Tag: mixto

Celebrate Latinx Heritage Month on Spotify With Our ‘Estamos Ready’ Campaign

September 20, 2023

Latinx culture continues to set the tone around the world, as evidenced by the rise of genres like Música Mexicana, corridos, and urbano. September 15 through October 15 marks Latinx Heritage Month, and we’re celebrating with our “Estamos Ready” campaign, honoring the stories, the diversity, and the power of Latinx creators and fans. 

On our dedicated Latinx Heritage Month hub, listeners can discover top playlists, including Hyphenated, Mixto, Fuego, and Los Que Mandan, as well as podcasts, like I.E In Friends, Gay & Afraid with Eric Sedeño, The Super Secret Bestie Club, and Fool Coverage with Manny MUA and Laura Lee.

We also wanted to explore the impact of Latin music in the U.S., so we took a look at Spotify listener data from every U.S. state. We discovered that Peso Pluma and Bad Bunny are lighting up the Latin streaming charts, with each standing as the most popular artist in 31 states and 15 states, respectively. Meanwhile, Música Mexicana (26 states), Trap Latino (12 states), and urbano (10 states) represent the most popular genres.

Top 10 U.S. States With the Highest Percentage of Latin Music Streams on Spotify

(June 15–September 15)

  1. Texas
  2. California
  3. Florida
  4. Nevada
  5. Arizona
  6. New Mexico
  7. Illinois
  8. New Jersey
  9. Georgia
  10. Utah

Over the past few years, Latin music on Spotify has also seen rapid growth in some surprising states. Between September 2020 and September 2023, Latin music streams in North Dakota surged an impressive 370%, followed by a 284% bump in Minnesota and a 253% increase in Mississippi. Indiana, the home state of Latinx star Omar Apollo, has seen its Latin music streams grow by 182%.

In addition to our data discoveries, For the Record also chatted with Omar, along with artists Kali Uchis, DannyLux, Elena Rose, and Prince Royce, to find out more about their favorite aspects of Latinx culture. 

How does your culture bring joy to your music?

Prince Royce: I’ve been visiting the Dominican Republic since I was very young, and I think in general, there is a lot of life in the culture. They are always dancing, which comes with genres like merengue and bachata. Dominicans love to party. My family, for example, will come up with any excuse for a barbeque, a birthday party, a baby shower, or a get together, and that definitely reflects a lot in my music. 

Omar Apollo: When I first started doing shows, it was all really young Latino kids in the crowd. I was probably like 19 when I started touring. I am from Indiana, and there wasn’t much of a diaspora of Latino kids. Going around the world showed me there was somewhere that people can find community in the music, celebrate how we grew up, and share the same stories. It’s beautiful. 

Explain your Latinx accent in one sentence.

DannyLux: I think my accent is more of a Mexicali accent from Baja California, because I basically grew up there. Whenever I go to another part of Mexico they tell me that I have a different accent.

Prince Royce: Definitely a very New York/Spanglish accent.

Elena Rose: My accent in one sentence has to be: Caraqueña/Boriqua/Hialeah from Miami. Venezolana because of my parents, so Caracas is there. Puerto Rico because that is where I lived as a kid. And I stayed in Hialeah for almost six years so yeah, I have the Miami right there—the 305, baby!

What is one thing from your culture that you want to share with the rest of the world?

Kali Uchis: One thing I would share with everybody about my culture is definitely our food. I feel like everybody loves food, everybody should have a good arepa, a good Colombian hot dog. All of our snacks, the salty and the sweet combinations, everybody should try it!

Elena Rose: I really like burning palo santo wood. I think it’s been more popular in recent years. And I really like ginger, honey, and lemon tea. That just recently saved me from a very bad cold!

Omar Apollo: It would probably be chilaquiles because I love chilaquiles and I think everyone should have chilaquiles. I am not sure if other Latino communities make chilaquiles, but the ones that my mom makes . . . anyone would go crazy for them!

What’s your favorite Spanish word (or phrase) that’s original to your culture? 

Omar Apollo: It’s probably chambear, which means “to work.” You know, the girls are always working—they are clocked in, they’re ready to go. You can say “chambas,” “estamos en una chamba,” “ando chambeando,” whatever you want to say. That’s my favorite; I say it all the time. 

Kali Uchis: I think my favorite Latin phrases have always been “sin miedo,” but also “sana, sana, colita de rana.”

DannyLux: My favorite phrase is that “everything happens for a reason,” and I always live thinking about that, and I know it has a lot of truth.

Celebrate Latinx Heritage Month by discovering the hottest sounds on our Fuego mixtape.

Spotify Is Celebrating the Triumphs of Latinx Artistry With the ‘Aquí Siempre’ Campaign

September 15, 2021

Today marks the start of Latinx Heritage Month, an annual appreciation of the diverse and dynamic Latinx communities around the world. In honor of this celebration, Spotify is launching Aquí Siempre, an awareness campaign to support our dynamic, bicultural Latinx community and the myriad of musical genres it continues to influence. Our goal is to amplify the voices shaping Latinx culture today, including those that challenge stereotypes, fight adversity, and uplift Latin American communities through their work.

As part of Aquí Siempre, which will continue through mid-October, Spotify is releasing three Spotify Singles on our revamped, genre-agnostic playlist Mixto, which spotlights artists across the Latinx diaspora, as well as working with renowned creators like photographer Camila Falquez and poet Yesika Salgado to share what the month and its theme mean to them. 

The Voices of Latinx Music 

At the center of Latinx Heritage Month is the Mixto playlist, which features a mixture of sounds, artists, and languages from various countries that aren’t easily labeled as a specific genre but share Latinx origins, in addition to non-Latinx artists that will resonate with listeners. The playlist serves as a destination for artists both in and adjacent to the Latinx space as a place to share music that exists outside of clearly defined labels. It also works to reflect the Latinx community’s multifaceted connection to music, which isn’t limited to any one genre, with a unique range of songs and artists curated to appeal not only to our U.S. Latinx listeners but to listeners of all cultural backgrounds around the world.

This Latinx Heritage Month will be the first time Spotify launches Spotify Singles in collaboration with the Mixto playlist—the latest in a series of collaborations between Spotify Singles and other flagship playlists including Are & Be, RapCaviar, mint, and more. Spotify asked rising Latinx artists Twin Shadow, Ambar Lucid, and Tokischa to add their voices to the catalog of over 600 Spotify Singles by recording a unique version of one of their own songs (Side A) and covers of songs of their choice (Side B). 

Twin Shadow, one of the three artists to record Mixto Spotify Singles, shared his view of the ever-evolving Latinx music scene with For the Record. “The future of Latin music is happening right now,” he said. “It’s seeped into everything. Everyone is taking from it, and it’s mainstream in the best way. I think it will continue to be relevant and affect people profoundly forever.”

Singer-songwriter Ambar Lucid’s Side A single is a fresh take on her song “Lizard” that offers an energetic and magnetic up-tempo rendition of the original. Her Side B single is a catchy Spanish-language interpolation of Billie Eilish’s “Billie Bossa Nova” called “Ambar Bossa Nova.” The Mexican Dominican artist makes the crooning number her own by infusing an underlying beat to accompany the English and Spanish lyrics. “I love Billie’s music, so adding my own lyrical twist to ‘Bossa Nova’ was lots of fun,” explained Ambar, adding, “There are so many bops in [the Mixto] playlist!”

Tokischa’s Side A release creatively reimagines her 2020 punchy reggaeton rap “El Rey De La Popola” into an acoustic single wracked with emotion. She also released her Side B rock cover of the 1967 salsa hit “La Tirana” by La Lupe, swapping the original’s brass accompaniment for a soulful electric guitar sound. The Dominican singer-songwriter and rapper explained her choice in songs, reflecting, “I identify with La Lupe and especially with what the song ‘La Tirana’ represents.” She elaborated on the importance of the genre-agnostic playlist, adding: “I think that Mixto is important for those artists who express their art through their voice and not a specific genre.”

Twin Shadow recorded a special version of his soothing acoustic single “Alemania” that moves listeners with a dance beat and the pep of a retro pop song for his Side A single. He also released a cover of Kali Uchis’s genre-blending “telepatía,” one of this year’s biggest hits by a Latinx female artist, for his Side B single. The Dominican American singer-songwriter explained his approach to recording his upbeat reinterpretation of “Telepatia,” sharing: “I set out to reinterpret the song as if it was on my most recent record. The hard part was following Kali’s vocal flow and the clever way she approaches the lyrics in Spanish, especially the way words melt into words and the speed of her melody against the relatively mellow track of the original…I love the song and am glad to have a new appreciation for something once I’ve dissected it and tried my best to make it my own.”

Seeing the Latinx Community 

To put a face to the mission of Aquí Siempre, renowned Latinx photographer Camila Falquez captured a series of powerful portraits that visualize Latinx performers, activists, and business owners with dignity and honesty. Some of her subjects include the owner of the Caribbean Social Club in New York City, Maria Antonia “Toñita” Cay; Dominican trans activist, organizer, former sex worker, and founder of nonprofit Bridges4Life Tahtianna Fermin; Mexican American artist, DJ, and community organizer Elíseo Equihua; and Mexican American filmmaker, multimedia artist, urban planner, and social worker Jose Richard Aviles.

The portraits are accompanied by self-recorded videos from Latinx creators like Kali Uchis, Chucky73, Cimafunk, Juleyka Lantigua of How to Talk to [Mamí & Papí] about Anything, Erick Galindo of WILD, and Edwin Covarrubias of Scary Story Podcast celebrating their cultural experiences and uplifting their communities. Camila’s work can be found both online on social media and on billboards in Times Square.

Spotify’s Genreless creme Playlist Represents the Best of Brazil’s Urbano Sound

January 27, 2021

Since the launch of Pollen in 2018, Spotify’s genreless playlists have taken off around the world, with Oyster in the Nordics, Altar in the UK, and Mixto serving as the home for U.S. Latin music lovers. Each one is genreless and instead serves as a collection of boundary-pushing sounds grouped and inspired by listener communities.

In Brazil, our editors wanted to create a similar type of space—one in which the music could be cultivated into a genreless plurality with a specific sonic vibe that could merge rhythms from different types of music. They sought to do this with the diverse and far-reaching culture of urbano music in Brazil, which already stood to defy musical categorization and convention in the country. 

Enter creme. 

“For me, creme is a playlist that reflects the diversity of sounds that Brazil delivers in music, with a variety of beats, lyrics, and flow,” says Brazilian singer Donatto, who considers his music to be “pop with an MPB (Música Popular Brasileira) essence.” “creme is a playlist for gathering friends and enjoying a good vibe,” he says. 

Xamã, a rapper who in the past three months has been one of the top-streamed artists on creme, considers his work to be “part of the new MPB.” He describes MPB as “music from the streets, music that plays in bars, in buildings, that plays on the hill! A mixture of rap and funk, urbano music and street music.”

creme, which was originally known as “Beat Urbano,” has been rebranded as “The cream of Brazilian urbano mix.” Genre-wise, hip-hop and pop make up the majority of the tracks and artists represented. But digging deeper reveals the more specific categorizations across a range of sounds—Brazilian hip-hop, funk carioca, funk ostentacao, and Brazilian R&B and trap. 

These fit with the general sentiment of urbano music in Brazil, which is not tied to one genre, but spans funk, trap, R&B, hip-hop, and even Afrobeats. creme better represents a “coming together” of many music styles to evoke a feeling around a shared culture, rather than a genre. 

Similar to other genreless playlists globally, creme’s listeners tend to be Gen Zs. Meanwhile, the majority of listeners of other Brazilian flagship playlists are over the age of 25. And just as playlists like Pollen intersperse established artists alongside newcomers, creme has introduced Brazilian listeners to plenty of new sounds. Andressinha, and Nyna were among the most-discovered artists on the playlist between October 2020 and January 2021, enjoying space shared with the playlist’s top-streamed artists of the same time frame, Xamã, MC Cabelinho, Pedro Lotto, Pk, and Ludmilla. 

“When you listen to the creme playlist, you’re inserted into this new musical style,” says Xamã. “Everyone hears it. It’s a sound that lets everyone be represented, including me.”

creme is also reflective of new expressions of Brazilian urbano culture. Recently, a funk consciente track with sociopolitically themed lyrics, “Deus é por nós” by MC Marks, hit the Brazilian Top 50 chart. Around the same time, groups of Brazilian artists came together to record and release “Poesia Acústica,” a series of videos and singles mixing artists of different genres, like rap, R&B, and funk, with a relaxed, acoustic vibe. “Poesia Acústica #9: Melhor Forma” became a top 15 hit on the Spotify Brazilian charts for over 60 days after launch. 

Over the past 90 days, another Poesia, “Poesia Acústica 10: Recomeçar” by BK, Black, Delacruz, JayA Luuck, Ludmilla, MC Cabelinho, Orochi, Pineapple StormTv, Pk, and Salve Malak, found its place as the second-most-streamed song from the playlist. It’s preceded by “LARISSA” by Luan and PEDRO SAMPAIO and followed by “Oclin e Evoque” by Djonga, MC Rick, Sidoka, and Tropa do Bruxo. In the future, the top songs could come from any artist, with any sound.

“It is an honor to be featured on the creme playlist—I always listen to it,” says Donatto. “I know that it is a playlist that has many influential artists, and to be part of that playlist is an honor and a very big dream. Being in the midst of great artists that this playlist brings, I believe it can open new doors for me and show my work to people who still don’t know it.”

Feel the sound of Brazilian urbano music by streaming creme below.

Spotify lança creme, a playlist com o melhor do som de música urbana do Brasil

January 27, 2021

Desde o lançamento da Pollen em 2018, as playlists sem gênero do Spotify decolaram em todo o mundo. Com a Pollen, surgiu a Oyster nos países nórdicos, a Altar no Reino Unido e a Mixto, sucesso entre os amantes da música latina nos EUA. Todas elas são playlists sem um gênero musical específico, servindo como uma espécie de coleção de sons que desafiam os limites, agrupados e inspirados nas comunidades de ouvintes.

No Brasil, nossos editores queriam criar um tipo de espaço semelhante — no qual a música possa ser cultivada em uma pluralidade sem gênero com uma vibração sonora específica, mesclando ritmos de diferentes tipos de música. Para isso, eles buscaram a diversidade cultural e de longo alcance da música urbana nacional, que já desafiava a categorização e as convenções musicais no país.

E é aí que nasce a creme. 

“Para mim, a creme é uma playlist que traduz a diversidade de sons que o brasileiro entrega na música, com uma variedade de beats, letras e flow”, diz o cantor Donatto, que considera sua música uma mistura de pop com essência de MPB. “A creme é uma playlist para reunir amigos e curtir uma boa onda”, afirma.

Xamã, o rapper que, nos últimos três meses, foi um dos artistas mais escutados da creme, considera seu trabalho “parte da nova MPB”. O cantor explica: “A nova MPB é a música de rua, música que toca nos bares, nos prédios, que toca no morro! Uma mistura de rap e funk, música urbana e música de rua”, completa.

A creme, originalmente conhecida como “Beat Urbano”, foi rebatizada como “O creme da mistura urbana brasileira”. Em termos de gênero, o hip-hop e o pop constituem a maioria das faixas e artistas representados, mas um olhar mais atento revela as categorizações mais específicas em uma gama de sons – hip-hop brasileiro, funk carioca, funk ostentação, R&B brasileiro e trap.

Isso se encaixa no sentimento geral da música urbana no Brasil, que não está ligada a um gênero específico, mas abrange funk, trap, R&B, hip-hop e até Afrobeats. A creme representa melhor uma “união” de muitos estilos musicais para evocar um sentimento em torno de uma cultura compartilhada, ao invés de um gênero.

Da mesma forma que outras playlists sem gênero criadas em todo o mundo, os ouvintes da creme tendem a ser da Geração Z. Enquanto isso, a maioria dos ouvintes das outras principais playlists brasileiras tem mais de 25 anos. E assim como playlists como a Pollen intercalam artistas consagrados com os recém-chegados, a creme apresentou aos ouvintes brasileiros muitos sons novos. Andressinha e Nyna foram os artistas mais descobertos na playlist entre outubro de 2020 e janeiro de 2021, aproveitando o espaço compartilhado com os artistas mais escutados da playlist no mesmo período, Xamã, MC Cabelinho, Pedro Lotto, Pk e Ludmilla. 

“Ao ouvir a playlist creme, você se insere nesse novo estilo musical”, diz Xamã. “Todo mundo ouve. É um som que permite que todos sejam representados, inclusive eu”, afirma.

A creme também reflete novas expressões da cultura urbana do Brasil como é o caso da faixa de funk consciente com temática sócio-política, “Deus é por nós” de MC Marks, que atingiu o Top 50 do Spotify Charts no Brasil. Na mesma época, grupos de artistas brasileiros se reuniram para gravar e lançar o “Poesia Acústica”, uma série de vídeos e singles que mesclam artistas de diversos gêneros como rap, R&B e funk, com uma vibe acústica descontraída. A “Poesia Acústica #9: Melhor Forma” tornou-se um hit top 15 nas paradas brasileiras do Spotify por mais de 60 dias consecutivos, após o lançamento.

Já nos últimos 90 dias, outro “Poesia”, a “Poesia Acústica 10: Recomeçar” de BK, Black, Delacruz, JayA Luuck, Ludmilla, MC Cabelinho, Orochi, Pineapple StormTv, Pk, e Salve Malak, conquistaram seu lugar como a segunda música mais ouvida da playlist. A primeira foi a música “LARISSA” de Luan e Pedro Sampaio e em terceiro ficou “Oclin e Evoque” de Djonga, MC Rick, Sidoka e Tropa do Bruxo. No futuro, as músicas mais escutadas podem vir de qualquer artista, com qualquer som.

“É uma honra fazer parte da playlist creme, sempre escuto”, diz Donatto. “Eu sei que é uma playlist que tem muitos artistas referências e fazer parte dessa playlist é uma honra e um sonho bem grande. Estar no meio de grandes artistas que essa playlist traz, acredito que pode abrir novas portas para mim e mostrar meu trabalho para pessoas que ainda não conhecem”, completa o cantor.

Curta o som da música urbana brasileira escutando a creme logo abaixo.