Tag: Camilo

Spotify Predicts the Latin Grammys Nominees Who Could Win Big in 2022

November 15, 2022

On Thursday night, the Latin Grammys will make its return to Las Vegas to celebrate the artists and industry professionals who make Latin Music the global sensation it is today. With more than 50% of Spotify listeners streaming at least one Latin song per month—amounting to approximately 215 million users globally—this annual awards show features many of the most-streamed artists on the platform.

Leading the pack of nominees is Spotify’s most-streamed artist of 2020 and 2021, Bad Bunny, who has earned 10 Latin Grammy nominations on the back of his blockbuster album Un Verano Sin Ti. Rauw Alejandro and ROSALÍA have each been nominated in eight categories this year, and Christina Aguilera, Jorge Drexler, and Tainy follow closely with seven nominations each.  

When it comes to the big four awards—Record of the Year, Album of the Year, Song of the Year, and Artist of the Year—the competition is fierce. Any of the nominees could take home the coveted gilded gramophone. But we have a few predictions for who will nab the top awards this year. 

Record of the Year

Often confused with Song of the Year, Record of the Year honors the performing artist on the song as well as the producers, sound engineer, master engineer, and sound mixers. Among those nominated, Spotify data suggests that it’s going to be a close call between Bad Bunny’s “Ojitos Lindos,” KAROL G’s “PROVENZA,” and Anitta’s “Envolver,” all of which have generated millions of streams.

Album of the Year

It’s been a big year for both ROSALÍA and Bad Bunny, who are two of the hottest Latin artists of this generation and our favorites to take home this major achievement.

ROSALÍA’s album MOTOMAMI has been loved by fans across the world, but especially in cities like Mexico City, Santiago, and Madrid. With its futuristic visuals and catchy, genre-bending sounds, fans couldn’t get enough of her music (and even showed their support by getting “tattooed” at our album release event in March).

Meanwhile, Bad Bunny’s Un Verano Sin Ti has held the top spot on Spotify’s USA Chart for over 20 weeks. And the artist known as “El Conejo Malo” stayed true to his Puerto Rican roots, tapping a mix of rising and legendary acts from his home country to feature on his fifth album. This also marks Bad Bunny’s fourth nomination in this category. 

Song of the Year 

If Spotify streams are any indication, the winner for Song of the Year will come down to two widely loved tracks: KAROL G’s “PROVENZA” and Camilo’s “Indigo.” 

In 2021, KAROL G was Spotify’s most-streamed female artist globally. She currently sits among the top 50 most-streamed artists with more than 37 million monthly listeners. Inspired by the Provenza neighborhood in her hometown of Medellin, “PROVENZA” is nominated in multiple categories this year.

Also hailing from Medellin, Camilo is one of the most influential Latin artists, with five Latin Grammys to his name. And when it’s all said and done, it’s possible “Indigo”—a track about the birth of his daughter that also features his wife Evaluna Montaner—will earn him a sixth award. 

Best New Artist

With 10 nominees in the running, this category is packed with talent. But looking at our data, we think there are three artists in particular who could take home this award. 

Yahritza y Su Esencia have experienced a meteoric rise in 2022. Based out of Washington’s Yakima Valley, their unique brand of Mexican music has attracted nearly 4 million monthly Spotify listeners. 

Pol Granch also had a breakthrough 2022, reaching 6 million monthly listeners made up of fans from Spain, Mexico, Colombia, and Peru.

Silvana Estrada is the young Mexican singer-songwriter who was among the first artists featured on Spotify’s RADAR playlist when it launched in 2020. Her signature voice and emotional lyrics take listeners through feelings of love lost and found, sadness, and anguish.

RADAR artists continue to make an impact

Since the launch of our RADAR program in 2020, more than 50 Latin artists have been featured across our playlists. And over the last 12 months, these artists have collectively generated more than 2.5 billion streams and attracted more than 25 million followers.

But even more impressive, a number of Latin artists featured on RADAR have worked on some of the biggest tracks of the year, and their contributions are being recognized at the Latin Grammys. 

In addition to her nod for Best New Artist, Silvana Estrada’s album Marchita is up for Best Singer-Songwriter album award.

Ovy On The Drums, who was first featured on RADAR Andinos in 2020, is also nominated across several categories as a producer and songwriter. This includes Record of the Year (KAROL G’s “PROVENZA” and Sebastian Yatra’s “DHARMA”), Song of the Year (“PROVENZA”), and Best Urban Song (“DHARMA” and Becky G and KAROL G’s “MAMIII”).

And rounding out this list are Maria Becerra—whose album Animal is nominated for Best Urban Music Album—and Trueno—whose song “Dance Crip” is nominated for Best Rap/Hip-Hop Song. 

Along with these four artists, there are eight other RADAR artists who have been nominated for Latin Grammys in previous years: GIULIA BE, Lasso, Boza, Humbe, Covi Quintana, Los Dos Carnales, Nathy Peluso, and LOUTA.

The party kicks off at Casa Spotify

Given that Latin music streams on Spotify have grown more than 1,000% over the last seven years, November 17 is sure to be a big night. And that’s why we’re also hosting our Casa Spotify experience in Las Vegas.

Open today and tomorrow, Casa Spotify celebrates the achievements of the nominees and those who have pushed Latin music forward. It will also serve as an oasis for invited guests to network and collaborate, with a private room for listening sessions and meetings, a content capture studio, and additional photo-worthy areas throughout the space.

We’ll be sharing more from Casa Spotify as the week unfolds, so stay tuned and check back for the latest happenings. 

Looking for more of the hottest tracks from top Latin artists? Press play on our flagship playlist, Viva Latino:

 

A New Generation of Artists Is Reinventing Mexican Music and Captivating Listeners Around the World

September 16, 2022

Spotify data tells the story of a genre that has emerged as an unstoppable cultural force. At the end of August, worldwide Mexican music listening on Spotify grew by 56% annually, doubling the growth rate of the previous two years. And since 2019, the volume of streams has more than doubled to reach 5.6 billion.

To celebrate this movement, we’re launching a new campaign titled “México es imparable. Reprodúcelo.” At its center are three short films that celebrate artists such as Eduin Caz from the banda septet Grupo Firme, and Julión Álvarez and Yahritza y su Esencia, whose music inspires a generation that returns to its roots to generate different identities.

A genre that brings together a diversity of rhythms such as banda, norteño, sierreño, grupero, and mariachi, Mexican music is becoming one of the fastest-growing local genres on the platform. For reference, the amount of streams of the genre amounts to two-thirds of the volume of reggaeton streams on Spotify. 

In Mexico, one in every four music streams is a Mexican music track. In the United States, Mexican music ranks among the fastest-growing genres. Beyond the traditional strongholds, Mexican music artists are filling ever-larger concert venues in Latin American countries like Colombia and reaching new audiences in geographically remote countries like Chile.

All over the world, industry insiders and fans are wondering why.

Collaboration without boundaries

One key factor that explains the recent revival of Mexican music is that the genre has attracted stars from other genres, like reggaeton, trap, or hip-hop. These crossover artists have embraced the high-pitched guitar requintos that are a staple of corridos, and the wind instruments of banda music to create pop hits.

The number of collaborations between Mexican artists and international artists in the last two years reached 31,000. Which might explain why last year, 66 million listeners on Spotify discovered Mexican music for the first time outside of Mexico.

“Urban Latin music, in its expansion into the mainstream and the exploration of paths towards all kinds of genres, influenced Mexican music artists to make more collaborations,” Alejandro Grageda, Spotify Artist and Label Partnership Lead for Mexico, tells For the Record.

“The ability to find new audiences around the world, in addition to the data and best practices that Spotify for Artists offers, have served as a catalyst to accelerate these collaborations and contribute to the expansion of Mexican music.”

Collaborations have offered discovery opportunities to new fans around the world. Consider Colombian reggaeton-pop ensemble Piso 21 collaborating with Christian Nodal in “Pa’ Olvidarme de Ella.” It’s their third-most-streamed track to date, and 80% of streams come from Mexican fans. Bad Bunny’s collaboration with Natanael Cano on the 2019 remix of “Soy el Diablo” increased the latter’s streams by 172% in one week after its release. Spanish trap star C. Tangana in “CAMBIA!”—his version of a corrido tumbado—introduced Carin Leon and Adriel Favela to fans in Spain.  

The trend has only deepened, as evidenced by recent releases such as Camilo alongside Grupo Firme on “Alaska,” which performed better than their other songs in countries like Colombia and Chile. There’s also bachata star Romeo Santos duetting with Christian Nodal on “Me Extraño,” which is distinctively popular with Mexican fans. Despite Romeo having similarly sized fanbases in Mexico and America, Mexicans have streamed the song twice as many times as American fans.

Remixing traditions 

Mexican music’s rise in popularity can also be attributed to a new wave of artists who are reinventing their musical traditions and generating sounds that connect with young listeners.

“In Mexico, Christian Nodal and other young artists revolutionized mainstream music by breaking with the conventions of the genre,” says Uriel Waizel, Editor Lead for Spotify in Mexico. “At the same time, a generation of Mexican American artists draw on their own musical roots and dominant cultures, such as hip-hop. The result is an original sound and a narrative that reaffirms the identity of its generation within a multicultural landscape.”

Two genres in particular have captivated Gen Z fans: corridos and sierreño. Some nostalgia animates the resurgence of these genres, but their bucolic flavor has given way to an aesthetic and themes that are closer to urban genres such as hip-hop and reggaeton.

Corridos Tumbados combine guitar requintos with bass-heavy trap beats, which can be heard in songs from Natanael Cano and Junior H. Their more melodic variant, sad sierreño, is represented by acts like Yahritza Y Su Esencia as well as the duet Eslabon Armado, which consists of brothers Pedro and Brian Tovar.  

Grupo Firme also changed the game by mixing banda and norteño style with contemporary rhythms and ditching the traditional sombreros for a unique glam style. The band has achieved cult status for their epic live performances in stadiums across Mexico and the United States and a devotion that reaches K-Pop levels of fandom. 

“The mix of sounds in Grupo Firme’s music has been something very important because many doors have been opened. The stereotypes that Mexican music had have been broken, and fusions have been made with artists from other genres,” says Eduin.

As Mexican music finds ways to connect with new fans across generations and borders, we’ve loved watching its rapid rise across the globe. And through campaigns like “México es imparable. Repordúcelo,” we’ll continue to spotlight the artists and songs who are turning this genre into a global powerhouse.

Discover MEXCLA, the Spotify hub dedicated to Mexican music and its forays into other musical genres, and the playlist that brings together the best fusions.

Get in the Holiday Spirit with Dolly Parton, Jose Mari Chan, Black Pumas, and More

November 18, 2020

In a year that’s brought unprecedented challenges, Spotify data suggests that listeners may be seeking comfort from holiday music earlier than usual in 2020. While festive playlists usually snowball in December, we’re seeing our most popular holiday playlist, Christmas Hits, streamed at a higher rate in September and October compared to previous years. Many think it’s never too early to crank yuletide tunes, and it shows: Listeners have already streamed more than 6.5 billion minutes of Christmas tracks this year.

In this episode of our podcast, Spotify: For the Record, we look at which songs are making it to the top of our listeners’ Christmas lists. One favorite is “Last Christmas,” which was originally released in 1984 by Wham! To date, there are about 1,200 covers of the hit on Spotify.

In addition to digging into the data, we also get in the spirit by chatting with some iconic artists about their holiday hits, including Dolly Parton, who recently released her first Christmas album in 30 years. In the episode, the country legend joins us to talk about the inspiration behind A Holly Dolly Christmas and what it was like to duet with Michael Bublé in the song “Cuddle Up, Cozy Down Christmas.”

Aside from Parton, we also chat with beloved Filipino artist Jose Mari Chan. Known as “The Father of Christmas Music” in the Philippines, Chan shares the inspiration behind his iconic holiday tunes, which have been a staple of festive celebration in the country for the last three decades.

 

This episode is no longer available as of November 2021, however you can get more great stories and news delivered audibly by following our podcasts, Spotify: For the Record, Spotify: Mic Check, and Spotify: Discover This.

How Spotify Spotlights Breaking Latin Talent

February 4, 2020

In the past year, Spotify’s ¡Viva Latino! playlist highlighted nine rising artists in its original video series Radar Latino and helped bring their success to new heights. As the flagship playlist for the biggest hits in Latin music, ¡Viva Latino! closely followed this crop of artists, who were poised to become the next hitmakers on the list, amplifying them for fans with in-depth video profiles.

Representing a wealth of different styles and countries, these artists enjoyed an average 49% increase in streams after being featured. They found their own measures of success, earning cosigns with Shakira and reaching other career milestones.

Puerto Rican urban pop singer Darell, the first artist showcased with a Radar Latino feature on ¡Viva Latino! in 2019, made his major-label debut in February with the low-slung thumper “Caliente,” a team-up with hugely successful countryman Farruko. Laying claim to a slow, hypnotic flow, he released a stack of notable singles in 2019, including the supple headline cut “No Vuelvas Más” (“Don’t Come Back Anymore”).

In March, soulful New York/Chilean singer Paloma Mami saw her delicate urban ballad “Fingías” launch with a Radar Latino profile and song placement on the ¡Viva Latino! playlist, leading to her biggest spike for single-day streams to date. The single went gold on the Latin pop chart, and Paloma quickly followed it with the C. Tangana collaboration “No Te Debí Besar” and the sultry summons “Mami” (anchored by the English vocal hook “I like it when you call me mami”). Despite only singing professionally since June 2018, she’s now one of the hottest female artists in Latin music, and her plays increased by more than 100% in the week after that playlist appearance.

Commanding more than 20 million monthly listeners, Panamanian reggaeton singer Sech had a banner year that kicked into high gear after his Radar Latino feature in ¡Viva Latino!, which highlighted the release of his debut EP, Sueños. He went on to perform at Spotify’s ¡Viva Latino! Live in Miami and enjoy one of the biggest hits of the summer in “Otro Trago” (“Another Drink”), which hit number one in multiple countries and achieved diamond sales. The former producer and lyricist for other artists hails from Panama City, where his father is a well-known local pastor. Thanks to “Otro Trago” and its remix, Sech is still riding the wave of his explosive Latin music success story. He told For The Record, “[Being featured on ¡Viva Latino!] is something I’m very proud of, as there are thousands of artists that could’ve gotten it, and it’s truly an honor to be one of them.”

After being featured in ¡Viva Latino!, Argentinian rapper/singer Cazzu saw her streams increase more than 200%. She has amassed more than 20 million streams for her infectious yet emotional single “Visto a las 00:00,” which debuted on the playlist in June along with her Radar Latino video profile. Cazzu also released her second album, Error 93, to great acclaim in June. She’s one of the most distinctive artists from the Radar Latino class of 2019, earning a cult following for her alternative style and embrace of trap’s chilled-out swagger; “Mucha Data” especially showcases her purring, coolheaded vocals over ultra-skeletal production.

A Puerto Rican singer and multi-instrumentalist who aims to unite music and dance at the level Michael Jackson did, Rauw Alejandro released his silky, slinky single “Detective” alongside his feature in ¡Viva Latino!. Arriving hot on the heels of his debut EP, Trap Cake, Vol.1, that romantic highlight provided a serious boost for the artist, with his audience now topping 15 million monthly listeners. Almost as passionate about soccer as he is about music, the prolific collaborator kicked off 2020 with a guest spot on Jay Menez’s intricate Latin trap cut “Solo.”

After his breakthrough single “Soltera” appeared on ¡Viva Latino!, teenage Puerto Rican artist Lunay released his debut album in late 2019. He was profiled on the playlist in August with that song’s remix, featuring Daddy Yankee and Bad Bunny; it topped the pop charts in Spain. Influenced by Puerto Rico’s native La Plento music, Lunay mingles those proud roots with up-to-the-minute reggaeton and Latin trap. The melodious, charismatic singer is also a tireless collaborator, having achieved back-to-back gold sales via recent team-ups with Zion & Lennox (“Llégale”), Myke Towers (“La Cama”), and Anuel AA and Ozuna (“Aventura”).

 

A winner of X Factor in his native Colombia, Camilo is an affable, versatile Latin pop singer as well as a successful songwriter for such artists as Becky G, Natti Natasha, Juanes, and Leslie Grace. After his poignant 2018 turn on Mau y Ricky’s “Desconocidos,” the deeply spiritual artist (who begins every day with a meditative ritual that he calls “airplane mode”) was showcased in a Radar Latino profile on ¡Viva Latino! in tandem with his mainstream breakthrough “Tutu.” The track has since topped the charts in seven countries and earned a remix costarring none other than Shakira.

There’s also Puerto Rico’s Guaynaa. A former horse jockey who grew up listening to music with his troubadour grandfather, Guaynaa was still splitting his time between horse racing and music when French superstar DJ Snake shared his breakthrough track “Rebota” on social media. The unexpected boost encouraged the rapper and reggaeton singer to devote himself fully to music. Since then he has been profiled by Billboard and collaborated with Mala Rodriguez (“Dame Bien”), Mon Laferte (“Plata Ta Ta”), and Yandel (“Full Moon”), always showing off his cool, confident flow and pop sensibilities.

¡Viva Latino! capped the year by spotlighting Mariah, a Miami singer with Puerto Rican and Cuban heritage who grew up listening to reggaeton (and yes, was named after Mariah Carey). Her breakthrough came with last year’s swaggering reggaeton earworm “Perreito,” which made it onto Spotify’s Viral 50 chart in 16 countries. Produced by Nely El Arma Secreta, the track has since been remixed with guest spots from Darell and Arcangel. Mariah quickly followed it up with “Una Noche Más,” a more traditional track that shows off her softer side, and teamed up with fellow Radar Latino selection Guaynaa on the just-released “Taxi.” “I never thought I would be on this level,” said Mariah to For The Record. “And now I wake up and I’m traveling the world. It’s a great honor to have been featured as one of Spotify’s Radar Latino artists. I’ll never forget it.”

As 2020 builds steam, fans around the world can check out more of the year’s rising Latin artists on Spotify’s Radar Latino playlist.