Spotify’s Regional Mexican Playlist Los Que Mandan Highlights Creators Who Break the Rules of the Genre

Genre-fluid playlists like Lorem, Pollen, and Our Generation have found a home on Spotify— especially among Gen Z listeners. These mixes are consistent in being unconventional: They curate songs by tone, feeling, and sound—more so than any hard and fast rule. The same can be said for Los Que Mandan, Spotify’s U.S. Latin flagship playlist for the Regional Mexican (RGMX) genre that is a staple of Mexican and Latinx U.S. music cultures.

RGMX is a powerhouse. In 2020 alone, over 1.8 billion RGMX songs were streamed globally on Spotify. And although there’s over 130 Regional Mexican Spotify editorial playlists to date, there are none quite like Los Que Mandan. With over 2.7 million followers, the playlist moves away from the most traditional elements of the genre and instead serves as a home to some of the newest and most exciting sounds coming out of RGMX music. It celebrates creators who showcase their roots while breaking stereotypical molds and caters to a new wave of young millennial and Gen Z streamers—half its listeners are ages 18-29. 

The music featured on Los Que Mandan is rooted in tradition but has also been infused with the sounds and genres the artists listened to as kids and on the street every day. Most are descendants of first-generation immigrants in the U.S. and are spread across cities like Houston, Dallas, Chicago, Los Angeles, Atlanta, and San Francisco. 

Spotify’s new visual identity of Los Que Mandan, which debuts today, speaks to the soul of the genre and celebrates the new sounds coming from a new generation of artists. Los Que Mandan’s bold design is inspired by RGMX’s tattoo culture and consists of a diamond shape with five animal icons: an alligator, a snake, an eagle, a panther, and a scorpion. A film featuring RGMX icons Ángela Aguilar, Eslabon Armado, Natanael Cano, and Ivonne Galaz was conceived by Spotify and directed by Mexican American director Leo Aguirre. 

The revamped playlist also features a range of bicultural artists who are paving their own way, such as T3R Elemento, Esteban Gabriel, and Grupo Diez 4tro. This new wave of music is inviting RGMX fusions and remixes, with artists like Snoop Dogg with Banda MS, Tres Torres with Natanel Cano, Gerardo Ortiz with Gente de Zona, and Camilo with Los Dos Carnales.

As young listeners crave this new wave of Regional Mexican, Los Que Mandan celebrates the genre’s uniqueness in the U.S. and represents the biggest hits inspired by cultures beyond the Mexican border. 

Hear the genre-crossing sounds of Regional Mexican with the Los Que Mandan playlist below.