With Un Canto Por México, Vol. II, Natalia Lafourcade’s latest album released on May 28, the Mexican singer/songwriter closes her two-part project raising money to repair a musical cultural center preserving Afro-Mexican folk music known as son jarocho in her home state of Veracruz, Mexico. A powerful earthquake badly damaged the center in 2017. 

The undertaking began with Vol. I, an album honoring Mexican folk sounds—son jaracho included—and modernizing some of the country’s most well-known ranchera songs like "Cucurrucucú Paloma," first sung by the late beloved Lola Beltran and featured in Pedro Almodóvar's 2002 Spanish film Talk To Her. (Unsurprisingly, the album went on to earn her several Latin GRAMMYs, including Album Of The Year, and a 2021 GRAMMY for Best Regional Mexican Music Album.) But while Vol. ll mimics the same thematic approach, it is apparent that at the end of the project, something greater flourished.

While meaningful collaborations like the one with Pepe Aguilar, one of today’s most recognizable ranchera singers, on "Cien Años," an unrequited love song made popular by the late great Pedro Infante, are at the heart of the project, the alt-pop singer, who has delved deep into Mexico’s folk music on her last few projects, also makes room for social change. On “Nada Es Verdad” featuring son jarocho group Los Cojolites, you hear Lafourcade embrace activism as she calls for the end of the violence that has plagued Mexico for years.

"Maybe I wouldn't have seen it a few years ago, but today I realize that music has such a brutal capacity to impact," she tells GRAMMY.com about using her voice for change.

Then there’s "La Llorona," one of Mexico’s most haunting folk songs serenading Mexico’s weeping woman, which happens to be her most-requested song outside of Mexico. The deeply melancholic song, she shares, connects women through a sobering note. The track's inclusion on the album feels especially meaningful now as femicide across Latin American countries receives more attention: "I feel that La Llorona is the voice of women's pain, it is the pain that comes from the womb, from the depths of being."

At a larger scope, the album grew to be a communal project encompassing both the beauty and pain that coexist in Mexico’s fraught reality, something that came as a surprise to her. "Un Canto Por México is a musical piece that is encapsulating the collective voice," Lafourcade explains. "I didn't think of it that way when I started doing this project."

Lafourcade recently spoke with GRAMMY.com on how the project impacted her, becoming more conscious of the messaging behind music and how women are uniting to face dark times.

This interview was conducted in Spanish and translated to English; it has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Un Canto Por México, Vol. I was a fundraiser for the Centro de Documentación del Son Jarocho en Veracruz. How’s it looking now?

It’s going, it has foundations, it has walls, it has columns. Our center is still missing, but it is in the works and is looking beautiful.

Now we have Un Canto Por México, Vol. II. How was it working on this album?

The same as the first, in part, because we actually made 80 percent of the album in Mexico when we recorded Vol. 1, but when choosing the songs we gave priority to Vol. 1 and then Vol. II stayed a little dormant until we said, "Okay, let's finish Vol. II."

The rest of the album, which was about 20 percent that we had pending, was really very interesting to finish. We practically finished it at a distance from our homes. Our possibilities, the wonderful technology that exists today allows us to plan videos from a distance, plan recordings, make mixes. Incredible really, it was a learning experience. That's how it went down, that's how we finished the album. We are very happy, very proud.

COVID-19, as you mentioned, changed a lot of things. Did you ever think, "We have to put a pause on this album?"

Yes, of course, we paused, not just the album, we paused the whole project. We paused the construction of it, the album, the album release … When we released the first volume we were already in lockdown, and from there it was like, "What do we do? Do we let it out? Do we not let it out?" We decided to release that first volume, obviously also with the intention of bringing people a lot of happiness, of being able to bring music that could take them out of this uncertainty and give them moments of great joy.

Now with this volume, it was the same; we did a bit of waiting. The hope always with this volume was to be able to finish the construction of the center [in Veracruz], but that has also been something that we have learned, with this pandemic, that we have no control of saying, "This will happen on that date" because there are other factors that can alter what we want to do.

It also became like, "Well, since we don't know when we are going to actually finish the [center] physically, we are going to finish the album and in due course we are going to celebrate the album and then we are going to celebrate that we finished the center for sure." That is what we are already doing.

How has that loss of control affected you? Because we have a lot out of our control now, do you get anxious?

I have felt everything to be honest. I have had moments of great peace here in my house. I personally had a need for years to stop touring. I was very happy playing on stage and the stage is my home. I like to say that my house is here and the stage is my house, too. It is like water for me, it’s necessary. However, to do it involved being away from my home, from my other home, being away from my family and being away and traveling a lot. It was something I needed, my soul needed not to travel. I got ready to stop, I had intentions to stop until 2023, I don't know if that will happen or not, but then all this came. We really don't know when we are going to perform the album live.

I had moments of everything, I had moments of not knowing what to do in my own house because I had never been in my house, it was like, "Well, what now? What are these rooms and what do I do in them?" That little by little was transformed into, "Wow, I love being at home, I don't want to leave," of procuring my spaces, my candles, my incense, my favorite corners of the house. The truth is, it has been very nice. Then at the same time I went from really being on vacation, kind of being able to rest, to being totally booked. Right now, I'm totally busy, I don't have time to watch any series, I don't have time to read. Really from the moment I get up, all the time we are working on things for Un Canto Por México. It is impressive, it is like the times have changed the industry and we have been working a lot, but we are happy, I am very happy.

Read: Mon Laferte Talks First Coachella Performance, 'Norma' & More

The concept of the two albums brings you together with other great singers. It has themes of love, themes that make us think about society, among other things. Did this change you in any way personally?

Totally. Collaborating always affects what you are doing. It can inspire you so much that it can alter the way you are creating. It’s not about copying, it’s about being inspired by what others do, it is that thing to absorb, that art that moves you and that takes you out a bit of what you would have done or what you had in mind that was being done.

That is the case, for example, with Mare Advertencia. When I saw what Mare is doing, the work she is doing with her community, the way she relates to words, to the power of the word, it was very moving and very inspiring for me. I see her as a total warrior and a teacher in that aspect, seeing how she has released her project being this way. That's why I invited her on Un Canto Por México because I wanted that, when it came to having Rubén Blades’ voice and being able to think that a rapper like Mare could be there too [on "Tú Sí Sabes Quereme"], that seemed very cool to me.

We invited Silvana Estrada. She is another beautiful fellow friend who already has her niche, she has her space, she has her followers and listening to her is like, "What a wonder what this woman does." The same thing happens with everyone. I really think all the guests that I have, I admire them all, I love them, they are friends, they are people who have been there in some way for me. Jorge Drexler and I have seen each other’s [path] for many years and we love each other very much. Leonel García [composed] "Hasta la Raíz." We have been there for each other ... Meme, Mon Laferte who is a great friend, I admire her deeply. Anyway, it really is very nice to be able to collaborate and it is very nice to be able to share those spaces [with them.]

<style>.embed-container { position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%; height: 0; overflow: hidden; max-width: 100%; } .embed-container iframe, .embed-container object, .embed-container embed { position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; }</style><div class='embed-container'><iframe src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/KdWgysitPgU' frameborder='0' allowfullscreen></iframe></div>

More: The Many Faces Of "La Llorona"

I noticed there are two versions of "La Llorona" on the album. Why?

There really just is the "La Llorona" acoustic version—it is the version I did during the international tours. It became a song that I did not sing in Mexico, but that I sang outside of Mexico for the people of Mexico who were outside of Mexico. It became that hymn requested by the people, it became the song that people said, "Please, ‘La Llorona,’" they yelled at me to sing it. It was that moment, we could sing together and, for them, to connect with Mexico and with their longing from a distance.

"La Llorona" is that kind of song that really confronted me when it came to singing it, interpreting it. It's one of those songs that has so much spirit, so much strength, so much mystique that the songs don't allow you to sing them overnight. Actually, interpreting them implies opening, it implies going deep, it implies going within and allowing that energy to come to the surface. It is very confrontational.

I feel that, as a singer, as a performer, I needed to get closer to this type of song and this type of music to explore other ways of singing, of interpreting the music that I make. I owe a lot to songs like these. I didn't want the acoustic version to be forgotten because it became an important song that connects me with my audience internationally. Later, I returned to Mexico and I wanted to sing it there too, but it had an extra meaning outside of Mexico. That's why I wanted to leave it as a solo with my guitar. Later, in the version I did with Ely Guerra and Silvana Estrada, its tinge is much more of women interpreting and chanting it together.

Was it on purpose that you sang it with only women?

Yes, of course, totally, because we based it on something that happened very beautifully with Ángela Aguilar and Aida Cuevas at the 2019 GRAMMY Awards Premiere Ceremony.

It’s one of the most popular performance videos.

Yeah?

Yeah, a lot of people have watched it.

Of course, it was a beautiful moment. The inspiration really came from there. Angela couldn't sing because she had scheduling and timing issues, but we said, "Well, we're going to do it with two powerful women. We're going to think of a woman who has been a pioneer in some way."

I had already collaborated with Julieta Venegas at the time but had not had Ely Guerra on any of my albums. She is another friend that I love, another artist that I admire and who came before many of us. It was also nice for me to have her and to have Silvana, as a representation of different generations of women. That also made it interesting for me, representing different generations in a song that will continue to be ours throughout life, through history.

"I feel that La Llorona is the voice of women's pain, the pain that comes from the womb, from the depths of being."

We’re talking about La Llorona’s symbolism in the world. In Chicana literature, she represents a woman archetype. What does she mean to you?

For me, she’s that mystique, that mystery, that force, that existing femininity, not only at the physical level. For me she’s like the force of the earth, the force of nature, the force of Pachamama. I feel that La Llorona is the voice of women's pain, the pain that comes from the womb, from the depths of being. The pain of love, the pain of loss, the pain of death, the pain of violence, pain in general. It is that song that manages to inhabit, not only that feeling that can be so collective among women, but the one that exists in the universe that is earth, in nature, at night, on the moon; I feel that in all that mystery is La Llorona.

Hearing you say that makes me think a lot about what’s happening in Mexico in cities like Juárez, also in Puerto Rico, with all the violence against women. It makes me think that songs like these unite us as women. What do you think about that?

Totally. They are necessary because they are also important—that’s one thing that I love about music, it has this ability to bare emotions. That is really nice because when you can really see the emotion, when you can connect with it, whether it's happiness—because music can make us very happy, it can make us dance—but it can also connect us with pain, what hurts, with its weight. [With music] we can see it and we can sing to it. And while we sing, we cry. Everything is a cleanse.

Of course, songs like "La Llorona" connect us women. I especially feel that at this moment, all women are waking up to something that we had to turn around and see. We had to turn around and see each other, we had to allow the moment to happen with precisely these issues that hurt, heavy issues, issues that hide [beneath], those issues that can live in the closet for years and that we could even die and they never come out.

That is ending now and that makes us meditate and makes us reflect on the importance of mutuality between women, how we strengthen each other and push ourselves out of that pain, out of the boxes, out of the drawers. We're letting it out, those topics that were not discussed for so long have come out, we've put them on the table. To say, "Enough, this is not going to happen anymore. What do we have to do so that we can change the way we live as a humanity?”

It’s not only women who have to put these issues out there, men too, because men also have a lot of repressed pain and a lot of repressed sensitivity. I feel that the music becomes like a warrior to help us with that, the music makes us see it.

Speaking of powerful songs, I really liked "Nada Es Verdad" that you sing with Los Cojolites, who are like the voice of the people of Veracruz. The song has a strong message about society. How did this track become a part of the project?

It had to be part of this project because Un Canto Por México is a musical piece that is encapsulating the collective voice. I love this project. I didn't think of it that way when I started doing it—every project, every album, every song has its own spirit. You start to do it, but there is a point when you are recording in which the music shows its own spirit, its soul, its personality. There was a point in which Un Canto Por México began presenting itself as this collective project, of beings, of musicians, of artists, of a community.

Being that this is a community project, it is not just me. A community is the voice of all and is the song of everything happening today in our Mexico, whether it's nice or whether it's painful. This is what we are. We see it and sing to it and with love we look at it. This tree of life, you have to look at it, you have to fix that too, but it is a tree, it is a whole, it is a unit.

I really like to see this project like that and there had to be [songs like "Nada Es Verdad"] as well. Yes, we can sing to love, but we can also sing to that system that—sorry, but that system has failed. I [also] learned the power of love. How are we afraid of turning around to really look at each other? [We can] see that we are different, but at the same time we come from the same place and are made of the same thing, but we are different and there is diversity. Long live diversity, that is nature, this is the earth.

I feel like all those values are encapsulated in Un Canto Por Mexico. This project was born out of earthquakes that forced a collapse, a beautiful community center where good [has come from it] and that is this new reality that we can build.

That’s the reflection that remains for me. At least, you can always turn around and say, "I am going to be another kind of truth. I am going to build another kind of reality." I feel that it is a very inspiring project in that aspect and that all this is accompanied by music, that I could not explain all this to you and [so] you are going to feel it with the music.

Do you see music as activism?

Yes, totally. Maybe I wouldn't have seen it a few years ago, but today I realize that music has such a brutal capacity to impact. It moves us all, stirs us, confronts us, impacts us without us realizing it. There are songs today that I think we are already beginning to ask, "What? What does that song say? No. No, this is not cool." You start to question yourself and you say, "The rhythm is great, the music is great, the production is great, but [the lyrics] … no."

Just a little while ago someone asked me about how certain groups or artists have decided not to sing certain songs from their repertoires anymore because of the lyrics they are singing. I say we are living in an era, a time in which we are possibly waking up and we are being more aware of what we were singing and promoting without realizing it.

It is not because we are bad, it is only because we were not aware of certain issues that are experienced in other contexts. That is part of what we were talking about, is to begin to see and say, "I live a reality, but I have companions in other places who live another reality."

We have to see how to strengthen the threads because we are all connected. Art, music makes an impact, in some way or another it becomes—I mean, there are those who might say, "No, I'm not an activist," OK, fine, but what you're doing is going to make an impact in one way or another, it will generate something in whoever hears it.

5 LGBTQ+ Latinx Artists You Need To Know

The Latin Recording Academy today announced that 18-time Latin GRAMMY winner and two-time GRAMMY winner Carlos Vives will be the 2024 Latin Recording Academy Person of the Year. He will be honored at a star-studded gala leading up to the 2024 Latin GRAMMYs, which this year marks the 25th anniversary of the Latin GRAMMY Awards.

The heartfelt tribute concert will honor Vives' celebrated career, which spans more than 30 years as a multifaceted singer and composer, and will feature renditions of his renowned repertoire performed by an array of notable artists and friends. In addition to his achievements in music, the 2024 Latin Recording Academy Person of the Year gala will honor Vives' continued commitment to environmental and social initiatives.

Details about the coveted event, which takes place during the 2024 Latin GRAMMY Week in Miami, will be announced at a later date.

An architect of Latin music's ongoing evolution and global expansion, Carlos Vives is one of the most respected artists in Spanish-language music around the world. He helped pioneer a new Latin American sound, redefining traditional Colombian vallenato by incorporating pop and rock. The first Colombian to win a GRAMMY Award, he boasts more than 10 billion streams on digital platforms, 20 million albums sold, and enduring hits like "La Gota Fría," "Pa' Mayte," "La Tierra Del Olvido," "Fruta Fresca" and "Volví A Nacer."

Vives has become an ambassador of Colombian and Latin American culture around the world, and his commitment also transcends the musical realm. In 2015, he created the Tras La Perla initiative to promote the sustainable development of Santa Marta and its ecosystem.

In addition, he created the Escuela de Música Río Grande to offer artistic experiences to children and young people and founded the record label Gaira Música Local to promote new Colombian talent. As part of his ongoing commitment to music education, Vives has been a strong advocate and generous supporter of the Latin GRAMMY Cultural Foundation since its inception and sponsored its annual Prodigy Scholarship in 2018.

"Carlos Vives is one of the most prolific and beloved artists of our time, whose commitment to Latin music and support for the new generations truly personifies the values of our Academy," Latin Recording Academy CEO Manuel Abud said in a statement. "We honor him as our Person of the Year for his vast contributions to our musical heritage and for his many philanthropic initiatives."

"I am honored and moved to have been chosen as the 2024 Latin Recording Academy Person of the Year. It is the reward for an authentic journey, for a wonderful team, and, above all, it is the recognition of the musical spirits of our Latin American diversity," Vives said in a statement. "These spirits taught us to love and enrich our language, to take care of it, and to respect it in order to exalt humanity with it."

The Latin Recording Academy Person of the Year honors musicians and their artistic achievements in the Latin music industry as well as their humanitarian efforts. The past honorees are Laura Pausini (2023), Marco Antonio Solís (2022), Rubén Blades (2021), Juanes (2019), Maná (2018), Alejandro Sanz (2017), Marc Anthony (2016), Roberto Carlos (2015), Joan Manuel Serrat (2014), Miguel Bosé (2013), Caetano Veloso (2012), Shakira (2011), Plácido Domingo (2010), Juan Gabriel (2009), Gloria Estefan (2008), Juan Luis Guerra (2007), Ricky Martin (2006), José José (2005), Carlos Santana (2004), Gilberto Gil (2003), Vicente Fernández (2002), Julio Iglesias (2001), and Emilio Estefan (2000).

Net proceeds from the Latin Academy Person of the Year Gala will go toward the charitable work of the Latin GRAMMY Cultural Foundation.

The 2024 Latin Recording Academy Person of the Year gala will take place days ahead of the 2024 Latin GRAMMYs, which take place Thursday, Nov. 14, in Miami at Kaseya Center, in partnership with Miami-Dade County and the Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau (GMCVB). The nominations for the 2024 Latin GRAMMYs will be announced Tuesday, Sept. 17.

This year, the Latin Recording Academy will introduce two new Latin GRAMMY categories and a new field: Best Latin Electronic Music Performance, housed within the new Electronic Music Field, and Best Contemporary Mexican Music Album (Regional-Mexican Field). These additions also include several changes, including additional category amendments, to be added to the 2024 Latin GRAMMY Awards Process.

8 Essential Latin Electronic Releases: Songs And Albums From Bizarrap, Arca & More

In just two years, Grupo Frontera have gone from playing weddings in their native Texas to joining Bad Bunny on stage at Coachella and performing on "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon." No matter how rapid their rise to fame has become, the Texas sextet has held the same ethos: celebrating their Mexican heritage while embracing the American culture they were born into.

Embracing that balance has helped them transcend cultural barriers with their modern take on regional Mexican music, which incorporates a wide range of musical styles. That holds true on Grupo Frontera's second album, Jugando A Que No Pasa Nada, out now. 

With bright accordion lines and a high-energy blend of urbano party anthems, cumbia-inspired ballads, and forays into pop, the album is a masterful display of the group's mixed cultural background. It retains the same Latin cowboy spirit of their first LP, 2023's El Comienzo — which had roots in the norteño genre, a traditional style originated in Northern Mexico — while tapping into the music they grew up listening to in the States, like hip-hop, corridos tumbados, and country music. 

While El Comienzo introduced Grupo Frontera as loyal traditionalists, Jugando A Que No Pasa Nada aims at speaking to younger generations. It's a fitting approach for the group, whose ages range from early twenties to early thirties across its six members — Alberto "Beto" Acosta, Juan Javier Cantú, Carlos Guerrero, Julian Peña Jr., Adelaido "Payo" Solis III, and Carlos Zamora — that also speaks to their evolution amid their whirlwind success. It's proof that they aren't afraid to create music that is completely true to them — and that's exactly what makes Jugando A Que No Pasa Nada special.

Below, Cantu, Guerrero, Peña, and Solis speak with GRAMMY.com about their cultural roots in South Texas and the making of Jugando A Que No Pasa Nada.

The last two years were a very prolific time for Grupo Frontera. What was it like to create Jugando A Que No Pasa Nada after everything that's happened to the group?

Adelaido "Payo" Solis: Last year we were working a lot, playing four or five concerts a week, and that didn't give us time to structure El Comienzo as well as we wanted to. Now we made time to record all these different types of songs. It was amazing to have time to work on the album cover and all the songs the way we wanted to, and have everything set in a certain way to represent the new album to its highest potential.

Between 2023 and this year, were you able to take any time off to work on this new record, or was it done in between touring?

Juan Javier Cantú: There were times when we were touring El Comienzo that we would record before the people got inside the theater. We would record onstage. We'd be like "Wait, don't let the people in — 20 more minutes, we have to finish this session!" That happened with our new songs "Quédate Bebé" and "Nunca La Olvidé."

Solis: It's a little bit of both because those were recorded live, but then two months ago, we locked ourselves in the house for a good four or five days, and out of that came, like, 15 more songs.

You mentioned that, for this new record, you had more time to work on the order of the songs. What's the general feeling behind this track list? Starting with "F—ing Amor."

Solis: The general feel of this album is literally the album's name, Jugando A Que No Pasa Nada [which loosely translates to "pretending everything is OK"]. Since we had more time to think about it, we tied many things to that name, to that phrase.

Everyone, at some point, has pretended everything is OK when in reality, it's not. You can see it in the album cover — the truck is on fire, but our character, who represents Grupo Frontera, is sitting in the car as if nothing is wrong. So the idea — and I know everyone experienced this — is that when you get in your truck, you can play our record and you can drop the act. You can stop pretending everything is alright. You can get in your feelings.

So the way it's structured, starting with "F—king Amor," is that you don't want to know anything about love, then in the middle, you have "Ya Pedo Quién Sabe," which says "maybe I miss you," and then by the end, "Quédate Bebe" [which translates to "Stay Baby"]. So it is a ride, an experience, which starts with you being hurt, or left behind by someone, and you being sad about it, then slowly wondering how is she doing, then saying "I miss you," and finally "stay with me."

Cantú: More than anything, we are playing with genres. In this record, you have our traditional cumbias, country music, and then songs like "Desquite." So that was also the goal, for people to know more about our music and the music we like.

Solis: Each member of Grupo Frontera listens and plays different styles, so starting from that, we each had a big say in the genres we wanted to play and styles we wanted to record on this album. 

More than anything, we were thinking of new generations. The Latinos of newer generations that don't speak Spanish, or don't get to come back often to Mexico or the countries where their parents are from. They don't want to hear just cumbia, so in our album, we want to make all these styles for them to find, in our songs, the genres that they like.

You mentioned that each of you has different styles and genres you brought to the new record. How did you work in the studio to generate these new sounds?

Solis: Grupo Frontera doesn't really use a lot of computer sounds, most of the music we play is through our instruments. We used to work on our songs starting from guitar and voice only, but now because we had more time to work on things, we each took a song and would listen to it for days. Then we'd meet again as a group and work on it in the studio: everyone's opinion counts, and no one's opinion takes precedence over the other. That's how, slowly, each new song took shape.

When you talked about the moment in which you get in your car or truck, and finally get to stop pretending everything is alright — does that car culture come from your upbringing in Texas?

Julián Peña: That culture is definitely from where we are from, from the Valley [the Lower Rio Grande Valley, which spans the border of Texas and Mexico], where there are a lot of troquitas tumbadas [lowered or customized pickup trucks]. You'd hear la Raza zooming by, blasting our songs, with the bass booming, from their trucks. So it's kind of like a relief, your safe space.

Like the album's title says, "pretending everything is fine"... you're pretending to be fine and then once you get in your car and you pass yourself the aux, you turn that up and you start bawling, or feeling whatever you're feeling. Then the album's over, gotta get back to work, clock back in, and go back to pretending everything's fine. It's like an escape that we know many people have, it has happened to all of us; you go on a drive to decompress, turn the music up, let it all out, and feel better. That's what we wanted to capture with that image.

What songs did you each play when you needed that kind of moment?

Cantú: When I broke up with a girlfriend, around 2012, my go-to was Drake.

Peña: Mine was "Then," by Brad Paisley. I was just sad and going through a country phase. [Laughs.]

Solis: I would listen a lot to a song by Eslabón Armado called "Atrapado."

Cantú: When I feel a little trapped by this street lifestyle I go, "I Should've Been A Cowboy"! [All laugh.]

I read some of you grew up raising cattle, or come from families of farmers and ranchers. What aspects of that lifestyle do you miss, in contrast with being in a city like LA, and actively involved in the music industry?

Solis: Juan had his ranch around General Bravo [a municipality in Mexico], and I was born in the States, but I would go every weekend to Mexico, to my parent's ranch, where they had cattle. I know Juan can relate to this — when you are at the ranch and play a song, and can sing out loud without anyone around listening or judging you, that's a really nice feeling. When you are on stage, in the industry, you're not singing only to yourself, but to make the audience's day better. So no matter what you're going through, when you're on stage, your job is to make people happy.

Cantú: Going to a place — like a ranch, an open space — to disconnect, it's like a reset. I feel a lot of people have not experienced that, they don't know the power that has.

Through your lyrics, you adapted old love songs and romance to modern times. Some songs even mention emojis, DMs and texting. Do you have any favorite emojis?

Solis: Oh man, I love the black heart emoji because it can mean many things. A dead heart, or that you're not feeling anything. It can mean your heart is broken and needs mending to go back to being red. I think it's super cool.

Carlos Guerrero: I like the thinking face emoji.

Cantú: Sometimes he uses it out of context and we don't know if he's thinking, or he's mad. [Laughs.] For me, the one I use the most is the "thanks" [praying hands emoji].

Peña: I like the heart hands emoji. Like "Hey what's up," and throw a heart hands emoji.

Going back to your music, what's your favorite part of making songs?

Solis: I'm not sure if we all have the same answer, but for me, my favorite part about being able to sing, record and write these songs is to sing them with all the feeling in the world. And that is amazing, to be able to let that out.

Cantú: The simple fact of creating something and getting to test it out, seeing people sing it, it's like, Wow, we made that.

Peña: Yeah, that you do something and then put that out there right and you're like, I wonder if this feeling is gonna get translated the way we want it to. And then, like Juan said, when people go to concerts, and sing it back to us, or we see people post stories of them singing it and going through it. It's like, we made that! We got that point across, and it feels good for all of us.

How do you navigate being an American band with a cross-cultural upbringing?

Cantú: It's really cool. We were lucky to go to Puerto Rico, Colombia and Argentina, to collaborate with artists like Arcángel, Maluma, Shakira, and Nicki Nicole. That helped us understand their culture and meditate on what it means to be Latino, not just Mexican. Latino identity entails so many cultures in one, and even Mexican identity is vast. Latinos are from everywhere.

How was it to collaborate with all these other artists, and open your group to collaborate with them in Jugando A Que No Pasa Nada?

Solis: Basically, we are like a group of brothers. We sometimes spend 24/7 together. We see each other every day, and we spend all our time together on the tour bus and at home, even when we don't need to see each other. So when we collaborate with other artists, like Morat, Maluma, or Nicky Nicole, they sense that vibe — we carry that with us. I feel that carries through, to the point where we can all have that vibe together.

When we are collaborating with other artists, it feels as if it was a friendship that has been around for a while. Like, have you ever felt or had that friendship where you can go like a month without seeing each other and when you see each other is like you had seen each other? That's basically how it is when we collab with other artists.

I know it's hard to pick a favorite song from the new album—

Solis: It's not that hard! My favorite is "F—ing Amor."

Why?

Solis: Because before Grupo Frontera started, that was more the style that I listened to. I got into the music of Natanael Cano, Iván Cornejo, and others. I grew up listening to old cumbia songs that my parents played for me, but in high school, I started listening to new stuff and new genres, so I think that's why my musical style is more versatile. So "F—ing Amor" is more Sierreño, has more bass, and the congas and percussion; the vibe of that song reminds me of how, in high school, I would drive my truck listening to Natanael Cano. 

Peña: Mine is "Echándote De Menos." Ever since we recorded it, it has that rhythm in the middle where we all drop, on that note… I like all of them, but that one, in particular. 

Cantú: I have to go with two. When I first listened to them, "Los Dos," our collaboration with Morat, and "Por Qué Será" with Maluma. That song, when they first showed it to me, I felt chills down my back.

Guerrero: Mine is "Los Dos," with Morat, because we liked Morat before being with Frontera.

Cantú: To make a song with them is an achievement for us because our big song ["No Se Va"] was a cover of theirs. So making a song together is pretty cool — not many people get to do that.

Solis: We had people tell us that we were stealing their song! We get that Morat is some people's favorite group but we were like, bro, it is our favorite too, that's why we did that song!

What is your dream for this new record?

Solis: We were talking about this yesterday in the van. We don't want to expect anything out of it — success, or big numbers — because this album was made from the heart. We are just so happy and proud to be releasing it into the world.

Guerrero: I just hope that people like it, because, as Payo says, we explored a lot of different genres, so we hope people dig that. We put our best into it.

Cantú: I want what Payo and Carlos said, but also, to go to Japan to play our songs.

Peña: I want what the three of them want, but for people to really connect and identify with the songs. Even if they connect with one or three, what I want for the album is that — to connect with people.

Meet The Gen Z Women Claiming Space In The Regional Mexican Music Movement

The explosive Latin music scene is moving in many directions: from brassy corridos tumbados to pounding perreo tracks. Yet another, slower movement is quietly brewing: Latin trip-hop and downtempo. 

Trip-hop originated in the 1990s and typically refers to downtempo music with a degree of electronic experimentation and an elusive sense of eeriness. While it's a contentious term that has been shunned by the very artists’ whose sound it was coined to describe (Portishead’s Geoff Barrow once tweeted "call it anything else but that";), it has been widely embraced in Latin America, which has imprinted on the genre since it’s infancy.

In 2001, the Franco-Argentine act Gotan Project poured tango into trip-hop musings to create their seminal record La revancha del Tango. Brazilian bossa nova has also featured heavily in the peripheral trip-hop scene: London-Brazilian outfit Smoke City’s 1997 Flying Away was awash with the rhythms of Rio de Janeiro. 

Latin GRAMMY winner Mon Laferte recalls listening to the sounds of Portishead in the 1990s, gazing out the window of her Chilean home in portside city Viña del Mar. "I loved Beth Gibbons’ voice," she says. "I remember the television was showing a Portishead concert, and I thought, Who is this captivating voice?"

That interest has followed Laferte throughout her career. On 2023's Autopoetica, Laferte brings back the Latin twist on trip-hop — drawing on traditional styles that have been a staple to her previous catalog (bolero, salsa, cumbia), then blending them into a downtempo electro canvas. "40yMM," a song that navigates the ups and downs of turning 40, begins with atmospheric strings, whispered vocals, and slow, pulsating beats, before unexpectedly branching into a rhythmic salsa. 

Laferte is one of a new wave of artists exploring the boundaries of traditional Latin styles through poignant, reflective experimentation — whether it be pasting a hypnotic double cumbia beat onto a trippy electro soundscape, or combining regional folk guitar with shuddering synths. Read on for five artists who are at the forefront of a new wave of Latin trip-hop and downtempo.

Karen y Los Remedios 

Hailing from Mexico, Karen y Los Remedios is a Mexican trio that makes "existential Cumbia." Their 2023 debut album, Silencio, is a gorgeously dark exploration of the realizations that occur through silence. On "Cartas Marinas," Ana Karen G Barajas asks "What would your voice be without mine?/What would your hand be without mine?"; her profound, prophetic tone that chills the spine.

The trio, formed by Barajas, guitarist Guillermo Berbeyer and producer Jonathan Muriel (Jiony), first met on projects under Jiony's Mexico City label, VAA, which specializes in electro, techno, funk and traditional Latin sounds. The trio eventually teamed up to put out two EPs, cumbia-driven Botanas, Vol15, in 2020, and lo-fi hip hop effort Recuerdos de Expiación in 2021.

Federico Aubele

Singing with shivering stillness, Federico Aubele’s music is soft, pensive and haunting. Mixing jazz, trip-hop and folk, the Argentine is signed to ESL Music, which is headed by U.S. electro act Thievery Corporation. His musical footprint is similarly global: Aubele released his debut album, Gran Hotel Buenos Aires, in 2004 while living in Berlin, and then spent time making music in Barcelona, before settling in New York.

His latest album, 2023's Time Drips On My Bed, is a meditative reflection on the past inspired by his early life in Buenos Aires, a city he grew up in, but is at once a stranger to. His music is informed by Latin classical guitars, nodding to the tango and folk styles present in Argentina, and mixing in contemporary electronic elements to hone his eclectic and exploratory style. 

Luiza Lian 

Signed to international independent label ZZK Records, Luiza Lian is a Sao Paulo-based musician who toys with experimental techniques, bouncing basslines and erratic vocal arrangement. On the latest album, 7 Estrelas | quem arrancou o céu?, she uses voice manipulation to explore themes of reality and deception, holding a mirror up to a consumerist world to question where our real values should lie. 

Lian’s deep mediations on the record translate to an immersive live show that has won awards in her native Brazil. With frantic projections, flashing lights and costume design that form part of the stage backdrop, she creates a deliberately disorientating and harrowing mood, encouraging viewers to join her reflection on humanity. 

Natalia Clavier

Like Abuele, Buenos Aires vocalist Clavier is another protegee of the Thievery Corporation and spent a large part of her early career as the band’s lead vocalist. Clavier kindled a love for singing as a child after listening to her grandmother’s jazz records and eventually grew to love electronic music after discovering the sounds of Massive Attack, Björk and Portishead. 

After spending the first chapter of her music career as a session and live vocalist, Clavier released her debut album, Nectár, in 2008. She's since crafted a body of solo work that combines hushed, jazzy vocals with gorgeously downtempo tracks. Her most recent album with Thievery Corporation’s Eric Hilton, 2023’s Corazón Kintsugi, combines Bossa Nova, dub, and trip-hop into a rich soundscape. 

Céu 

Maria do Céu Whitaker Poças, known as Céu, is a Sao Paulo musician whose music veers into a particularly dub vein of downtempo. 

Since releasing her first self-titled album in 2005, Céu has worked with a mixture of jazz, reggae and samba, her blissfully smooth vocals weaving between the genres. The self-titled album was a critical success, earning her a Latin GRAMMY nomination for Best New Artist in 2006, and a GRAMMY nomination for Best Contemporary World Music Album in 2008.

Céu continues to make soft, blissfully melodic music with an electronic edge. On 2024 single Coração Âncora, she teams up with producer RDD to sing a breezy, summery ode the "anchored heart," committed and assured. 

6 Artists Reimagining Flamenco For A New Generation: María José Llergo, C. Tangana, Mëstiza & More

Electronic music is embedded within the diverse world of Latin music and, for the first time, will be recognized in a new Field and Category at the 2024 Latin GRAMMYs. Within that field, the award for Best Latin Electronic Music Performance was created to shine a light on DJs, producers, and artists blending proudly blending electronic music with the sounds of their cultures.

Electronic music embodies various subgenres like house music, techno, trance, electronica, and many others rooted that have been popularized by DJs and producers. Latin artists have long enriched those subgenres: Mexico's Belanova globalized the electro-pop wave, while Bomba Estéreo blended cumbia with electronica in Colombia. 

The explosion of EDM in the 2010s also allowed the careers of Latinx DJs to flourish. Mexican American DJ Deorro has showcased both cultures during sets at music festivals like EDC, Coachella, Tomorrowland, and more. Arca's music pushes the boundaries of electronic music through a Venezuelan and Latin American lens. More recently, Colombian producer Víctor Cárdenas bridged the gap between EDM and reggaeton with the global hit "Pepas" by Farruko. Since then, electronic music has seeped through the work of Latin hit-makers like Tainy, Caleb Calloway, Bizarrap and Diego Raposo. "Pepas" and many of Bizarrap's music sessions crossed over onto Billboard's Hot Dance/Electronic Songs.

"That’s something that’s very big for us," Deorro tells GRAMMY.com about the new category. "How beautiful that this is happening, because it shows that what we’re doing is working, we’re breaking down doors, and we’re creating more opportunities for artists like us in the future." 

In honor of the Latin Recording Academy's new Field and Category, here are eight must-hear Latin electronic music essentials.

Belanova - Cocktail (2003)

Belanova revolutionized the Latin music space with their 2003 debut album Cocktail, an atmospheric LP that seamlessly blends Latin pop with electronic music. In the dreamy deep house of "Tu Ojos," singer Denisse Guerrero sang about getting lost in her lover's eyes. The trippy techno of "Barco De Papel" was reminiscent of the music from Madonna's Ray of Light album. Electronic music on the ambient level wasn’t common in Latin music until Belenova changed the game in Mexico, which later reverberated into the rest of Latin America and the U.S. 

The trio — which includes guitarist Ricardo Arreol and keyboardist Edgar Huerta — later delved into electro-pop on 2007's Fantasía Pop, which won a Latin GRAMMY for Best Pop Album by a Group or Duo the following year. 

Arca - Kick I-II (2020)

Venezuelan producer/artist Arca is a pioneer in the Latin electronic music space. Arca first began producing her experimental electronica in Spanish with her 2017 self-titled album.

Arca then masterfully mixed the diverse sounds of Latin America and beyond with EDM throughout her Kick album series. 

For Kick I, she combined Venezuelan gaita music and reggaeton with a cyberpunk edge in "KLK" featuring Spanish pop star Rosalía. Arca then blended electronica with neo-perreo on Kick II's "Prada" and "Rakata." Both albums garnered Arca GRAMMY and Latin GRAMMY nominations. 

As a trans and non-binary artist, she is also breaking boundaries for the LGBTQ+ community in the genre. Arca is just not creating more space for queer artists in Latin music, but also in EDM at large by embracing the totality of herself in song.  

Bomba Estéreo - Deja (2021)

Bomba Estéreo, which is comprised of core members Simón Mejía and Liliana "Li" Saumet, has masterfully melded the music of Colombia’s Caribbean coast with electronic music. Since breaking out in 2008 with their sophomore album, the group has often reimagined the African and Indigenous rhythms of their country like cumbia through dance music. Bomba Estéreo’s folkloric approach to EDM has led to collaborations with Bad Bunny, Tainy, and Sofi Tukker.    

In 2021, Bomba Estéreo released its most ambitious album Deja, which garnered a GRAMMY and Latin GRAMMY nominations. The title track put a funky spin on the band's signature electro-tropical sound. House music collided with the Afro-Colombian rhythms of champeta in "Conexión Total" featuring Nigerian singer Yemi Alade. Their album that was based on the four classical elements was a breath of fresh air in the Latin music scene. 

Bizarrap - "BZRP Music Sessions #52" (2022)

Argentine producer Bizarrap launched the BZRP Music Sessions on YouTube in 2018, first remaining behind the console for freestyle rapping sessions with local acts. The sessions quickly went viral, and have featured increasingly larger names in music.

Over the past five years, Bizarrap worked elements of electronic music into his hip-hop productions. In 2022, he fully delved into EDM with his global hit "BZRP Music Sessions #52" featuring Spanish singer Quevedo. The traptronica banger peaked at No. 4 on Billboard's Hot Dance/Electronic Songs and earned Bizarrap his first Latin GRAMMY Award. 

Since then, his music sessions have become a global event. Bizarrap later infused electro-pop with a trap breakdown in "BZRP Music Sessions #53" with Shakira, which garnered him two more Latin GRAMMY awards. 

Javiera Mena - Nocturna (2022)

Javiera Mena first debuted as an indie act in 2006 with Esquemas Juveniles. With that freedom as a producer and artist, the Chilean star pushed Latin music into the electronic space with her 2010 album Mena. 

She fully immersed herself into Latin electronica on her latest album, 2022's Nocturna — an album filled with nighttime club bangers that invite everyone to dance with her. Mena also proudly sings about being part of the LGBTQ+ community in the alluring "La Isla de Lesbos" and the fierce house music of "Diva" featuring Chico Blanco. Considering the influence of queer artists in the formation of electronic genres like house, it’s refreshing to see an artist like Mena remind people of those roots and bring that into Latin music.  

Deorro - Orro (2022)

Mexican American producer Deorro has established himself as one of the world's top DJs, and is known for mixing both of his cultures into his music festival sets. Even before the música mexicana explosion last year, he was one of the first mainstream EDM acts to bring the genre to music festivals around the world through his songs and remixes.   

With his debut album, 2022's Orro, Deorro fully bridged música mexicana with house music. He collaborated with Latin acts like Mexico's Los Tucanes De Tijuana and Maffio in "Yo Las Pongo," which blended the band's norteño sound with EDM. Deorro also explored cumbia with deep house in the sweeping "Dime" featuring Los Ángeles Azules and Lauri Garcia. In his recent sets, he is spinning a fiery remix of "Ella Baila Sola" by Eslabon Armado and Peso Pluma

Sinego - Alterego (2023)

Sinego first broke through in 2019 thanks to his house bolero sound like in "Verte Triste," which put a refreshing spin on an age-old Cuban genre. With traditional genres within the Latin diaspora often falling to the wayside as the years go on, he is reintroducing them to new audiences through EDM reimaginings.   

For his debut album, 2023's Alterego, the Colombian producer pushed his electronic music to another level. Sinego traveled to different Latin American countries and Spain to record with local musicians, reimagining genres like cumbia, tango, and mambo through Sinego's EDM lens. With the sultry "Mala," he blended Venezuela's variation of calypso with house music. He also gave Brazilian samba a house music makeover in "Boa Noite" featuring Tonina. 

Diego Raposo - Yo No Era Así Pero De Ahora En Adelante Sí (2023)

Dominican producer Diego Raposo has helped Latin acts like Danny Ocean, Blue Rojo, and Letón Pé embrace elements of electronic music. In 2018, Raposo released his debut album Caribe Express, which demonstrated his knack for mixing the sounds of the Caribbean with EDM. 

Raposo took that inventive mix into overdrive with last year's Yo No Era Así Pero De Ahora En Adelante Sí. The otherworldly "Si Supieras" featuring Okeiflou blended house music with reggaeton, while "Al Contrario" with Akrilla aggressively mixes drum 'n 'bass with dembow. Rapaso also channels Dance Dance Revolution-esque electronica in the spellbinding "Quédate" with Kablito. 

7 Latin DJs To Watch In 2023: Gordo, Arca, The Martinez Brothers & More