Not so smooth: why hasn't the latin music explosion reached latin flavoured rock?
Help me out here. I’m vexed about something. In the streaming era, the music industry is experiencing the ‘3rd latin explosion’. This streaming-induced wave is the biggest and longest-lasting period of latin music’s global dominance. Luis Fonsi’s 2017 single ‘Despacito’ carved out an indestructible road for latin pop music. One song changed everything from thereon in. Artists like Rosalía, Selena Gomez, Camila Cabello and Sofía Valdés continue to drive latin pop into the mainstream in a variety of flavours (those four are all signed to major music labels, who have put all their weight behind latin music in recent years).
The first latin explosion came in the mid-80s with Gloria Estefan and Miami Sound Machine’s ‘Dr Beat’ and Julio Iglesias’ first English language album ‘1100 Bel Air Place’. Along with Madonna’s debut album. The second wave came in the 90s (Selina in the first half, then Ricky Martin and Shakira in the late 90s). And of course, the iconic Buena Vista Social Club.
Thing is, I love latin music, but I especially love latin mixed with rock. For me when the two mix, something magical happens. It doesn’t have to be hard rock, just not ‘pop’. Ultimately, Los Lobos is that sound. The L.A. band popularised latin pop with ‘La Bamba’ (paving the way for latin’s first wave and preceeding Despacito by 30 years). But the success of La Bamba gave the band a long-lasting identity crisis. Los Lobos is still one of the most misunderstood rock bands of all time, certainly outside of the USA and beyond its own fanbase. That fanbase remains stubbornly niche in the context of the latin explosion. With 2.4 million monthly listeners on Spotify, the band appears to have felt no particular halo effect from the latin music streaming phenomenon. I wonder why? Is it the rock element that acts as an immoveable boundary? Perhaps the overlap between rock fans and latin music fans is ultimately a small sliver of folks like me.
Other artists have arrived at the Latin Rock Ranch too, notably Calexico. The Tucson, Arizona band came together at the height of the second latin wave in the late 90s. In 1998 the band’s second album ‘The Black Light’, a concept album of sorts inspired by the desert of Arizona and northern Mexico, received excellent reviews and put the band firmly on the map. But which map exactly? With their eclectic mix of Tex Mex, mariachi and indie-americana (labeled ‘desert noir’ by music writer Fred Mills), Calexico brought something different. Perhaps too different to ride that 2nd Latin wave.
Back in 2007 The NYC punk rock band The Bronx surprised their major label patrons at Island Def Jam by announcing their intention to record mariachi albums alongside their core punk rock repertoire. Mariachi El Bronx then became the band’s alter-ego and they continue to perform under both identities. Though I much prefer the mariachi output, the band’s Mariachi El Bronx persona attracts a much smaller following - just 33.5k monthly listeners after five strong studio albums over 15 years. With 62 million Latino residents in the USA as at the last census, over 70% of them Mexican, it’s surprising that the band has not amassed more popularity.
I’m nonplussed how a band such as Calexico has amassed under half a million Spotify monthly listeners. Even though I know that comparisons in pop music are meaningless, J Balvin for example, has over 10 times that (indeed, the Columbian Reggaeton singer has a consistent top 20 place in the world on Spotify).
My conclusion is that the ‘latin explosions 1, 2 and 3’ simply do not include latin flavoured rock. Calexico, Los Lobos, Mariachi El Bronx, Making Movies etc. remain very niche, especially when considering the authenticity yet accessibility they demonstrate in their respective repertoires.
If Mexico City is the biggest streaming city on the globe (as it seems to be if you follow Spotify’s rules) I can only suggest that the residents of Mexico city wake up and smell the horchata. It’s not like that city doesn’t like to rock. Almost every major rock band on the planet has significant streaming listeners there (sometimes to their surprise). Perhaps if Spotify knew its audience beyond all those binary digits, it might serve up more Los Lobos, Calexico et. al. as editorial duty. As for radio, your guess is as good as mine as to when any of the above said artists might next crop up alongside the ubiquitous Latin pop tunes. Probably never. And that’s even after Los Lobos picked up another Grammy Award in 2022 for its most recent (superb) covers album ‘Native Sons’.
Of course Louis Fonsi was helped out on ‘Despacito’ by the presence of Justin Bieber, and Beyonce did a similar favour for J Balvin. Perhaps collaborations would be in order here? Back in 1999, Santana’s collaboration with alternative rock singer Rob Thomas (of Matchbox Twenty) reached the high numbers in the charts and remains a solid streaming hit to this day. If we could have another big latin rock single in the style of ‘Smooth’, it might give latin rock the lift it deserves.
Until then, to the radio networks and streaming services I implore: more radio and playlist curation for this great splicing of genres if you please. Latin music rocks!