — he is defined by his songs and his guitar. I see Ivan expanding the range of Mexican music and that’s what makes it so much fun nowadays.”
After wrapping up his tour on Nov. 22 with a record-breaking concert at Toyota Arena in Ontario, Calif., becoming what the venue says is the highest-selling single Latin music show in its history, Cornejo is now focused on recording his third album — which he promises will be even “bigger” than Dañado thanks to “improvements musically and lyrically.” While the core of his sound will continue to be Mexican music, he isn’t letting genre labels box him in, and is eager to experiment with reggaetón and house music: “I have a lot of respect for artists that can do more than one genre. It’s not easy.”
Michael Buckner
While your music often falls under the música mexicana label, your sound is eclectic. What do you think helped define it?
I grew up listening to a bunch of different genres. My mom loved listening to pop, rock en español. My dad would listen to more regional stuff like Los Bukis, Vicente Fernández. My brother would listen to rock [and] alternative, like Metallica, and my sister was more into psychedelic EDM, almost. A mix of everything. I loved music while I was growing up and it was natural the way it came about.
You learned to play the guitar on YouTube. How complicated is that for someone who wants to follow in your footsteps?
I was 7 years old when I learned how to play. At first, I’d watch tutorials for the basics but when it came to learning entire songs, it was more of just watching the artist or musician play the guitar and copy what they did. Also, a lot of older songs didn’t have tutorials. I remember my dad would ask me to learn to play songs by Joan Sebastian or Los Bukis and he’d pay me $5 for a song. I mean, for a 7-year-old that was a lot of money. It was kind of my way of making $20 for the weekend. I was collecting some royalties back then. (Laughs.) But I also really loved music, so it never felt like a chore.
After you wrote your first song, who did you first show it to?
I showed my friends, and they motivated me to just keep making my own music. They were the first ones to say, “You’re kind of good.” I didn’t believe them at first but a part of me did, so that motivated me. I kept showing them the songs I was writing and asking what they thought. I was a little nervous to show them, but it wasn’t anything like an audition or anything too serious — if they didn’t like it, cool. It just meant I had to keep trying.
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Besides your father, your friends also exposed you to regional Mexican music. Tell me about your connection with the genre.
When they started showing me, it was around when T3R Elemento was dropping music. Their [2017] song “Rafa Caro” stood out to me. I thought, “I actually like this.” At the time, I wasn’t really listening to regional music; it was more like my dad’s mariachi or traditional music. A couple of years later, when Natanael Cano dropped [his 2019 album] Corridos Tumbados, it changed everything for me. He really took a big step and just changed the whole style of corridos. A lot of people adapted to that quickly.
Once you established your sound, how did you go on to make this a full-time career? Who helped you get everything up and running?
I started posting my videos [singing covers] on TikTok and Instagram. After I started getting recognition and seeing a lot of comments supporting me, it motivated me to write my own music. I dropped my first song three years ago, and that song was a big change for me. I was just doing TikToks and then labels started reaching out. It was like a mini dream come true. It was what I always wanted. I remember being 9 years old, playing the guitar, not knowing the music industry or how to get into it. I would always think, “Once I’m older, I’ll know how.”
Given your age and your fans’ age, do you think they are more open to hearing a lot of different sounds from you versus expecting only one thing?
I feel like Gen Z is fearless when it comes to listening to genres. I would hope they’re not expecting just one specific style from me. But I also have to find a way to experiment without catching them off guard. I need to do it gradually; that way I don’t scare them off.
Do you still try to listen to a variety of music?
I feel like my taste in music is always expanding. Every day I find a song that is different than what I’m normally listening to. The more variety you have, the better the chance of creating new unique music [yourself]. I listen to Miley Cyrus, she’s cool. Lana Del Rey. I remember watching The Great Gatsby and falling in love with her song “Young and Beautiful.” She has those songs that take you somewhere both emotionally and mentally.
Michael Buckner
Are there other producers or artists you’d like to work with?
There’s a couple, like Tainy and James Blake. Also, it’d be an honor to have RYX produce one of my songs. I would also love to collaborate with Post Malone or Miley Cyrus.
You wrapped your Terapia Tour in November. What was the inspiration behind that name?
I would see a lot of comments on social media from my fans, writing comments like, “Your music saved me.” They’re talking about my music like it’s some sort of therapy. So, I made each concert into a session. At the meet-and-greet they’d tell me their stories, which is heartwarming. Some are really sad stories. It made me realize how much power you have in helping these young kids with things they might be going through. I’m at home but my music will always be with them. It’s something I think about a lot. I really don’t want to let them down.
Música mexicana is massive. How do you want to move it forward?
The charts are full of Mexican artists. I’m excited for next year to drop the album and be part of that massive moment. As of right now, my sound is sad sierreño but next year it could change and might not feel or sound like sad sierreño — it could be more alternative, rock and a bit more like all my influences.
What does it mean when you hear that you can move an entire culture forward with your lyrics and your style of Mexican music?
It’s a great role but also a big one. A lot of pressure. But I think I will do my best doing things that feel natural to me.
It has not taken 2024 long to find its first new global superstar. Xavi, the 19-year-old Mexican-American singer-songwriter born Joshua Xavier Guiterrez, is surging on Billboard charts, notably climbing to No. 1 on the Jan. 13-dated Emerging Artists survey.
The Emerging Artists chart ranks the most popular developing artists of the week, using the same formula as the all-encompassing Billboard Artist 100, which measures artist activity across multiple Billboard charts, including the Billboard Hot 100 and Billboard 200. (The Artist 100 lists the most popular acts, overall, each week.) However, the Emerging Artists chart excludes acts that have notched a top 25 entry on either the Hot 100 or Billboard 200, as well as artists that have achieved two or more top 10s on Billboard’s “Hot” song genre charts and/or consumption-based “Top” album genre rankings.
Xavi’s bustling activity is due in large part to the success of “La Diabla” and “La Victima,” both of which are unaccompanied solo singles. The former shoots from No. 62 to No. 34 on the Hot 100 and the latter leaps 79-55. As the leading non-English-language song on the first fully post-Christmas Hot 100 of the year, “La Diabla” drew 12.7 million on-demand U.S. streams in the week ending Jan. 4, up 15% from the previous frame, according to Luminate.
“La Diabla” adds a second week atop the Hot Latin Songs chart, while rising to No. 1 on Latin Streaming Songs.
Both of Xavi’s breakout hits are making great strides on Billboard’s global charts as well. “La Diabla” is No. 2 on the Billboard Global Excl. U.S. ranking and No. 4 on the Billboard Global 200, while “La Victima” climbs to Nos. 17 and 14, respectively. Both are new in each chart’s top 20.
Further, Xavi debuts on both charts with “Poco A Poco,” with Los Dareyes De La Sierra, and “Modo Dnd” with Tony Aguirre. The one-after-another onslaught is reminiscent of fellow regional Mexican star Peso Pluma’s sudden surge on the global charts last year, when he amassed seven debuts between March and April. Peso Pluma himself scores his fifth top 10 hit on each global list, as “Bellakeo” with Anitta hits No. 6 on Global Excl. U.S. and No. 7 on the Global 200.
Even with all of Xavi’s success on the U.S.-based Hot 100 and Latin charts, three of his four globally-charting hits are higher on the Global Excl. U.S. tally than the Global 200. “La Diabla” and “La Victima” takes the Nos. 1 and 2 spots, respectively, on Billboard’s Mexico Songs ranking, while the former is also in the top 10 in Colombia and Ecuador.
The first No. 1 of 2024 on Billboard’s Hot Latin Songs chart belongs to 19-year-old Mexican-American artist Xavi, whose “La Diabla” (“The She-Devil”) is a romantic tumbado about a bad boy romancing a bad girl to the tune of a crunchy requinto guitar. Out on Interscope, the song, which rose from No. 4 to No. 1 post-Christmas, is Xavi’s first No. 1 on any Billboard chart. It also topped Spotify’s Global Top 50, a first for a solo regional Mexican act.
Xavi (short for Joshua Xavier Gutiérrez) also scored his fourth week atop Billboard’s Latin Songwriters chart on the strength of “La Diabla,” his previous single “La víctima” (which rose from No. 7 to No. 5 on Hot Latin Songs this week), “Poco a Poco” with Dareyes De La Sierra (at No. 18) and “Modo DND” with Tony Aguirre (at No. 21).
It’s quite a performance for the relatively unknown singer-songwriter from Arizona, who was signed to Interscope two years ago when he was still in the early TikTok stage, with no viral hit to his name.
“We have great respect for the indie labels, but it’s not like he was going viral and we signed him,” says Manny Prado, vp of marketing and A&R for Interscope. “I think it’s a big success for a major label that we were able to get an artist from zero to the global charts, and hopefully next he’ll become a global superstar.”
Prado, who spent two decades with Sony U.S. Latin, most recently as head of West Coast operations, moved to Interscope in August and took over a blooming regional Mexican roster that also includes Gabito Ballesteros and Iván Cornejo. While he works with all genres of Latin music in his new position, as a Mexican-American, the rise of regional Mexican music has been particularly gratifying, he says. Regional Mexican music — the broad umbrella term given to dozens of subgenres like banda, norteño, corridos and sierreño — has always been one of the foundations of Latin music’s success, both in the United States and Mexico. But it only entered the global consciousness — and the Hot 100 — in the past two years.
Now, Xavi is part of a new generation of very young Regional Mexican artists whose music is currently the dominant Latin presence on the Hot 100 and the global Latin charts overall. But, unlike most rising stars, who first enter the upper echelons of the charts aided by collaborations and big-name partnerships, Xavi has done so alone. Both “La Diabla” and “La víctima,” his two big hits, are solo efforts by design. Since signing him, Interscope has focused on developing both his style and his songwriting. His more romantic approach — Xavi has yet to enter “bélico,” or drug-related songwriting terrain — coupled with a baby face and a vibrant, acoustic sound, has given him broad appeal. And Interscope’s focus on social amplification has taken his music even further.
In recognition of Xavi’s Hot Latin Songs chart feat, Prado is Billboard’s Executive of the Week. Below, he talks about the rise of Regional Mexican with a younger generation, why they decided not to make “La Diabla” a duet, how they plan to broaden Xavi’s reach beyond the Latin audience and more.
You’re based in Los Angeles but report to Nir Seroussi, who runs Interscope’s Miami office, with a growing Latin roster. How important is Mexican music within that?
Here at Interscope, we don’t have an “Interscope rock” or an “Interscope country,” and we don’t have a division we call Latin or Mexican. What we do is we assemble a specific team depending on the artist, and I’m in charge of all the “Miami” roster, [including] Kali Uchis and Karol G. Regional Mexican has grown exponentially. We already had Xavi when I came in, as well as Iván Cornejo and Marca Registrada [among many others]. And the common theme is they’re all young. The majority are Mexican-American, which I love, born in the United States, just like me. My parents are Mexican immigrants, so for me, it’s an honor to work with these types of artists that I have so much in common with. It’s all about respecting each individual artist, having the deepest respect for their roots and giving them the service they want. Sometimes we work with our general-market company. We don’t have borders.
Regional Mexican music has always been a backbone of Latin music but has never been this global. Why do you think it’s having such a moment right now?
They’re Gen Z-ers, and I think that’s the difference. For example, I was at Amoeba Music, and never in my wildest dreams did I imagine I’d see Natanael Cano and Gabito Ballesteros t-shirts. That’s the beauty of today that has never happened: The younger generation is growing up with these artists. When I was growing up it was all traditional music, there was nothing really young. Now it’s cool to like Mexican; the way they dress, the way they talk, they’re very relatable. And you can be an artist from Mexico and have the same things.
Within this big crop of acts, what makes Xavi stand out?
When Nir and the team first met Xavi, they immediately recognized a genuine artist in the traditional sense: a phenomenal songwriter who can sing and is also relatable. In a sea of artists lacking these qualities, Xavi stood out. People are growing weary of the superficial, and they crave authenticity — the real deal. And Xavi is the real deal. We have a daily sentiment report that we’re very much obsessed with.
A sentiment report? Can you explain?
We go into social media and look at every little comment. For example, if there’s a post on TikTok, we’ll see what the general sentiment is. This team is amazing. What sets Xavi apart by just looking at that report and talking to people is his mannerisms, his style, he’s being compared to the biggest artists on the planet. People like him. Tiene angel.
You said that social media has played a huge role in Xavi’s rise. Can you point to some examples in which Interscope mined that?
Our digital marketing team prioritized reaching out to genre-specific music reviewers to encourage them to discuss Xavi. We presented them with the project, and they consistently came back with extremely positive comments. Additionally, we organically documented special moments in the studio, video shoots and interviews, keeping Xavi’s audience captivated and well-informed. It wasn’t easy. A lot of people said, “Who is that kid?” The music also changed and he found his direction.
How did the music change?
He just found his style. It became like tumbadito romántico. Before it was a lot more romantic, a little poppier. Now he has more of a Mexican edge in the music. Another thing is, “La Diabla” talks about women in a very positive light. We’re seeing the female population really embrace it. In the genre, it’s not a thing to write about women in a positive light.
I’m also struck by the fact that his two biggest hits are solo tracks instead of collabs. Was this a deliberate decision?
Yes, and we’re very proud of it. He actually made history as the only solo Mexican artist to hit No. 1 on the Spotify chart. We wanted to be different and we felt that Xavi really had the talent, that distinctive voice to accomplish that goal. When we saw “La víctima” take off like it did, and then we had “La Diabla,” we said, “Let’s keep going.” We did think about making it a duet and we’ve had various artists approach [us], but ultimately the decision was, we’re going alone. We felt we had so much momentum that we thought we shouldn’t wait, even though the holidays were coming.
How did you promote the track?
We had a Posada at Interscope studios before the holidays, around December 14. It’s for sure the first regional Mexican event done at the historic Interscope studios in L.A., and we invited DSPs, influencers, traditional media, and that’s how we kicked off the single. And we amplified everything through that event. The goal was to surpass “La víctima.” Honestly, the goal was not a global No. 1.
I know Xavi was signed two years ago, and shortly after, he was in a big car accident that required hospitalization, extensive plastic surgery and which sidelined him for a bit. How did that affect his development? Was there a tipping point?
I don’t think this happened overnight. And we’ve always been working on music since he got signed, and that’s what it’s all about: A&R and creating awareness. He really wasn’t doing media because he was going through a moment there with the accident. But he came out of it and he wanted to give it his all. Everything clicked all at once, even though it was two years in the making. But I want to stress: It wasn’t overnight. We have four songs now on the global charts. And that’s rare nowadays. We have great respect for the indie labels but it’s not like he was going viral and we signed him. Interscope came across a video, they shared it with Nir, Nir decided to sign him. I think it’s a big success for a major label that we were able to get an artist from zero to getting on the global charts, and hopefully, next he’ll become a global superstar. Really rare nowadays.
Are there any specific examples of how the Latin team collaborated with Interscope’s general-market departments on “La Diabla”?
Once the record gained traction, we collaborated with Gary Kelly‘s team (Interscope’s GM/chief revenue officer) to expand its reach beyond Latin playlisting, successfully securing a spot on Spotify’s Today’s Top Hits. All the DSPs have been very supportive, but it hasn’t been automatic. We are also closely working with Cara Donatto (executive vp/head of media) and Xavier Ramos (executive vp of pop & rock marketing) and their respective teams on general-market media outreach and marketing initiatives.
What’s next for Xavi?
He recently signed with WME and we’re working hand in hand with them and working on a tour. He recently signed a publishing deal with Universal Latin. We don’t have plans for an album yet, so we will keep releasing singles. And we’re releasing the video for “Sin Pagar la Renta,” which never had a video when it was originally released last year. That’s also unusual.