Tag: Urbano

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’s creme Playlist Comes to Life With an Interactive Art Exhibit Dedicated to Brazilian Trap and Funk

August 9, 2023

View of Creme - A Spotify Experience

As trap artists dominate the charts all over the world, Brazil’s urbano scene has made its impact felt with its fast and incredible rise. And starting this week, fans can be a part of it. 

Kicking off August 11, and then continuing from August 13 to 19 at the Praça das Artes in São Paulo, Creme – A Spotify Experience is our free interactive exhibit celebrating the iconic songs and artists featured on our creme playlist with original costumes, classic album covers and music videos, recreated as backdrops, listening and viewing rooms, and live performances.

A truly immersive experience in Brazil’s trap and funk history, Creme – A Spotify Experience features costumes and accessories from artists as well as exclusive spaces that recreate backdrops and sets from iconic album covers, music videos, and moments—all available for photo ops. Scenes include the Flow Espacial clip with the original graffiti by 30PRAUM, the wall with a flyer for parties and concerts by GR6 artists, the contract signing table at the Mainstreet office, and the Pineapple Storm Poesia Acústica 6 backdrop. The spaces also have songs and written content narrating the origin and rise of each artist.

Additionally, Creme – A Spotify Experience features some of the urbano scene’s most influential music videos from the last three years. Divided into six themes—self-esteem, relationships, belief, city, collectivity, and globalization—the collection highlights the accomplishments of artists like Saturno, BIN, Simplesmente Ela, and Mc Gabzin. 

The exhibit also has a special booth where visitors can listen to the signature sounds of legendary producers and beatmakers such as Pedro Lotto, Mu540, LARINHX, Papatinho, Caio Passos, DJ Matt D, and DJ Perera.

And for a little extra “creme” on top of the experience, there will be some unforgettable live performances. Orochi, BIN, Borges, Chefin, and Oruam will take the stage Saturday, August 12, while MC Ryan SP, Mc IG, Mc Davi, Mc Don Juan, Mc Dricka, MC Marks, and Vulgo FK will close out the exhibit Sunday, August 20.Tickets are available for a limited time on Ingresse.

Get ready for the experience and listen to our creme playlist now.

Brazil’s Urban Culture Is Thriving—And So Is Its Music

October 6, 2022

The artist Veigh poses in front of a wall covered in graffiti

Around the globe we’ve seen hip-hop and trap artists dominate the charts, and recently in Brazil, the already diverse and far-reaching sounds of urbano music have only gotten bigger. With urbano’s thriving culture and ever-growing roster of artists, its listenership in the country is at an all-time high. 

Hip-hop, trap, and pop make up the majority of the tracks and artists represented within urbano music, but artists pull inspiration from a wide range of genres that include funk carioca, funk ostentação, and R&B. 

Spotify has been supporting the call for more Brazilian urbano music by becoming the official partner of Brazil’s only trap festival, CENA 2k22, as well as partnering with Red Bull FrancaMente, the world’s largest rap competition. And almost two years ago, Spotify introduced the creme playlist, which celebrates the massive and diverse talent of Brazil’s urbano culture and how it pushes the boundaries of genres, cultures, and borders. Listenership of urbano music is up, particularly with Brazilian trap, which has seen Spotify streams increase by 33% in the past two years in Brazil alone.

Spotify has also featured some of the best up-and-coming artists in the urbano scene through RADAR, a program that represents Spotify’s commitment to new and emerging artists from all over the world. Through the RADAR Global playlist, artists like Rio de Janeiro’s N.I.N.A and São Paulo’s Veigh are bringing their unique rap and trap sounds to the world stage. 

“The growth of urban culture coincides with a period of intense social transformation in Brazil, with the empowerment and rise of audiences that, until recently, were not represented,” says Ellen Rocha, Marketing Manager of Spotify Brazil. “Artists of genres that encompass urban culture are spokespersons for a generation of young people—an audience that asks for personality and authenticity and that absorbs and reflects culture not only in speech, but also in the way they behave and dress.” 

For the Record sat down with RADAR-featured artists N.I.N.A and Veigh to talk about the rise of trap music in Brazil. 

The artist N.I.N.A poses in a studio in front of a white backdrop holding a snake

N.I.N.A

Rap and trap music have been on the rise in Brazil lately—why do you think so many listeners are drawn to these genres? 

N.I.N.A: The music is always renewed. Year after year we see our youth consuming a new style, having a new face, dancing with new moves . . . rap has always been very communicative, and I think this rise comes from the identification and plurality that rap and trap bring.

Veigh: Trap ends up attracting a lot of listeners, and it’s an aspect of rap that has been popular for a long time both inside and on the outskirts! It also has a strong connection with funk, and I think a lot of young people identify with that genre.

In what ways have you seen urban culture really grow and influence parts of life in Brazil? 

N.I.N.A: Those who come from the favela know the lives that urban culture impacts. There are several projects to rescue lives through music, and it’s where our talents are born. I’ve seen the art, culture, and music of the periphery save lives many times—including mine.

Veigh: I saw the culture grow inside where I live, where many portrayed the reality of that place through letters and other types of art. The culture ends up expanding to the whole world! 

Veigh

What was your experience like being a part of the RADAR program?

N.I.N.A: RADAR boosted my work in ways I couldn’t even imagine. Today I have a diverse audience that came from extremely different strands of drill, which is what I do. It was a great door-opening for me. I am extremely grateful and happy to be part of RADAR’s history!

Veigh: It was a very important milestone for me and for my people (Itapevi in the west zone of São Paulo), where many saw me on RADAR and believed it could be them soon. Being in a place where a lot of artists, whom I am personally a fan of, have passed through is amazing for me! 

The RADAR experience has taken my sound to bigger places and my art to more people! We know how difficult it is sometimes for our music to reach certain places. 

Celebrate the rise in urban Brazilian music by listening to the creme playlist:

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.