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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.’ ”
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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.”
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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.”
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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.
The sound that dominated popular Spanish-language music in 2023 wasn’t represented at all on the Billboard Hot 100 until two years ago, when Gera MX and Christian Nodal’s country-tinged “Botella Tras Botella” debuted at No. 60 and made history as the first regional Mexican song on the chart. Since then, the genre’s presence on the ranking has exploded as a new crop of stars has evolved the music’s sound and look, borrowing from hip-hop, trap and rap to build on its traditional instruments of guitar, accordion and more. As a result, these artists have nurtured a new generation of fans for a genre with foundations that date back over a century.
This year, more than 35 regional Mexican tracks have entered the Hot 100, highlighted by Eslabon Armado and Peso Pluma’s blockbuster smash, “Ella Baila Sola,” which also made history when it reached the chart’s top five. This record year for regional Mexican music, or música Mexicana, has been powered by not only superstar collaborations — like Grupo Frontera’s team-up with Bad Bunny and Fuerza Regida pairing with Marshmello — but also support from major labels eager to partner with the independents that have long dominated the genre. In the first half of 2023 alone, overall consumption of regional Mexican music jumped 42.1%, topping all other genres but K-pop, according to Luminate.
“For decades, Mexican music has played a significant role in Latin music, leaving a profound impact on the global musical landscape,” says Manny Prado, vp of marketing and A&R at Interscope Records. “Finally, it has gained the acknowledgment it deserves.” This year in particular, international collaborations have propelled the sound into uncharted territories, and no other Latin genre has gained the traction of regional Mexican.
Its newfound popularity is rooted in many things, but particularly in its indie support, followed by multinational distribution partnerships with major labels. In June, Fuerza Regida frontman Jesús Ortiz Paz signed a worldwide deal with Cinq Music to distribute his own label, Street Mob Records, which he launched in 2018. The move followed a deal that Fuerza Regida signed with Sony Music Latin last year through a partnership with its indie label, Rancho Humilde. The strategy also worked for Washington state-based sibling trio Yahritza y Su Esencia, which signed to Columbia Records in partnership with Sony Music Latin and its indie Lumbre Music (which had discovered and signed the act eight months prior).
While indies have historically dominated the genre — and continue to do so — such partnerships indicate that alliances will be key to the music’s continued growth in 2024.
“We saw Mexican music grow because artists started to collaborate, and it’s the same thing when companies start joining forces,” says Maria Inés Sánchez, Sony Music Latin’s new vp of West Coast operations. “Major labels like Sony can reach a broader spectrum of the business in general. We have eyes where indies perhaps don’t with offices internationally.”
At the center of the regional Mexican revolution is Peso Pluma, whose raw and raspy vocals and signature sound of punctuated trombones and charchetas — along with a quirky haircut — made him the unwitting face of the genre. After a few collaborations with fellow corrido artists at the beginning of the year, he struck gold when he teamed with Eslabon Armado for “Ella Baila Sola.” Arguably this year’s biggest Latin hit, with 617.3 million on-demand official streams in the United States, it proves how a powerful song can propel a local genre to global recognition, as well as the importance of catering to a broader audience. The two indie artists are stylistically opposites; Peso Pluma is known for his swaggy, attitude-heavy corridos and Eslabon Armado for its romantic sierreño ballads. “Ella Baila Sola” became the first regional Mexican song to dominate the Billboard Global 200 (holding the top slot for six weeks) and is No. 1 on the year-end Hot Latin Songs chart.
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Another head-turning team-up arrived in April, when Bad Bunny joined Tejano act Grupo Frontera for “un x100to,” a cumbia/norteña song that scored a top 10 debut on the Hot 100. It was perhaps a catalyst for other unorthodox collaborations that followed, including Peso Pluma and El Alfa, Grupo Frontera and Manuel Turizo, and Banda MS and Ice Cube.
“The [Mexican] movement is now taking advantage just as reggaetón did” in the early 2000s, says Sergio Lizárraga, founder of indie label Lizos Music and manager of Banda MS. “But in the end, the root is the same, the themes they address are the same — just sung differently.”
Uriel Waizel, the editorial lead for Mexico at Spotify, compares this wave of success to another genre entirely: Afrobeats. “The biggest lesson regional Mexican music has taught is that the ‘traditional’ format had to make concessions to impact the U.S. and global charts,” Waizel says. “Which is what we saw happen with Rema and Selena Gomez [with “Calm Down”]. It’s a great example of music that becomes more digestible for global audiences.”
He cites recent Latin hits like “Qlona” by Karol G and Peso Pluma and “Harley Quinn” by Fuerza Regida and Marshmello as further proof. “After several iterations that have been happening evolutionarily over the past five years,” he says, “música Mexicana has finally found its way into the global market.”
This story originally appeared in the Dec. 9, 2023, issue of Billboard.
Warner Music has revamped its regional Mexican music operation, announcing veteran executives Delia Orjuela and Ruben Abraham as co-heads of its growing Música Mexicana division.
In their new roles, Orjuela and Abraham will jointly lead the division’s overall strategy for the U.S. and Mexico. Orjuela will focus on artist relations and creative projects, and Abraham will concentrate on operations, growth and dealmaking.
Abraham, an 18-year veteran of Warner, was most recently senior vp of marketing and artist strategy for Warner Music Latina, based out of Miami.
He will now join Orjuela – who joined Warner Music Latina as general manager of Mexican music in 2021–in Los Angeles. Both executives will report to Tomás Rodríguez, president of Warner Music Mexico and Central America, with additional oversight from Alejandro Duque, president of Warner Music Latin America.
Warner’s restructure is aligned with the label’s new focus on Mexican music. Years before, Warner had been a powerhouse in that arena, but over the years the label focused more on pop.
Once Duque joined the company as president in 2021, he made Mexican music a priority and launched the Música Mexicana division, signing acts like Los Aptos, Tomas Ballardo and DannyLux, who performed at Coachella this year. Last year, the label also signed veterans Grupo Pesado, who had been in Warner decades ago, and stars like El Komander.
“Música Mexicana is a diverse body of music with a long, rich, and beautiful history. Delia and Ruben’s deep experience, relationships, and passion for Mexican music make them the ideal leaders as we strengthen our commitment to taking Música Mexicana into a new era of global growth and influence,” said Duque in a statement.
“I look forward to leading Warner Music’s Música Mexicana division alongside my colleague Ruben Abraham,” said Orjuela. “Together, we will build on the foundation that has been established to help take Mexican artists and music to new heights.”
“It’s an honor to help shape the future of Música Mexicana,” said Abraham. “The growth of Mexican music consumption in Mexico itself and in the U.S. is a big priority for us, and I’m excited to collaborate with Delia to accelerate our artist development and reach. With the teams, tools, and expertise of our network, we have an incredible opportunity to amplify Mexican music worldwide.”
Tomas Rodriguez adds: “Delia and Ruben are powerhouses when it comes to championing artists and driving business results. Our Música Mexicana efforts are in the perfect hands under their strategic leadership.”
Regional Mexican music, also known as Música Mexicana, has long been one of the backbones of Spanish language music in the United States, bolstered by a huge Mexican American population. But in the past year, both local and global interest in the music has exploded, and major labels like Sony and Warner are putting new emphasis and resources behind the music.
After seven years working for regional Mexican indie labels — including DEL Records and most recently AfinArte Music — and helping grow the música mexicana genre, industry veteran Maria Inés Sánchez has been appointed Sony Music Latin’s new vp of West Coast operations.
Based out of Los Angeles, Sánchez, who began her career over two decades ago with stints at Sony and Universal, will report directly to Esteban Geller, general manager of Sony Music U.S. Latin, and oversee a team that includes other new hires such as Gonzalo Herrerias, senior director A&R and label manager Juan Tapia.
With Sánchez’s appointment, the label doubles down on its dedication to support the genre, which has seen extraordinary global growth this past year alone. “Sony Music Latin is really committed on continuing this explosion,” Sánchez tells Billboard. “The commitment being that we have to support a new generations of artists and help develop them because these young artists will only continue to fuse and evolve the sound, which has helped the genre grow.”
With indie labels mainly driving the the genre’s surge, Sánchez says the key to keep pushing the genre forward will be creating key alliances between major labels and indies. Sony Music Latin has already entered partnerships with labels such as Lumbre Music (Yahritza y Su Esencia) and Rancho Humilde (Fuerza Regida).
“We saw Mexican music grow because artists started to collaborate,” explains Sánchez. “It’s the same thing if companies start joining forces. Major labels like Sony, we can reach a broader spectrum of the business in general. We have eyes where indie’s perhaps don’t with offices internationally, which help export the music and work in other key markets such as Latin America and Spain.”
It aligns with how Sony U.S. Latin president Alex Gallardo visualizes the label’s role in regional Mexican music today. “We want to be the best possible partner for any artist, label, manager, or any Mexican music project, for this we have reinforced the West Coast team, and we have a clear vision to take Mexican music as far as possible,” says Gallardo.
Sony U.S. Latin also has an alliance with Sony Music Mexico to work both countries, Mexico and the United States, as a “single market,” Gallardo explains.
Adding that, ultimately, the plan is to break regional Mexican music beyond those two countries and enter new markets throughout Latin America and Spain. “We have already taken steps like getting Christian Nodal to sell out a WiZink Center in Madrid for 15,000 people … In countries like Colombia, Chile or Spain [the genre] is entering little by little and I believe that the strength of Sony in all these markets should be focused on bringing this wonderful music that is coming out of this new wave of artists.”
Naming Sánchez as vp of West Coast operations, a role previously served by Manny Prado (now at Interscope), means having someone who has a “very complete vision of both the business and Mexican music” having experience in both indie and major labels. Plus, having a woman in charge is something that “makes us very happy,” adds Gallardo.
“As a woman, I bring passion and conviction to a genre that I respect and love,” says Sánchez. “I’m committed to keep fueling this música mexicana explosion and impacting on a bigger level.”
From a rapper to a reggaetón-pop hitmaker, Becky G‘s musical journey has been nothing short of eclectic. On Friday (Sept. 29), the artist unveiled a new chapter in her ever-evolving career, as she dropped the mesmerizing Mexican music album Esquinas — a sincere exploration of her identity as a proud “200 percenter”: 100% Mexican, 100% American. Her third studio album is a tribute to her roots, and a celebration of her identity.
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Growing up in Inglewood, Calif., Becky G found inspiration in the rich tapestry of regional Mexican music, a source of deep connection since childhood. Her musical tastes, spanning from R&B to country to rancheras, led her to declare herself a genre-defying artist. “Music is a universal language — it feels limitless, it feels like I can create with intention, no matter the sound, no matter the language,” she tells Billboard Español.
With Esquinas, she embarks on a journey of rediscovery, delving into her Chicana roots, a tribute influenced by her abuelitos who encouraged her to explore regional Mexican music. It’s a full-circle moment where her diverse influences coalesce into a heartfelt homage to her heritage.
Featuring classic música mexicana covers, and an impressive cast of guests including Yahritza y Su Esencia, Ivan Cornejo, DannyLux, Peso Pluma and more, the album beautifully encapsulates her identity— a convergence of cultures, languages, and flags — at the crossroads of her rich and diverse experiences.
Becky G sat down with Billboard Español to discuss this new project.
You debuted as a rapper, then you became a reggaetón-pop hitmaker. Today you released a regional Mexican music album.
It’s been quite the journey, girlfriend. Para mí desde niña la música regional siempre me inspiraba (Since I was a little girl regional Mexican music always inspired me). I grew up listening to all kinds of music in English and Spanish: from R&B, country, reggaetón and rancheras — and everything in between. I consider myself a genre-less artist, and I love that about my creativity. I’ve even done a K-pop fusion.
Music is a universal language. It feels limitless — it feels like I can create with intention, no matter the sound, no matter the language, si es en español, o si es en inglés (be it in Spanish, or be it in English.)
How did you come up with the title, Esquinas?
I’ve always felt like I’m not this side or that side of the street. I am literally la esquina (the corner). La esquina is where those cross streets meet — where those two languages, those two flags, and the two cultures [reside.] When I close my eyes and I think of what I experienced in my culture growing up, to capture that essence as close as I can to when I was a little girl is really important to me. Even the city that I grew up in is changing so much. So it’s a very intentional body of work, from the visuals and song selections to all of the collaborators. [Producer and songwriter] Edgar Barrera is family to me, and he really helped create a sound that represents me in this space. I feel like you can really hear me and see me in this album.
You’ve pulled up some amazing guests on your new album: Peso Pluma, Gabito Ballesteros… How do you select who to collaborate with?
Going back to creating something of our own as 200 percenters… There is this wave of fresh and authentic artists in the regional space, and we’re not necessarily erasing our traditions; we’re embracing tradition as well as giving it our own new school flair. I had my heart set on artists who interpret regional music in their own way, because I think that’s really how we’re going to continue to evolve and introduce it to the world. Obviously, it’s been around forever, but that was my intention.
When I worked with Peso y estuvimos en el estudio (and we were at the studio), we didn’t really have intentions. It was just to introduce each other. Then Edgar [Barrera] whips out a guitar, and next thing you know, we wrote [“Chanel”] in 45 minutes, así de la nada (just like that out of nowhere). It was instant chemistry between Peso and I. One of my favorite memories is working with Ivan Conejo on our song [“2ndo Chance”]. He almost canceled the studio session, ¡le tocó los nervios! (He got nervous!) He’s like, “I feel a little bit of pressure. I want to do a really good job. I’m going to be going on my first tour, and I just don’t want to let you down.” I was like, “Bro, you could literally come and we can eat In-N-Out and just hang. We don’t have to write anything. Let’s just vibe.” Then one thing leads to another and you start creating these beautiful friendships.
There are also a few Mexican oldies but goodies in the album.
Like any traditional regional project, you want to have some covers on there. I personally selected the covers that I did for the album. They either take me to a point in time in my life that remind me of my childhood or have such a deeper significance, even before I ever existed. One of those is “Cruz de Olvido.” It’s a song that my papi (grandpa) dedicated to my grandma when he was crossing over from Mexico to the United States. My grandma had her sons, she was left behind by the love of her life, so he could hopefully establish a better life for them — and to eventually cross them over as well.
“Cruz de Olvido” is one of the first mariachi songs that I ever learned. I have a video of me singing it to my papi on his birthday. I’m 12 years old, singing it in the front of my papi’s house in Inglewood. He is no longer here.
Stepping into this project, what did you rediscover? How did you reconnect with your heritage?
The essence of me being Chicana, born and raised in Inglewood, and being very proud of my Mexican roots, that’s always been there. Maybe it wasn’t at the forefront of my [creative work] or aesthetics. But as far as my essence and my being, I am who I am because of the culture that raised me. I’m very lucky to have had my abuelitos. All four were very present in my life for most of my childhood. Two years ago, when I lost my papi, my abuelito… he was kind of the catalyst as to why I decided it was time to do the project, because it has been a dream of mine since I was little. Yo siempre hablaba con ellos, they would be like, “mija, ¿y cuándo [harás] música regional? Es que cantas muy bonito cuando cantas con mariachi” (sweetheart, when will you [make] regional music? You sing very beautifully when you sing with mariachi). My grandma would make fun of me because when I would rap, she was like, “Ay mija, ¿por qué tan enojada?” (why so upset?) I’d be like, “Because I got s–t to say, grandma.” It’s so beautiful now. It feels very full-circle. It definitely feels like it’s a part of my soul when I sing música regional mexicana.
I remember watching you live at a Mexican festival a few years ago, and you said something beautiful: “I love my life in between two worlds representing two flags.” You are a proud 200 percenter. What does that mean?
I remember there was a moment in my life when I was like, “Man, 50/50 doesn’t cut it. Why do I have to give up half of myself to be accepted here, and then vice versa?” It doesn’t do what I feel in my heart justice to just cap it at 50% here, and 50% there. I’m 100% proud to be from Inglewood, but I’m also 100% proud to be Mexicana, to be Latina. I want to consider myself 200%. I feel like it’s something that a lot of youth who grew up in mixed ethnicity households can identify with.
I have friends who are Asian-American, African-American, and they’re like, “Girl, I hear all the time, I’m not enough this, or I’m not enough that.” [I wanted to] create a space for ourselves to be who we are, authentically. And as time goes on, hopefully the next generations can get more inspired to understand that nunca es tarde, it’s never too late to learn more about where we come from. For me, ser latina es más que hablar el idioma (to be Latina is more than to speak the language). I am so pocha (Mexican-American), and probably forever will be, but I’m going to own my pocha power. The fact that I can think in hybrid is really cool.
