Latin
‘Less Instruments, More Feelings’: Leonel Garcia’s ‘Amor Pasado’ Pays Homage to Ranchera Classics
Putting the spotlight on lyrics, vocals and emotions, Leonel García‘s stripped-down versions of ranchera classics such as “La Media Vuelta,” “En el Último Trago” and “Tu Recuerdo Y Yo” on his new album Amor Pasado inject new life to the songs of an older generation. Paying tribute to the melancholic songs made famous by musical icons like José Alfredo Jiménez and Chavela Vargas, García began recording this album nearly three years ago. “I wanted to do an homage to ranchera music, to Mexican music because it has been a part of my life since I was little,” García tells Billboard. “I don’t sing the genre but still it has influenced my way of singing.” For Amor Pasado, García recruite an array of artists such as Natal...
From SZA & Ty Dolla Sign to Big Sean, Which New Music Release Is Your Favorite This Week? Vote!
This week’s supply of new music is full of surprises galore by everyone from SZA and Big Sean to DJ Khaled and Drake, and with so many to choose from, Billboard wants to know which new release is your favorite! Is SZA’s glorious return with some help from Ty Dolla $ign hitting different three years after Ctrl? Were you living for DJ Khaled and Drake’s high-concept “Popstar” video starring none other than Justin Bieber? Perhaps you’re living for the veritable dream team of rising stars — we’re talking Doja Cat, City Girls and Mulatto — assembled by Chloe x Halle for their “Do It” remix or Finneas‘ latest single, “What They’ll Say About Us” has you all up in your feels. And that’s not all! Big Sea...
The Mavericks Debut at No. 1 on Latin Pop Albums Chart with ‘En Español’: ‘This is Beyond Us’
The set marks the country music band’s first full-length foray into its Hispanic roots. The Mavericks debut at No. 1 on Billboard‘s Latin Pop Albums chart (dated Sept. 5) with En Español. The band concurrently earns its first top 10 on the all-genre Top Latin Albums chart, where the set bows at No. 8. The new album marks the first visit to the Latin album charts by the group, which has notched five top 10 efforts on the Top Country Albums chart dating back to 1994. “This is an amazing feeling,” Raul Malo, The Mavericks’ lead singer, tells Billboard. “To wake up and receive a text from our manager that we have a No. 1 record. That’s not in the cards, this is beyond us. But you feel good about the work because you’ve put a lot of effort, a lot of love and time...
Tainy & J Balvin Top Latin Airplay Chart With ‘Agua’: ‘We Have That Chemistry’
The SpongeBob-featured tune rises 2-1. Tainy and J Balvin’s “Agua” top s Billboard‘s Latin Airplay chart, rising 2-1 on the Sept. 5 survey. Balvin accumulates 25 No. 1s, moving closer to Enrique Iglesias’ record 31. Tainy, meanwhile, ups his career count to two leaders. The tune is from the forthcoming soundtrack to The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run. The song arrived in July, while the film is set to premiere at a date to be announced. “It’s a career highlight,” Tainy tells Billboard. “This one is special because it was fun. Working with Balvin is always amazing. We have that chemistry, we are friends and it showed with the final product. We mostly had fun while creating. We’re both big SpongeBob fans who gre...
2020 MTV VMAs: Watch CNCO’s Dazzling Live Debut of ‘Beso’
As the 2020 MTV VMAs came to a close, CNCO not only live-debuted its new track “Beso” but the Latin American boy band also performed at the show for its very first time. In 2019, the band played on the red carpet during the VMAs pre-show. The members started the set while singing in — and on top of — parked cars at Brooklyn’s Skyline Drive-In, where Maluma had performed earlier in the night. Days ahead of the show, members Christopher Velez, Richard Camacho, Joel Pimentel, Erick Brian Colon and Joel Pimentel spoke with Billboard, with Camacho saying: “We grabbed the stage and made it ours and played around with the settings that they had.” Watch the performance below.[embedded content] You Deserve to Make Money Even Whe...
Bad Bunny Addresses Racism, Elections & More In Surprise Song ‘Compositor Del Año’: Listen
Bad Bunny may have been named songwriter of the year at the 2020 ASCAP Latin Music Awards in July, but that hasn’t stopped people on social media from questioning his victory due to his sometimes explicit lyrics. But the artist has a response to his critics, and it comes in the form of new music. In a surprise track released Sunday (Aug. 30), Bunny sends a message to his haters, expressing that there are more important issues going on in the world. “They fight because they gave me composer of the year but not for what matters,” he belts in the song. Called “Compositor del Año” (and with a Soundcloud link that ends in “f–k2020”), the Puerto Rican artist opens up about the ongoing social issues such as racism, immigration, the importance of voting and much more. Sampling Little R...
5 Uplifting Moments in Latin Music This Week (August 29)
From career milestones and new music releases to major announcements and more, Billboard editors highlight the latest news buzz in Latin music every week. Here’s what happened in the Latin music world this week: The Sounds That Made Us On Aug. 28, award-winning duo COASTCITY kicked off The Sounds That Made Us, a three-part series that will honor and celebrate Black music and culture. Featuring artists like Prince Royce, ChocQuibTown’s Goyo, Tony Succar and St. Pedro, among others, the series, which will be available on COASTCITY’S Instagram and YouTube, was produced and arranged by COASTCITY and recorded with a live band comprised of prominent Black and Latinx musicians. The series kicked off Aug. 28, the day Martin Luther King Jr.’s gave his...
Jennifer Lopez Is ‘So Disappointed’ After Pulling Bid to Buy the NY Mets
Jennifer Lopez and fiancé Alex Rodriguez are expressing their disappointment after losing out on buying the New York Mets. The singer/actress and former Yankee star, who led a group of investors to buy the Major League Baseball franchise, announced Friday night (Aug. 28) that they were withdrawing their bid to buy the Mets. “Alex and I are so disappointed!! We worked so hard the past 6 months with the dream of becoming the first minority couple and the first woman owner to buy her father’s favorite Major League Baseball team with her own hard earned money. We still haven’t given up!!” Lopez wrote on Instagram. The J-Lo-Rodriguez group bid was for $1.7 billion, with the couple putting in $300 million of their own money, ESPN reported in July. With Lopez and Rodriguez out of the ...
Alejandro Fernández’s ‘Decepciones’ & Bad Bunny’s ‘Pero Ya No’ Appear in New Joe Biden Campaign Ads
If you live in Arizona, Florida or Pennsylvania, chances are you’ve heard either Alejandro Fernández‘s “Decepciones” or Bad Bunny‘s “Pero Ya No” on new Joe Biden campaign ads. In an effort to target undecided Latino voters in three key swing states, the Democratic presidential candidate released today (Aug. 38) in Pennsylvania and Florida the ad featuring Bunny’s “Pero Ya No” as footage of empty Trump rallies, Trump’s tossing of paper towels to Puerto Ricans post-Hurricane Maria and COVID-19 first responders plays in the video. “Before I loved you but not anymore. Before I was there for you but not anymore,” sings El Conejo Malo. [embedded content] In Arizona, the Latinx community is hearing Alejandro Fernán...
No ‘Useless Girl,’ Cazzu Talks Dinner With Alfonsina Storni & Feminism
The Argentine Singer released Una Niña Inutil today Rising trap artist Cazzu is in her home in Argentina, surrounded by her paintings and three cats: Mu, Elvira and Gary, a black-and-white kitty who likes to leap on her lap unannounced. Her hair is dyed red, a color that –coincidentally—matches the color scheme of the cover art of her new album, Una Niña Inútil (Useless Girl), which shows her wearing a checkered red schoolgirl skirt, with roses and masking tape covering her breasts. The album title and its contents were inspired by Diario de una niña inútil (Diary of a Useless Girl), a “diary” penned 100 years ago by Argentine feminist poet Alfonsina Storni in a subversive effort to defy the norms that dictated what women could write at the time. Cazzu, who at 26 years old has ...
CNCO Dishes on New Single ‘Beso’ & Their ‘Cool’ 2020 VMAs Performance
CNCO is days away from making their first-ever mainstage performance at the 2020 MTV Video Music Awards but first, they have released new music for their beloved CNCOwners. On Friday (Aug. 28), the Latin boy band dropped their latest single “Beso,” flaunting their musical growth and maturity in the lyrics and infectious rhythms. “We had this song recorded about two years ago,” Christopher Velez tells Billboard. “Time passed, we recorded it, changed the beat, and fixed the little things that we didn’t like. It was a cool and very long process but we really loved the end result. It is a giant step for CNCO.” On Sunday (Aug. 31), the group, composed by Velez, Richard Camacho, Joel Pimentel, Erick Brian Colon, and Joel Pimentel, will debut the song at the VMAs, marking the first tim...
The 13 Best Things That Happened in Music This Week (August 28)
If you’re just waking up on this glorious Friday, you’re about to discover what much of Twitter already knows: Selena Gomez and Blackpink’s epic new collaboration “Ice Cream” has arrived. We know what we’ll be doing for the next few days: “Ice cream chillin’, chillin’, ice cream chillin’!” Plus, we’re heading into VMAs weekend, and you can brush up on your music video history ahead of the big night by checking out our list of the 100 greatest music video artists of all time. Take a look at all of that — and more of the week’s biggest music happenings — below. Taylor Swift’s Folklore ruled for a fourth week Swift’s latest set topped the Billboard 200 chart once again, with 101,000 equivalent album units earned in the U.S. in the week ending Aug. 20. Billboard’s...
