Corridos 2021: The new coolness of Regional Mexicano - by Daniel Wahl & Pablo Borchi

A look at how labels and streaming platforms are getting together to earn a piece of the cake of the new Regional Mexicano "boom"

We decided that the original article could resonate with audiences beyond the Spanish language. Thus we prepared a translation in English (here) and another one in German.

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Every era has its soundtrack and it seems as if one of the sounds that will help us remember these Covid & post-Covid time are those of Regional Mexicano, the new gold mine of the Latin music industry.

If you pay attention, its quite simple to realize that during the past year streaming platforms (Spotify et. al.) as well as major labels (Universal, Sony, Warner) have been supporting strongly the popularity of this type of music. For instance, just when the first Covid lockdowns started in Mexico City, you could see billboards from Spotify inviting to listen to Christian Nodal in their platform. Just a bit later, Banda MS would release “Que Maldición” ft. Snoop Dogg, a track that would use its crossover between styles and publics to become hugely viral. By the end of 2020, Amazon Music would release a short documentary film  talking about the history of Corridos and Spotify would promote an editorial list (even with ads in the city’s subway system) in which it consolidates the essential tracks of Regional Mexicano.

If these clues weren’t enough, starting 2021, Francisco Toscano presented a very interesting article for Chartmetric in which it shows how the streaming numbers of iconic Regional Mexicano artists such as Christian Nodal and Banda MS, are at the level of global super stars like Taylor Swift, Bruno Mars or Cardi B.

Now that every week we see more and more collaborations with artists from Regional Mexicano being released its become inevitable to realize that the big players in the Mexican-American music industry are betting heavily on the expansion of these music genres.

Corridos and the other music styles that are part Regional Mexicano always had a big audience. Why is it that they seem cooler than before?

As you might know, Regional Mexican is a wide label that is used to group different types of music that carry within themselves influences from Northern Mexico’s folklore and that are linked to the cultural exchange on both sides of the Mexico - U.S. border. This category could include styles such as a Banda Sinaloense, Corridos, Sierreño, Mariachi, Conjunto Norteño, Corridos Tumbados and Cumbia, amongst others. 

For many years the different styles that make up Regional Mexicano had great popularity in the North of Mexico and the West Coast of the U.S., always being fueled by the migratory and cultural exchanges between both countries. Just as Elijah Wald mentions in an article for The New York Times, Corridos have been very important in the region since the 80’s, getting intertwinded greatly with 90’s Gangsta Rap culture. That’s why its no coincidence to find Snoop Dogg on Instagram singing along the songs of Banda MS or dancing to “La Chona”. In the same way, we can see this in Selena and its Conjunto Norteño & Texano sound, who has been hugely successful on both sides of the border and even mentioned as a big inspiration by artists like Beyonce.

Despite this big popularity, during all of this time the role of Regional Mexicano in the media had been handled in a quite peripheral way. If we remember the most recent Latin music booms that happened in the U.S., such as Ricky Martin's “Livin la vida loca” moment at the start of the 2000's or the recent Reggaeton trend with Luis Fonsi & Daddy Yankee’s “Despacito”, we can can see that they focused much more on Latin identities that have more to do with the Caribbean and with the editorial lines of the media industry in Miami. In the case of Mexico City, there is something similar going on. Just as Uriel Waizel mentions, General Editor at Spotify, the efforts of the industry to capitalize on Regional Mexicano used to reflect a certain “kitsch” or “rural” approach to it that had to do with the fact that the media companies from Mexico City were more inclined towards rock and pop proposals that had a more defined aspiration for Anglo and European culture.

However, nowadays we see that the music industry is trying to position Regional Mexicano with a coolness that we hadn’t seen in previous times. There are several reasons for this, but on general terms we can explain it through two elements. Firstly, this has to do with the expansion of digital platforms in Mexico and the data about music consumption that this is revealing. Once platforms started its conquest of public beyond the biggest cities, Spotify et al. realized of the big taste of the population for Regional Mexicano sounds. Secondly, this has to do with the appearance of Corridos Tumbados, promoted strongly by Rancho Humilde records and artists such as Natanael Cano or Herencia de Patrones. We are talking of a music innovation that uses a touch of Trap to carry the world of Corridos and their iconic bajo sexto to the coolness of Hip Hop culture. Just like Reggaeton managed to synthetize Anglo and Afrolatinx cultures in a super effective combo for Millenials, Corridos Tumbados are doing that for an even more bilingual and transnational Z Generation.

What are the strategies labels and streaming platforms are using to take hold of Regional Mexicano consumers? 

Now that Regional Mexicano is positioning itself as the new gold mine or the Mexican-American music industry is interesting to see how big labels and streaming platforms are working to try to keep a piece of this pie.

Regarding labels, we can see that their efforts rely on the crossover between publics and artists. This is being done by trying to bring Regional Mexicano towards urban audiences (i.e. to “urbanize Regional Mexicano”), teaming up classic acts from the genre with new ones that are closer to urban narratives. Some examples of this process include Banda MS teaming op with Snoop Dogg in “Qué Maldición”, or La Arrolladora Banda Limón doing the same with Mon Laferte in “Se me va a quemar el corazón”. This is also happening in the opposite direction, by bringing Urban Pop artists closer to Regional Mexicano (i.e. to “regionalize Urban Pop”). In this case, we can see artists like Karol G and her “200 Copas” as well as with Ozuna & Anuel AA’s “Municiones”, where they sample corridos, its traditional bajo sexto and even include phrases taken from Mexican slang.

Talking about streaming platforms, it seems as if each one of them is trying to position themselves as the “official voice” of Regional Mexicano. Spotify has a focus on editorial playlists that gather in the same place back catalogue hits as well as new artists. For example, the list “La Reyna” combines the biggest hits from Regional Mexicano, mixing classics from artists like Tigres del Norte or Juan Gabriel with upcoming ones like Christian Nodal or Angela Aguilar. This also happens with a list called “Corridos Perrones” where they repeat the same strategy around the concept of Corridos, that gives them an edge to explore all of the innovations happening around “Corridos Tumbados”. Besides those two, there is a list called “Novedades Banda, Corridos y Más” that includes different types of Latin Music that can be labeled as part of Regional Mexicano within a wider spectrum, thus letting them play with the frontiers of the concept. At some points the list might include a set of songs that you would expect in your average Regional Mexicano playlist, whilst at other times it might go as far as including an internationalist dembow cumbia from the Swedish band Cumbiasound. 

In the case of Amazon Music, it seems as if they are focusing on editorial projects that are tying to transmit a certain “authenticity” for Regional Mexicano, which is drawn from the professionalism and cultural historic value of these music styles. These attempts are anchored in short documentaries that follow artists behind the scenes while they create some of their newest hits. This is the case of “Anatomía de un Hit - Banda MS & Snoop Dogg” or “Album Spotlight - Calibre 50 Vamos Bien”, where the audience can check on the hi-end studios and the great amount of discipline that these artists use to create their music. The platform also has documentaries such as “Genre 101 - Corridos Tumbados ft. Natanael Cano” that help the audience to understand the historic and cultural background of this genre within Regional Mexicano, positioning Corridos Tumbados as the daughter of Mexican Corridos and U.S.’s West Coast Hip Hop culture.

As for Deezer, the statements of Ernesto Sánchez, Deezer’s Editorial Music Manager MX & Central America, at the recent Business Insider Week, lets us know that the platform has an explicit objective to become “the official voice” of Regional Mexicano and being recognized as the ones that made this boom happen. In this case the strategy appears to be a bit more hybrid than the one of its competitors. It includes a combination of playlists curated by guest artists, podcasts, streaming festivals, content via its TV show at TV Azteca and third party editorial articles.

Is Regional Mexicano the new Reggaeton / Urban Pop?

One the of the questions that comes to mind when we see the great push that the music industry is giving to Regional Mexicano is to know if this will be the genre that will take on after Reggaeton stops being the owner of global charts. This is a question that every day seems more present when we see songs such as “Botella tras Botella”  from Christian Nodal & GeraMx reach #1 at Spotify’s Global chart in less than a week.

Despite the great muscle that Regional Mexicano has to generate streams its a bit rushed to forecast that this style of music will have a larger than life moment as the one we saw for “Despacito”. First, it seems like we need to wait some time before Regional Mexicano can find that iconic and highly copyable blueprint that can be re-used on all of current hits. Even if we have many clues that the internationalization of Regional Mexicano will come in the shape of Corridos Tumbados an other fusions between bajo sexto and Trap swagger, we still feel that the releases that are being promoted within this concept include an array of sounds that still is too widespread. Being sounds that can go all the wayfrom Santa Fe Klan's Cumbia to Natanel Cano’s Corridos to Angela Aguilar's Mariacheño Pop. 

Second, Regional Mexicano isn’t the only music style that is experimenting a boom like this. The expansion of streaming platforms throughout Latin America is also shedding light on the market potential of several local styles that are being fused with Trap swagger. These might include L-Gante's 420 Cumbia in Argentina or Dominican Dembow from El Alpha and Tokischa, to name a few. This also applies for the Arab and Asian world with artists such as Breezy or Divine. Because of that, we have the impression that the next big heir of Reggaeton won’t be any of these styles of music, but a combination that will pick up on the most viral thing of each one of them.

Laying the seeds for a change in gender roles within Regional Mexicano

Beyond the comercial success that comes with the new coolness of Regional Mexicano, one of the most important things for this boom is its ability to defy the gender roles that traditionally are associated to this type of music. If we revisit artists such as El Komander, we can see how through the years the different styles of Regional Mexicano have been somewhat related to the image of a Mexican macho and materialist cowboy. Contrary, a big part of the approach that this new generation of artists are having towards Regional Mexicano puts under the spotlight another type of gender roles. One of these examples is Ivonne Galaz, the first female signing of Rancho Humilde records. Instead of portraying herself as a sort of macho fantasy (you know, that kind of sexy girl that loves the expensive gifts of her suitors and all of that - i.e. the girl singing the chorus for “Dame más gasolina”), she is putting onto Corridos Tumbados the voice of a teenager with other type of interests. Another interesting example is C. Tangana and his Corrido exploration in the song “Cambia” alongside Carin León and Adrián Favela. Besides the fact that C. Tangana defies Regional Mexicano’s expectations by being a Spanish artist that comes from a very different background, what catches our attention is the direct challenge that it throws at this type of music by using a drag queen as one of the protagonists of the official video. Curiously enough, these artists aren’t the first ones to defy gender roles within Regional Mexicano. In many ways, the acclaimed singer Juan Gabriel already gave us an example of how to position an alternative masculinity successfully at the center of the Regional Mexicano industry. However, seeing these new artists doing so with great success will certainly plant new seeds to continue to challenge the most traditional gender roles and stereotypes of Regional Mexicano.

*We thank Francisco Toscano, whose article for Chartmetric was one of the reasons to start this analysis, and who also gave us an interview to gather information for the text.