State Champ Radio regional Mexican
Page: 3
While superstar musicians from Puerto Rico, Colombia and across the Americas have raised the profile — and bottom line — of Latin music in recent years, 2023 is turning out to be a breakout year for a particular kind of Latin music.
Regional Mexican music consumption in the United States jumped 42.1% year to date through May 25, according to Luminate. The genre — comprised of banda, corridos, norteño, sierreño, mariachi and more subgenres — had 5.81 million equivalent album units [EAUs] in the first 21 weeks of 2023 compared to 4.09 million EAUs in the prior-year period. EAUs combine album sales in addition to track sales and streams converted into album units.
That outpaces gains in the Latin genre overall (+23.1%), as well as country (+21.7%), dance/electronic (+15.5%), rock (+12.4%) and pop (+10.3%), as well as the overall market (+13.4%). Only K-pop — up 49.4% year to date as Korean music companies partner with U.S. labels to further penetrate the U.S. market — has performed better than regional Mexican.
The numbers are on track with Mexican music’s exponential and global growth — which Billboard has been reporting on — over the past few years. The legacy genre, which has been around for more than a century and a half, has experienced a newfound popularity, ushered in by a new generation of Mexican and Mexican-American artists who have subtly fused core traditional sounds with urbano/hip-hop styles appealing to a younger, digitally connected audience — mostly notably Eslabon Armado, Peso Pluma and Grupo Frontera.
About 99% of regional Mexican consumption comes from streaming. Through May 25, on-demand audio streaming from services such as Spotify and Apple Music accounted for about 90% of consumption of regional Mexican music. The remaining streaming consumption came from video streaming platforms such as YouTube and programmed streams from Pandora and other non-interactive radio services. Physical sales are not important for the genre — some artists are digital only — accounting for about 1% of total consumption.
Collaborations have driven success for regional Mexican artists, with Elsabon Armado and Pluma’s hit single, “Ella Baila Sola,” and Grupo Frontera’s collab with Bad Bunny both reaching the top 5 of the Billboard Hot 100 in May. Both songs are currently part of a handful of regional Mexican songs that are surging on the Billboard Global 200 chart, where representation of the genre went from notably absent to now comprising nearly 10% of the entire ranking. Sixteen regional Mexican songs have debuted on the Hot 100 as of June 2; the chart dated May 6 set a record, with 14 positions occupied by regional Mexican tracks and another held down by a remix of Latin urban artist Ynvg Lvcas’s “La Bebe” featuring Pluma.
Latin music has soared in recent years with the help of artists such as Puerto Rico’s Bad Bunny and Colombia’s Karol G. In 2022, Latin music consumption grew 28.2% and was the No. 5 genre in the U.S. behind R&B/hip hop, rock, pop and country. Bad Bunny alone accounted for 6.7% of Latin consumption in 2022 when his album Un Verano Sin Ti finished the year as the top album in the United States and put 24 tracks into the Hot 100 chart.
Regional Mexican represented 18.2% of Latin consumption in 2022, about the same as the prior two years (19% and 18.7%). But through May 25, a handful of standout successes helped regional Mexican increase its share of Latin consumption to 20.1%.
Eslabon Armado is the leading regional Mexican act thus far in 2023. The four-piece group from California’s central valley accounted for about 8% of regional Mexican consumption through May 25 and boasted the second-highest consumption of any Latin artist behind Bad Bunny. That’s translated into chart success, including reaching No. 4 on the Hot 100 with “Ella Baile Sola” and reaching No. 6 on the Billboard 200 albums chart with Desvelado on DEL Records. The second- and third-leading regional Mexican artists, Ivan Cornejo and Junior H, both rank amongst the 11 most popular Latin artists in terms of EAUs — behind Colombian superstar Shakira and ahead of American-born Puerto Rican rapper Eladio Carrion.
This year, the top regional Mexican albums are dominated by artists, not compilations. Sony Music Latin’s Fuerza Regida has both the top album, Pa Que Hablan, and the No. 4 album, Sigan Hablando. Last year’s top albums, Modo Despecho and Cantina Mega Mix, rank at No. 6 and No. 7, respectively. In the same period in 2022, nine of the top 10 regional Mexican albums were compilations such as Universal Music Group’s Modo Despecho, Cantina Mega Mix and Cumbias de Microbusera. Corta Venas by DEL Records’ Eslabon Armado was the lone artist album in last year’s top 25 regional Mexican albums.
Collaborations have added to regional Mexican artists’ success in 2023. Eslabon Armado’s share of the subgenre increases from about 8% to 9.6% when collaborations with Cornejo, Junior H, Grupo Frontera, Fuerza Regida and Luis R. Conriquez are counted. Fuerza Regida’s standalone recordings and collaborations with Grupo Frontera, Natanael Cano, Peso Pluma, Juanpa Salazar, Marca Registrada, Cornejo, Becky G and others in the top 200 regional Mexican artists give the group a 9.2% share of regional Mexican consumption.
Jimmy Humilde’s first foray into the music business was a party at his sister’s house in Venice, Calif., that he promoted with street flyers. The entrance fee was $5, and Humilde, then 13 years old, made $300. He was hooked.
It was the early 1990s, and the soundtrack of the streets was trance, techno and hip-hop. But Humilde (born Jaime Alejandro to immigrants from Michoacán, Mexico) soon started to include the music of his home in his flyer parties, adding Vicente Fernández and Mexican cumbias into the mix. Then a cousin introduced him to the music of Chalino Sánchez, the underground corrido singer from Culiacán, Mexico, who was kidnapped and murdered at 32 years old in 1992 in what presumably was a revenge killing.
“I didn’t know who Chalino Sánchez was. I didn’t know what a corrido was,” says Humilde, 43, of the songs that narrate the exploits of real and mythical heroes and antiheroes, from 19th century revolutionaries to current-day drug dealers. “But when I met his music, he became part of my soul. He wrote corridos not only for Mexican people but for people who lived in the U.S. that I could relate to.” Sánchez’s songs, combined with his swaggering attitude and combustible persona, planted a seed for Humilde: Why couldn’t there be more music like his, rooted in Mexican culture and appealing to a young, U.S.-born audience?
Nearly 20 years later, his label, Rancho Humilde, is at the forefront of a global explosion of regional Mexican music — the umbrella term for several subgenres that include brass-driven banda, accordion-inflected norteño, traditional mariachi and, increasingly, traditional music that incorporates hip-hop.
Since Rancho Humilde, which translates to “Humble Ranch,” began releasing music in 2017, the label has logged 18 titles on Billboard’s Top Latin Albums chart, including six top 10s, and 41 tracks on Hot Latin Songs. Out of those, seven reached the top 10, including the two-week champ “Bebe Dame.” The label has also placed six songs on the all-genre Billboard Hot 100. Five of them were on the May 6 chart that featured 14 regional Mexican songs, two of them in the top 10 — a breakthrough week for the genre. Fuerza Regida, Natanael Cano and Junior H are among the Rancho Humilde acts that charted.
A friend used canvas from Humilde’s Louis Vuitton travel bags to create this saddle and mount. “Just for decoration!” he says.
Michael Tyrone Delaney
Humilde and his partners, José Becerra and Rocky Venegas, built the label through unorthodox means, relying almost solely on social media over radio and TV to promote their acts and by working with multiple labels and distributors, which enabled their roster to collaborate with a wider array of artists from different genres at a time when Mexican acts were notoriously averse to the practice.
Almost six years after Rancho Humilde was founded, the label is opening new offices in Paramount, Calif., just outside Los Angeles. Not coincidentally, it’s the exact location where Sánchez once ran his own pager store.
“I’m in it for the future of our culture,” Humilde says. “From the beginning, I wanted to be the door-opener.”
What was it like growing up in Venice in the ’90s?
Hip-hop was my heart. I was a huge fan of LL Cool J, Kool Moe Dee, EPMD — old-school hip-hop. To this day, I still listen to hip-hop a lot. I grew up in a multiracial area. There were a lot of Mexicans, but also a lot of Asians and whites. Corridos and Mexican music were not it. They called me “Jimmy the Paisa,” which in our neighborhood meant “straight Mexican.” So while I did raves and hip-hop events for many years, I was the only one in Venice listening to Mexican music. I was the guy known for tejanas.
This Kobe Bryant bobblehead “is the only one in the world” in its size, says Humilde. “I love Dodgers, Lakers, Raiders and Rams memorabilia.”
Michael Tyrone Delaney
With that multicultural atmosphere, why did you enter the regional Mexican business?
I’ve been in the business since I was 14, when I started working as a gopher with another Mexican artist who sang corridos, Jessie Morales, El Original de la Sierra. I realized that we were losing our Mexican culture. The kids weren’t speaking Spanish. It wasn’t cool. I’ve always thought it’s so cool to be Mexican, to have immigrant parents and to speak both languages. I thought I could introduce others to this life. I had to find a way to mix my culture, my Chicano culture, with the Mexican culture. And I did.
What was Rancho Humilde’s breakthrough moment?
“De Periódico un Gallito,” a song by LEGADO 7 we released in 2017. [It peaked at No. 38 on the Regional Mexican Airplay chart.] That corrido talks about a guy who grew up on the streets of Los Angeles and was a drug dealer. That’s the corrido that opened the doors to our music. We basically did a hip-hop song in Spanish. Then we signed Arsenal Efectivo, El de la Guitarra, Fuerza Regida, then Natanael Cano.
Peso Pluma is dominating the charts. He sounds very similar to Cano, with whom he has collaborated.
Peso Pluma calls Natanael “The GOAT.” Natanael Cano opened the lane for everyone. If Nata, Junior H, Fuerza Regida hadn’t existed, this wouldn’t be where it’s at today. Natanael brought swag. He brought that kid that didn’t give a fuck. He brought that, “I’m going to do whatever the fuck I want, and I don’t care” attitude. When I first asked Nata what tumbao was, he said: “I am tumbao.” Before, corridos were listened to by fans with cowboy hats and boots. Today, you’ll see 13-, 14-year-old kids in Jordans listening to corridos tumbaos.
Humilde explains that the liquor store, which was built as a prop “for our music videos,” is a replica of a corner from his old Venice neighborhood.
Michael Tyrone Delaney
Your artists weren’t the first to blend Mexican and hip-hop sounds, but acts like Akwid in the 2000s didn’t reach the level of success that Rancho Humilde’s artists are having now. Is it simply a matter of timing?
It didn’t work before because the people behind it weren’t real. They weren’t from the streets. They were copying what other people were doing. Akwid is from the streets, but the people behind them weren’t.
What is your strategy for working with multiple distributors? Most labels usually strike a deal with just one. For example, Cano with Warner; Fuerza Regida with Sony.
I’m not committed to just one. Me, along with my attorneys — George Prajin and Anthony Lopez — structured our own contract and our own way of doing business. I don’t have exclusivity with anyone. I don’t think anyone should have exclusivity with anyone. I don’t believe in licenses because there’s only one person that owns our music, and it’s [us]. And I’m also business partners with our artists. We restructured our whole company, and we don’t sign artists to a royalty fee. We sign artists as business partners, we help them build their own labels and businesses, and we do a [joint venture] between labels.
You’re so indie-minded. Why distribute with Warner’s Alternative Distribution Alliance and Sony’s Orchard versus another indie?
My whole goal was to [go global]. And I finally realized that the only people I was going to be able to do it with was with a global company. That’s why I chose Warner at first, then Sony, then Universal; I did a one-off deal with Republic and Universal. I needed the reach. I needed people to learn about this and realize it was different. It wasn’t only about us being banda.
Medals given to the owners of Rancho Humilde when they visited the White House.
Michael Tyrone Delaney
How important is social media to Rancho Humilde’s success?
Social media is Rancho Humilde. We were born in social media. We started with Myspace all the way down to Facebook, all the way down to Instagram and TikTok. But our biggest [avenue] was YouTube. YouTube is huge for us revenuewise, bigger than the other platforms. Facebook, Instagram and TikTok are our main marketing channels. We were never on radio until the most recent hit by Fuerza Regida. The only work we outsource is with our publicist, Monica Escobar, who does everything we don’t do on marketing on our end.
One of the biggest challenges facing successful industries in Mexico are the drug cartels. In recent years, they’ve taken over the trade of limes, avocados and other produce. As music becomes an exponentially more valuable export, how do you protect your business from that influence?
I just feel that certain people got their help as they could. That’s one of the things that kept Rancho Humilde from becoming the most successful label [quickly], because we never had any investors. It was always JB, Rocky and myself. I don’t care who it is. I just don’t believe in investors. Have other companies used that? I don’t know. I’ve never asked. I know drug cartels exist, and my dad always told me the biggest cartel was the government and the church. I agree with that. I don’t fight it. I don’t criticize anyone for what they do. I don’t care what they do.
Rancho Humilde’s 2019 release of Cano’s “Soy el Diablo” remix with Bad Bunny was groundbreaking at the time. Now mainstream labels are signing Mexican acts. What do you think of that?
I don’t see why they wouldn’t, but it’s going to be hard for them to catch up to all the indies already performing at a high level.
What does it mean to you that this music is now popular in places far from Mexico?
I knew this was going to happen. Right before Peso Pluma came in, Nata was already a global artist. He was known in Spain, Chile, Argentina, but the music wasn’t charting as high as it is today. Peso Pluma won’t be the biggest artist. There’s a whole lot coming who will be huge. [But] Peso is like the Daddy Yankee of our genre. He went and opened the doors worldwide, but here come more monsters. If you’re not focused on Mexican music right now, I suggest you do.
At the start of 2022, Yahritza y Su Esencia emerged as the buzzy regional Mexican music act every label wanted to sign. In a matter of months, the Washington state-based Martinez sibling trio went from a local band that sang at family parties to the future of regional Mexican with its sad, catchy sierreño songs, powered by Yahritza’s emotional vocals, Mando’s requinto and Jairo’s bajoloche.
By March 2022, after signing a deal with independent label Lumbre Music, Yahritza y Su Esencia released their official debut single, “Soy el Único.” It entered the Billboard Hot 100 at No. 20 and made Yahritza the youngest Latin performer to debut on the chart at just 15 years old. The act subsequently notched its first No. 1 on Regional Mexican Albums with its Obsessed EP, scored a Latin Grammy Award nod for best new artist and, by November, signed with Columbia Records in a partnership with Lumbre Music and Sony Music Latin. A worldwide deal with SESAC Latina soon followed.
All the while, Yahritza’s 25-year-old big brother, Mando — who had been living stateside as an undocumented person — and his team were working behind the scenes to sort out his immigration status in the United States. In need of an O-1 visa, Mando had to go to Mexico City and follow protocols to prove his eligibility. After spending most of his life living with his parents (who are originally from Michoacán, Mexico) and four siblings in Washington’s agricultural region of Yakima Valley, he was suddenly alone in an unfamiliar city, waiting for approval.
“It was a sacrifice, especially when I’m one of the main components of the band,” says Mando, who returned to the United States in April shortly after getting approved for a special visa reserved for individuals with extraordinary ability and achievement in their field. “We had to learn to record separately, something we had never done. It has always been all of us together in a studio.”
“I would write my music and wouldn’t know who to share it with,” says Yahritza, now 16. “He was a call away, but it wasn’t the same.” Adds 18-year-old Jairo: “We couldn’t do the things we used to do, which was practicing every day. That changed everything for us.”
The band members — managed by their oldest sister, Adriana Martinez — were influenced by their father and uncles’ own musical act, which Mando joined as a kid. Yahritza and Jairo later learned how to play instruments and would upload covers on TikTok, including their viral take on Ivan Cornejo’s “Está Dañada.” Yahritza then began writing her own songs — the first being the emotionally charged heartbreak track “Soy el Único,” which ultimately led to the formation of Yahritza y Su Esencia.
Ramón Ruiz, CEO of Lumbre Music, signed the trio soon after discovering the group last year on TikTok. He says his team’s top priority was to not let Mando’s visa application affect the band. “We were always working on what’s coming next,” he says. “It was hard because Mando is a big part of the production and Yahritza and Jairo depend a lot on Mando. I would try to help however I could, but they needed their big brother. He’s their role model; they look up to him so much.”
From left: Mando, Yahritza and Jario Martinez of Yahritza y Su Esencia
David Cabrera
Mando’s status remained uncertain for nearly seven months. “I would remind [my siblings] that we needed to take things one day at a time,” Adriana says. “We’ve always believed God’s timing is perfect, so it was important to never lose faith and remember nothing can break the bond we have as a family, not even being separated.”
Now, with the O-1 secured, Mando is able to record and promote music in the United States, which Yahritza y Su Esencia have remained consistent with — as Yahritza and Jairo often traveled to Mexico to record. In the past few months alone, the act released “Inseparables” (with Cornejo), “Cambiaste,” “Nuestra Canción,” “No Se Puede Decir Adiós” and “Frágil” — a norteña, cumbia-tinged collaboration with Grupo Frontera produced by hit-maker Edgar Barrera.
“Regardless of the situation, we had to be releasing music for our fans,” says Mando. “We’d jump on FaceTime a lot, and that’s how we would make the song’s arrangements.” Yahritza would write in her room and then send music to Mando for his feedback. But when it came to recording the harmonies, she had to call him directly. “I needed him to show me because I still don’t know how to do that,” she says. “He would help me when he was home.”
“Them being together is what makes this so special,” says Julian Swirsky, senior vp of A&R at Columbia Records. “It was always about getting Mando home first and foremost, but the group was fired up. We had a Zoom call on New Year’s Eve to talk about new music because they wanted to get set up for the new year.”
From left: Yahritza, Mando and Jario Martinez of Yahritza y Su Esencia
David Cabrera
The first thing Mando did once his visa was approved at the end of April was travel home to Washington, where he surprised his parents at a family gathering by popping up behind them as they were taking a photo. “My mom yelled when she saw me and started to touch my face to see if I was real,” Mando says. “That’s when it hit me.”
With a new album in the works and a long-awaited U.S. tour slated for the second half of the year, Yahritza y Su Esencia are finally poised to reach their full potential — just when Mexican music continues to grow exponentially, with the act helping usher in a new era for the legacy genre. In May, “Frágil” cracked the Hot 100. And on the Billboard Global 200, it is among a handful of regional Mexican songs that are surging, as the genre now makes up nearly 10% of the entire chart.
“What happened to us had to happen,” says Jairo, “and it changed us.” Adds Yahritza: “Before, we would fight and disagree on small things. We shouldn’t even be caring about that; all we should care about is that we’re back together.”
This story originally appeared in the June 3, 2023, issue of Billboard.
A medley of sounds erupts as soon as the doors of the Spotify studio swing open. All at once, trumpets climb up and down scales, guitars are tuned before being fervidly strummed, and a tololoche player’s fingers dance across the strings of an upright bass like tiny bolts of lightning, making it impossible to look away. All the while, the group of men responsible crack jokes in Spanish, an air of excitement swirling through the dimly-lit room before the Spotify RADAR shoot kicks off.
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
At the center of this eclectic flurry of instruments lives regional Mexican music. At the center of today’s regional Mexican music, lives Peso Pluma.
For many, the 23-year-old phenom appeared de la nada. “Ella Baila Sola,” Eslabon Armado’s smash hit with Peso Pluma, was as explosive a collaboration in the Spanish-language music space as the Hot 100-topping “Boy’s a Liar Pt. 2” was for the English market. Like drill princess Ice Spice, Peso Pluma became the de facto face of a movement overnight, much to his own surprise.
“I knew this was gonna happen, but I didn’t know at what level and what speed,” he says today. “I knew I was gonna do good in Mexico and the Spanish-speaking countries, but this went worldwide [so fast]. I’m thankful for that.”
For his early fans, Peso Pluma has been creating earworm collaborative anthems for a handful of years, through early hits like “El Belicón” alongside Raúl Vega – which went viral on social media and brought in 10 million views on YouTube in a single month – and projects including his debut set, Ah y Qué?
To date, “Ella Baila Sola” has secured a number of firsts, most notably becoming the first regional Mexican song to reach the top 10 of the Hot 100 chart — peaking at No. 5 – and the first to top Billboard‘s Streaming Songs chart in its 10-year history.
Peso Pluma and Eslabon Armado also broke a number of Spotify records, becoming the all-time most-streamed música mexicana track in one day globally and the most streamed Latin track in the U.S in one single day last month.
“Música mexicana is no longer regional – it’s global,” says Spotify head of U.S. Latin artist partnerships Eddie Santiago, noting the genre’s growth of 431% over the last five years. “It’s been incredible supporting Peso Pluma’s meteoric rise, and look forward to this next phase of his career.”
The Spotify RADAR program – dedicated to spotlighting and supporting emerging artists at all stages of their development – has provided a platform for artists across the globe, including The Kid LAROI, Zach Bryan, Doechii, Quevedo, PinkPatheress, and over 500 others since its start in in 2020.
While the effect of “Ella Baila Sola” has led to unprecedented global attention on the regional Mexican space, it’s important to note that the regional Mexican genre isn’t exactly a genre. Encompassing an array of unmistakably Mexican styles of music, including norteño, corridos, banda, rancheras, mariachi and more, regional Mexican serves as an overarching umbrella term for a set of genres that had never before been afforded nuance on a mainstream level.
Growing up on artists like Ariel Camacho, Peso Pluma, born Hassan Laija, developed his love for música mexicana as a kid spending his early years growing up in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico. Later, the influence of hip-hop and reggaeton also found their way into the songs he’d write. Today, he painstakingly stitches together 19th century Mexican sounds with modern genres, bringing both to the Spotify stage ahead of his upcoming debut album, and a single that he’s been teasing on social media.
After his performance, Peso Pluma sat down to talk with Billboard about what the Spotify look means to him, his recent wins on U.S. platforms, his Doble P Tour and his hopes for the future.
What does it mean to you to be selected as Spotify’s RADAR artist?
It’s pretty big to me because I’m the first Mexican artist to do this. I’m so proud and very thankful. It’s big for the country, the genre and the industry in general. We’re doing pretty good and we’re going to keep working to share our music.
Have you had fans from countries that surprise you?
I have a lot of fans all over the world, but the most surprising was one time I was shopping and a Chinese family came [up to me]. I never thought they’d listen to corridos in China.
What are the genres that have influenced you?
When I was a teenager, I listened to a lot of hip-hop, rap, and reggaetón. Rap culture just got into me, and I think I’m picking a little bit from every genre in the corridos I do and that’s why people like it, because it has a lot of different cultures in it. Reggaetón is the most iconic genre in my life. Since I was a kid, I liked it a lot. Daddy Yankee, Don Omar, Tego Calderon.
I like Bad Bunny a lot, I listen to him all day, every day. I listen to my friend Natanael Cano, 21 Savage, Shoreline Mafia. Feid, Anuel, Karol G. I listen to everything.
What’s a genre you like that people might be surprised you listen to?
Reggae. I like Bob Marley.
You recently played Coachella, how did that come about?
I got invited by Becky G — shoutout to Becky. She’s been too kind to me in my career, and done a lot for me. And she knows she has a friend [in me]. They got in touch like a week before, I was so excited and pretty shocked. It was so good, [the crowd] accepted us. People did scream a lot, it was a surprise for them.
What is the biggest challenge you’ve faced along your path so far?
The biggest thing I’m dealing with right now is not being with my family. Being on tour non-stop. That’s what people don’t see. They think I’m a working machine, but I’m not. But it’s part of what I like to do — it’s part of my character.
How do you deal with those moments?
When I feel like that, I just talk to my mom and my family and that keeps me motivated. They’re pretty proud of me and thankful.
You also did Jimmy Fallon recently, how was that?
It was awesome for me and my whole group. It was a new thing for us because it was our first time on TV and it was Jimmy Fallon. I think it went well, everyone watched it and wanted to see me perform, and I’m just thankful for Jimmy for inviting me to the show.
You recently broke a record along with Eslabon Armado, becoming the first regional Mexican song to top Billboard’s streaming songs chart.
That’s pretty amazing. But that doesn’t mean anything, because tomorrow I could be gone. We don’t know. I’m just gonna keep working to get where I wanna get. There’s a long way to go.
You’ve had a lot of big collaborative moments — what’s the role of collaborations in your journey?
Collaborations have been so important in my career. I’m just thankful to too many artists who have been supporting my project, ideas and thinking and what we have to do for the genre. My album is coming too and I have a lot of solo songs coming, and that’s what people want to hear, so that’s what I’m giving them on this album.
You’re heading out on tour soon, but so much has changed since your tickets went on sale. Are you looking for bigger venues?
Yes. Everything changed and I’m looking forward to what’s gonna happen. And my team is looking for venues. I’m sure I’m gonna do good if I do small or big venues. The tour sold out the first day, like 95 percent [of tickets] in two hours. We’re pretty excited.
Looking ahead, what’s something you hope to accomplish in your career?
I just wanna go to the Grammys and win something, you know? There’s too many things I wanna accomplish. I want to have my album be welcomed by the people, I want it to have the same streams as singles do. I’m showing another part of la doble p to people.
I know this is far in advance, but as someone who grew up between Texas and Mexico, where do you see yourself settling down when it’s all said and done?
I don’t know. I mean, Peter Parker is from NYC and I’m in L.A. right now. Guadalajara will always be my home. That’s where my family is, and Sinaloa too. But I feel pretty good here in L.A. And if life says, “Go to Miami in a year,” I’ll go to Miami.
Carin León, the artist born Óscar Armando Díaz de León Huez, is one of the most prominent and influential figures in Regional Mexican music today, known for his rich storytelling and dazzling instrumental skills. On Thursday (May 18), the singer/songwriter releases Colmillo de Leche, an 18-track studio album titled after the Mexican analogy of a milk tooth — which for him means that sometimes we may think we are experienced in life, but unexpected events can quickly change our perspective.
Over a phone call from Los Angeles, the Mexican superstar reflected to Billboard about his new project as he prepared to announce his first U.S. arena tour, the Colmillo de Leche Tour, presented by AEG, hitting 27 arenas beginning Aug. 10 in Rosemont, Ill., and wrapping up Oct. 8 in Charlotte, N.C.
“It’s a new era for me, definitely in all aspects,” León tells Billboard. “In my way of thinking, I want to convey what I want in my music. In all the connection between what happened in my personal life and a person’s maturity, it is also noticeable and influences your music.”
The album is being released during the same week he performed for the first time at one of the most significant venues in Mexico, Mexico City’s Auditorio Nacional, fulfilling one more dream in his career.
It’s a love letter to music for which León collected compositions from other songwriters over the past two and a half years, songs that connected with him at a time when the lyrics told him more about himself. “I didn’t feel like I was in the circumstances of wanting to express myself, of being able to say what I had at that moment,” León says. “But, more than anything, these songs connected with me, and apart from the production, they told me how they wanted to dress and show themselves on this record, and I think I like to see this record that way. It’s like transforming the songs into how you want to express yourself.
Te set navigates through various rhythms, including soul, flamenco, pop and salsa, incorporating perfect Mexican regional blends made by Sonora musicians. “Ninety-five percent of the musicians on this record are Sonorans, and those who are not are people from somewhere else who live in Hermosillo,” the Sonora-born singer adds.
Below, León shares the significance of five essential tracks on Colmillo de Leche, in his own words.
“No Es Por Acá“
When I heard it, it was a song without any complexity, but it touched me a lot. We decided to do it like this style with a little sierreño blues but minimalist with some instruments. God allowed this song to be a success, and when we sing it onstage, it’s a total success.
“Ni Me Debes Ni Te Debo” (Carin León x Camilo)
The song with Camilo comes out the day the album is released. It’s a very beautiful song, and when I heard it, I was even imagining the production at the same time; I wanted to put some strings. I wanted to make a string quintet of something a little more intimate, and what Camilo did is incredible to me, and we are delighted with that song.
“De Piedra a Papel” (Carin León x Pablo Alborán)
I have been working on a song with Mr. Pablo Alborán for quite some time now. We’ve put a lot of effort into it, including the production, which involved working with a mariachi band and incorporating some interesting elements. We added a touch of flamenco and a sound reminiscent of ’90s Italian pop, similar to artists like Eros and Laura Pausini. Through this song, I aimed to showcase my musical influences and experiences.
“Vete Yendo” (Carin León x Ángela Aguilar)
It is a collaboration that we did with Ángela Aguilar, who is like the language spoken amid flamenco rumba, salsa, and Latin. And we try to do it with our regional sound, a very Mexican theme, and lyrics that resemble Spanish flamenco.
“Primera Cita“
It is a significant song, which today is giving us some exciting surprises that people are connecting a lot with this song. I had wanted to make a soul of doing this mid-century theme for a while. The guitars have all been through amplifiers with a slightly dark sound. More focused on feeling with some lyrics by Mr. Alejandro Lozano, proudly Hermosillense and who has a very northern theme.
Growing up in East Los Angeles in the 1980s, George Prajin could see music in the making. His father was Antonino Z. Prajin, owner of Prajin One-Stop, a music retailer and distributor in Huntington Park, Calif., that sold to over 3,000 stores in the U.S. and Mexico and had 26 warehouses throughout Southern California. At that time, the music known as regional Mexican — comprising subgenres like banda, norteño and mariachi — dominated U.S. Latin music sales.
At the Prajin brick and mortar record shop that catered to mostly Mexican and Mexican-American buyers, “I always noticed that Mexican-American youth would buy hip-hop and regional. And I always tried to mix the two,” says Prajin today. “I tried to come up with a fusion of the two sounds.”
It took 25 years, a lot of money and a lot of heartbreak, but Prajin has finally found his sound with the artist known as Peso Pluma, the only act signed to his indie Prajin Records, and distributed via The Orchard. While Regional Mexican music is definitely having a moment — this week, 13 Regional Mexican tracks are on the Billboard Hot 100, a record for the genre — the current wave is led by the 23-year-old from Guadalajara, Mexico.
Of those 13 tracks, an astounding eight are his, including “Ella Baila Sola,” his smash hit with California quartet Eslabón Armado, which reached No. 5 on the chart, marking the first time ever a Regional Mexican track, in Spanish, reached the top five — or the top 10, for that matter. The song also reached No. 1 the Billboard Global 200 chart (dated April 29). It’s the first leader on the list for each act, as well as the first for the regional Mexican genre. And it helps make Prajin Billboard‘s Executive of the Week.
The importance of the moment is not lost on Prajin, who grew up following the Billboard charts and who in the 1990s launched an independent record label for the first time. When the recording industry’s bubble burst at the onset of the digital download age in the early-mid-2000s, Prajin closed shop, studied law and established a practice — alongside veteran music entertainment lawyer Anthony Lopez — representing athletes and musicians. In 2019, when streaming numbers started to soar, he decided to give the music industry another shot as a record executive and launched Prajin Records. This time, the timing was right. Among the different projects that were shopped to him, one was Peso Pluma, a young Mexican singer and rapper who was living in New York and had been discovered through social media.
“Ella Baila Sola” is not only a Peso Pluma track; it was released on another California-based indie, DEL Records, whose founder Angel Del Villar was also an Executive of the Week when Eslabón became the first Regional Mexican act to enter the top 10 of the Billboard 200 last year.
This week’s achievement, says Prajin, was not just the result of DEL and Prajin’s strategy with “Ella Baila Sola.” Instead, he says, “it’s been a strategy with the project overall.”
Peso Pluma arrives for the 8th annual Latin American Music Awards at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, on April 20, 2023.
ROBYN BECK/AFP via GI
What was it about Peso Pluma that you found interesting?
I saw how he flowed on the tracks. He could do it all: He could rap, he could do regional, he could do reggaeton. But he was very stubborn that he wanted to do everything independently of each other. He said, “I want to rap on a rap song, I want to sing reggaeton on a reggaeton song.” I realized there is a way to do it and it’s how Peso envisions it, by staying in each lane and killing it in each genre but giving people what they want. I always recognize his base audience is regional and that’s actually the music he loves the most. But because Peso can do all these genres, and when they [he and his cousin Tito] write songs, they [incorporate] all these influences.
You met Peso Pluma through your former artist, Jessie Morales (El Regional de la Sierra). Jessie wanted you to sign Peso, but you actually turned him down the first time, even though as an attorney you represented several prominent Regional Mexican artists and labels at that point. What happened?
At the time, I didn’t want to compete with my clients, even though I felt the kid had a lot of talent. He ended up signing with Herminio Morales, Jessie’s brother. Fast forward 2021, Herminio got really sick and called me up and asked me if I could help with Peso. You don’t get two bites of the apple very often, and I was restless. I wanted to produce more music. And at that time nobody was really interested in Peso, because it wasn’t really a successful project.
Once you started with Peso, what would you say was your breakthrough track?
Because no other label was interested, I didn’t feel I was competing with anybody [so I would experiment]. He had an album already recorded and one song attracted my attention: “El Belicón.” He gave me permission to work on the track and we ended up taking the guy that was there off the track and putting in [singer] Raul Vega. We mixed the song — I have an amazing engineer — and we put it out on TikTok. We saw that there was a spark and we put in promotion and made an inferno. We made sure the video was like Call of Duty because we really wanted to target the kids. We threw all our efforts into making the song as big as we could. And we got to the level where we got people’s attention.
You did tracks with more urban acts like Nicki Nicole from Argentina and Ovy on the Drums from Colombia. Were you aiming for a more international sound?
I feel we started in regional but at the same time we were expanding regional. It’s like when rock n’ roll got into grunge. Peso’s saying, “We’re not regional; we’re Mexican.” When we saw the fusion going to the top of the charts, that’s when we invited others. The goal was to expand the international Latin scene. And what’s really, really cool is they all want to jump on Peso’s sound.
I feel that has really expanded the Mexican market. He wanted to do reggaeton and rap, we’d be in talks with major artists in other countries and we’d usually say, “Lets do a reggaeton song,” but they’d say, “Let’s do a regional song.” When we saw these artists wanted to do something regional, we started to double down.
When did you realize there was another audience interested in this guy?
I pay a lot of attention to the analytics. I’m always looking at the numbers and looking at what countries we get engagement. I saw we were getting a lot of engagement in the countries we were targeting but also in places like Japan and Germany. And then, obviously, the global charts. When we broke into the Billboard Global 200 and then we became the No. 1 song, and then we get interest from Jimmy Fallon, that’s when you see something that is global. As an executive I take everything and say, “How do we double down?”
Peso Pluma & Blessd
Cristhian Álvarez Suarez
And, how do you double down?
We’re Latin and we’re keeping our base. We’re opening offices, we’re doing a global tour, but like when we first started at the top of the charts in Mexico we doubled down on our infrastructure, and now that we’re global we’re going to make sure we can double down and have boots on the ground and make sure we’re touring individual countries.
“Ella Baila Sola” is originally an Eslabón Armado track. What is it about that song?
It’s a combo of a good sound, and Eslabón has a really good U.S. base which is something we were on the verge of entering. At one point our streams were 80% in Mexico and 20% in the U.S. Now I think we’re 50-50. But I feel this momentum was coming and we had been focused on international development. The audiences were looking for another regional track from Peso Pluma and it just so happened we were releasing with Eslabón. [Lead writer and singer] Pedro Tovar is an amazing talent. And the song was produced to be in line with Peso’s sound.
You hit a historic top five on the Hot 100. Were you aiming for that?
Nobody knows what’s going to be a hit. But the way it came out with the numbers it did overnight and on a weekly and monthly basis, I knew this song was going to be massive. I’d never seen those numbers with a regional song before. DEL released that track and they’ve done a lot to support the success of the track.
What’s next for you and for Peso Pluma?
Peso just launched WP Records. He’s the CEO and he’ll be producing a lot of the tracks. The first single came out 4/20. We’ll finally be releasing a Peso Pluma album before summer and that will be the focus in the next two to three weeks. I give all the credit to my artist. I’m an executive. I’m involved in every single aspect. But I give leeway to my artist and I trust him so much that we created a label.
Previous Executive of the Week: Cindy James of Virgin Music
Bad Bunny and Grupo Frontera will release a new song on Monday (April 17).
This marks the first collaboration between the two acts, and a new twist for Bad Bunny.
Although he’s a longtime fan of regional Mexican music, his new track with Grupo Frontera is only his second regional Mexican collab. Prior to this, he worked with Natanael Cano for a remix of “Soy el Diablo,” a corrido.
If Bad Bunny’s weekend preview on TikTok is any indication, this Grupo Frontera collab is a romantic cumbia.
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
Based on Bad Bunny’s clip, the Spanish-language ballad’s lyrics translate to: “I have only 1% left, and I’ll use it to say I’m so sorry/ If they’ve seen me in the disco with someone else, it’s just wasting my time/ Baby, I can’t lie to you; That story that they saw me all happy, that’s not true/ Nothing makes me laugh anymore, only when I see the photos and videos I see of you.”
Although a title has not yet been confirmed at press time, the new song is slated to drop tomorrow. See a teaser from the Puerto Rican star via TikTok.
Luis R. Conriquez managed to do what few would have imagined: lead Nicky Jam to venture into regional Mexican music. The Mexican singer and the Puerto Rican urban star dropped their collaboration “Como el Viento” Friday (March 24), after recording it in Miami last month during the week of Premio Lo Nuestro.
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
Written by Ángel Sandoval, Abbel and O’RLY, and released under Kartel Music, “Como el Viento” talks about being disappointed in a relationship and the attempt to overcome it. “But there I go like the wind/ I’m like a tornado picking up alcohol to overcome this fear/ Because you’re so pretty and I haven’t found the perfect substitute,” the stars sing in Spanish.
“I’ve always respected regional Mexican music. It’s not from my culture — in Puerto Rico you hear more salsa, merengue and Caribbean music, but I lived 10 years in Colombia, and over there you listen to it a lot. So they showed me this song and I thought it was the perfect one for me,” Jam exclusively tells Billboard Español.
“I used to listen a lot to Nicky Jam’s music,” Conriquez adds. “I remember a song that I particularly liked, ‘Dónde Están las Gatas’. Also, I saw the series about his life and I really liked knowing how everything was happening in his career, so meeting him in person when we made the video in Miami was awesome.”
During the shooting of the clip, both say they found similarities in their lives that created a chemistry between them. “He’s very authentic,” Jam says. “He comes from the barrio like me. … It felt like I was with a friend. We drank some tequilas and had a very good time”.
“It was very gratifying that he congratulated me on what I have achieved,” adds Conriquez. “We had a great time and you will see that in the video.”
This is Jam’s first team-up with a Mexican artist since 2016, when he recorded a cover of “De Pies a Cabeza” with the group Maná, but that was a pop song.
A believer in collabs, Conriquez has already teamed up with Grupo Frontera, Marca Registrada, Peso Pluma and Alfredo Olivas so far in 2023. And soon, he will be releasing others with Darey Castro and Fidel Rueda, two of his idols from regional Mexican.
He also hints that “Como el Viento” may not be his only effort with Jam — “very soon we could be doing another, more of the urban kind” — and reveals he is already working with other urban acts. “Collaborations are in the [making] with very important people like Farruko and El Alfa, to keep blending our regional Mexican with urban music,” he says.
Watch the music video for “Como el Viento” below:
The relevance and recent growth of regional Mexican music has become undeniable, and today, the genre holds a preponderant place within the industry. However, few women have been able to stand out and survive in a mostly male-dominated world.
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
The problem is not only onstage, where few women — such as Lola Beltrán, Selena or Jenni Rivera — have made ‘her’story, but also at the level of programmers, entrepreneurs and executives. Fortunately, that reality seems to be improving, thanks in part to the changes that technology has brought to the industry, and the pioneering women who have helped to pave the way.
In celebration of Women’s History Month, five women who have made their way in regional Mexican, including executives, publicists, songwriters and singers, answer five questions about the industry and its future from Billboard.
María de Jesús Lizárraga (Doña Chuyita), CEO of LGA Entertainment
María de Jesús Lizárraga (Doña Chuyita)
Felipe Osuna
After the 1995 death of her husband Don Cruz Lizárraga, founder of Banda El Recodo, María de Jesús Lizárraga, known in the industry as “Doña Chuyita,” took the helm of the pioneering regional Mexican group. She created LGA Entertainment and boosted the achievements of her artists, taking them not only to the top of the charts but also to international stardom. The company run by Doña Chuyita employs around 200 people, and countless artists mention her and her bands (she also has Banda Los Recoditos) as an influence, and inspiration.
How can a woman stand out in a world of mostly men?
First of all, by having lots of discipline to get the job done. Secondly, handling yourself with a lot of respect towards the people you deal with. In the music business, and in particular in the regional Mexican business, keeping and honoring your word is one of the most important things. Lastly, I believe that things should be done with infinite love.
Who was your biggest inspiration to get into regional Mexican?
My husband Don Cruz Lizárraga, of course. He shared with me this love for Banda El Recodo and that passionate way of working. Because he loved his work and his band, he was and continues to be my best example and our greatest inspiration.
What can be done so that more women achieve their dreams within regional Mexican?
I believe that more spaces for women have to be created in all areas of regional Mexican, not only on stage, but also in executive positions. Women are prepared to develop and excel in any area.
What has been your worst experience as a woman in regional Mexican?
Sometimes we weren’t paid what was agreed for a show, but in reality, they have always respected me.
And the best?
Getting Banda El Recodo to be a pioneer since the movement was called grupero. There was a time when we always set the tone in everything, which is an honor but also a commitment that we keep to this day.
Sara Eva Pérez, public relations specialist for Mexico and the U.S.
Sara Eva Pérez
Jorge Pena
A journalist by profession, Sara Eva Pérez has been forging her career as a public relations professional within the regional Mexican music industry in Mexico and the U.S. for three decades. Her foray as an executive with companies like Fonovisa Music, Univison Music and Universal Music led her to work with artists such as Los Tigres del Norte, Marco Antonio Solís, Banda El Recodo and Los Tucanes de Tijuana. Today, she is one of the most respected public relations professionals in the genre due to her mastery of both territories, and for seven years she has been responsible for the image and media liaison of Banda MS, the genre’s most successful group in recent years.
How can a woman stand out in a world of mostly men?
The first thing is to be authentic, the second is to have freshness in the music, to know where you want to go and have very clear objectives of what you want to do. Forget that you are a man or a woman, just do things well. The most important thing, which unfortunately happens to many singers, is that they fall into doing the same thing over. You have to make different proposals, and this applies to everyone in general, not only to women. When a proposal is fresh and different, there are many more opportunities to gain a place in this industry.
Who was your biggest inspiration to get into regional Mexican?
Definitely someone who must be recognized for her work in the genre is María de Jesús Lizárraga, Doña Chuyita. When I got to work with Banda El Recodo, I admired a woman with clear objectives who has managed to run a company that’s comprised mostly of men. Everyone respects her. She has a very important place in the industry and I think she’s an inspiration for any woman who works behind the scenes.
What can be done so that more women achieve their dreams within regional Mexican?
There’s something very important: you must be consistent with who you are and what you sing. You must have principles, you must respect the public. I say this because currently, and it is somewhat sad, there are singers in regional Mexican who go on stage to speak nonsense and use vulgar language and images because they think that’s a part of regional Mexican, and I totally disagree. You need to have a clean image. There’s Ángela Aguilar, who by making different music and being very focused on her objectives has managed to take a big step forward and is proof that women do have a place in regional.
What has been your worst experience as a woman in regional Mexican?
On one occasion, I had to face a group of businessmen because an artist did not show up to their event. At that time they didn’t respect me because I was a woman. However, I asserted myself and did things the way that had to be done, and that resulted in earning the respect not only from them, who are used to dealing with men, but also from their team and from the regional Mexican industry.
And the best?
I definitely think I’m living my best moment in regional Mexican right now. The experience I have gathered over the years has allowed me to work with the most important band today. It’s not because I work with them, but I think they have achieved what very few have, and by that I mean permanence. It’s very easy to get there, staying is what’s hard. I have learned many things that I didn’t know before, my horizons have broadened.
Alhe Romo, vocalist of the group Vilax
Alhe Romo
Pablo Regalado
In 2021, during the Latin Grammy Awards, Vilax, a regional Mexican band led by 24-year-old singer Alhe Romo, attracted attention thanks to a nomination for best Tejano album with their debut, Un Beso es Suficiente. It’s something that had not been seen since Alicia Villarreal debuted with Grupo Límite in the ’90s. Universal Music/Fonovisa recently signed the group from Torreón, Coahuila, which joins the movement that has empowered Grupo Frontera and unites music from northern Mexico and the southern United States.
How can a woman stand out in a world of mostly men?
Never cease to struggle, but above all, be aware that we must work for our dream, and we must do it with values. It is possible if you do it with great perseverance, with lots of passion and with the desire to do it well.
Who was your biggest inspiration to get into regional Mexican?
My greatest inspiration have always been great women and music legends like Selena, Rocío Dúrcal, Alicia Villarreal. When you learn their history, you realize how much they fought to have a place in the industry. Having the support of my family, especially my mother, has been very important; she is a great woman, too. The wave of emotions that comes to me when I’m on stage, getting to touch hearts with my voice, is something that inspires me to continue on this path that isn’t really easy, but a dream can be achieved if you fight and work for it.
What can be done so that more women achieve their dreams within regional Mexican?
Personally, I think that we need to get out of our heads that we have fewer opportunities for being women, because if you believe it, you can make it happen. Sadly, in many aspects of life, we must make ourselves strong alone and not let anything move us from the path in which we are always tracing with constant effort and, above all, self-esteem.
What has been your worst experience as a woman in regional Mexican?
I’ve had a brief career, and fortunately I have not had a bad experience that has marked me yet.
And the best?
In 2021, along with my colleagues from Vilax, we were nominated for the Latin Grammy for best Tejano album, and that year I was the only woman among the finalists. I hope life allows me to do it again.
Erika Vidrio, songwriter
Erika Vidrio
Ernesto Huerta
For 13 years, Erika Vidrio was a well-known broadcaster in the Los Angeles area. In 2018, she decided to focus on her music career, and today she is the most recorded female songwriter within regional Mexican. Now she has a Latin Grammy nomination, several BMI Awards and 350 songs recorded by artists such as Christian Nodal, Banda MS, Julión Álvarez and many more. “Fíjate Que Sí”, “Borracho De Amor”, “Quién Es Usted” and “40 y 21” are just some of the charting hits she has written.
Concerned about the inclusion and exposure of female composers in regional Mexican music, she created Las Compositoras, a space in networks and platforms, including a podcast, in which she shares her knowledge and provides tools for those who are just starting out in this profession.
How can a woman stand out in a world of mostly men?
The same way men excel, by working. I mean, not only working hard but also knowing how the music medium works, bonding, networking, so that you find opportunities; working from all points, not just creating beautiful songs locked in your house. To excel, you need to see well beyond that. In songwriting, equality between women and men is still unbalanced, but I think we are making progress, there are more and more female composers in regional.
Who was your biggest inspiration to get into regional Mexican?
I grew up with deep-rooted ranchero music: my grandparents played José Alfredo Jiménez, Vicente Fernández and Hermanos Záizar, so my influence comes from visceral ranchero music. As a teenager I got to see Selena, Alicia Villarreal with Grupo Límite, and I realized that women could also excel in the genre.
What can be done so that more women achieve their dreams within regional Mexican?
We must support each other and understand that there’s not only one space, that we can all excel in our own styles. We need a history; forget what they say, that a woman’s enemy is another woman. In regional Mexican in particular, I’ve had great female allies who have supported me. So let’s start by turning our backs on those archaic ideas that we are enemies. This way we can generate interest among people in the industry and get them to see women’s projects. It all starts with us.
What has been your worst experience as a woman in regional Mexican?
Certain humiliations, seeing my work discredited just for being a woman, not getting even the opportunity to show my song. Personally, the most difficult thing for me was gaining the respect, the credibility. The fact that at first they said that I didn’t write my own songs was very hard on me, mentally. I think it’s been one of the biggest obstacles I’ve had to overcome.
And the best?
Being able to make a living of what I’m passionate about. That’s a very nice feeling. I think it’s a blessing.
Diana Reyes, singer with 25 years of experience
Diana Reyes
Courtesy of DR Promotions
Diana Reyes is known as the Queen of the Pasito Duranguense. Born in Baja California Sur, the singer marked one of the most splendorous periods of the regional genre with that musical movement in which only she and Los Horóscopos de Durango had a place. For over two decades, she has ventured into ranchera and banda music, becoming a model for many women who enter the genre. Jenni Rivera considered her one of her inspirations, and together, they recorded the song “Ajustando Cuentas” before the Diva de la Banda died in a plane crash in 2012.
Reyes is the creator of Mujeres del Regional, a group of talented singers who have encountered more obstacles than opportunities and who together a first-class show, making their own way.
How can a woman stand out in a world of mostly men?
I believe that the best way to keep moving forward is by not losing track of what we want to achieve and not giving up, because unfortunately we have to continue working to demonstrate our capabilities.
Who was your biggest inspiration to get into regional Mexican?
Without a doubt, my taste for music began with my father; watching him sing encouraged me to sing, too. My inspiration to delve into this music were Mrs. Lola Beltrán, Chayito Valdez and Joan Sebastian.
What can be done so that more women can reach their dreams within regional Mexican?
The music industry is very difficult, even more for a woman, but this should not prevent us from doing what we like. We should not limit ourselves to making use of what we have been accustomed to for so many years, such as radio and television; today, we should take advantage of all the tools that technology offers, such as social media and platforms. In addition to not stopping working, it’s also very important to stick together, as men do.
What has been your worst experience as a woman in regional Mexican?
On one occasion, a businessman assaulted me physically and they had to take me to a hospital.
And the best?
I don’t think this is specifically because I am a woman, but my best experience has been achieving things I did not imagine, despite how difficult it is to reach success in this career. But I have dreamed of them and I have worked to achieve them, so it’s clear to me that even if I’m a woman, nothing is impossible.
After weeks of teasing fans on social media, Grupo Marca Registrada and Grupo Frontera have finally released their single “Di Que Si” (RB Music/Interscope Records), exclusively on Billboard below.
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
Penned by Edgard Barrera, the upbeat Tejano song — backed by the captivating percussion and accordion melody — tells the story of a man who’s drinking his sorrows away, drunk-dialing an ex, and admitting they were in the wrong but now want to make the relationship work.
“Give me a minute to explain that I messed up/ I was wrong/ Forgive me, I won’t do it again/ Because I have many sleepless nights/ My bed stayed without your smell/ I miss you, I miss you, and you don’t do anything,” chant both Frontera’s Adelaido “Payo” Solis III and Registrada’s Fidel Castro.
“Edgar Barrera sent us the song first, saying that it was made for us,” Castro tells Billboard. “We had great chemistry with Frontera, and a nice friendship was born. Both groups are sure that this song is going to be a hit.”
The music video, filmed by Abel in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico, shows all group members performing the song at a plaza, where tons of fans gathered to watch.
Both Marca Registrada and Frontera formed part of Billboard’s coveted “23 Latin and Spanish Artists to Watch in 2023” list. The former is a norteño-sierreño group that was founded in 2014 in Sinaloa and recently earned its first entries on Billboard’s Hot Latin Songs chart thanks to collaborations with Junior H (“El Rescate”) and Luis R. Conriquez (“Puro Campeón”). The latter is a McAllen, Texas-based cumbia & norteño group, whom with its viral hits “No Se Va,” “Que Vuelvas” with Carin León” and “Bebe Dame” with Fuerza Regida became the first Regional Mexican act to have three songs in the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
Watch the music video for “Di Que Si” below:
