The Mexican Urban Revolutionized a 2023 That Went Beyond Reggaeton

The Explosion of the Mexican Urban: A Phenomenon that Marked 2023

The explosion of urban Mexican music, the coronation of young figures like Bizarrap and Peso Pluma and the recognitions for women marked music in Spanish in 2023, a year in which the Latin music industry also began to look for alternatives to the dominance of reggaeton.

This year, international markets also opened for exponents of urban music beyond Puerto Rico and Colombia, with artists from Argentina, Venezuela, and even Mexico who began to sound strongly beyond their local audiences.

"We bring other sounds and another perspective, I think that has helped Argentine artists open up the market to the north. It has also made us experiment more. We have all won," María Becerra, whose bachata with Enrique Iglesias, told EFE 'That's Life' reached the top of the Billboard Tropical Airplay chart in the second week of December.

Pop and rock in Spanish also struggled this year to regain ground, and they achieved it by relying on nostalgia. Groups such as Enanitos Verdes, La Ley, and Hombres G, among many others, had a strong presence in the growing number of music festivals.

The year of the Mexican urban

However, the growth of the Mexican regional had nothing. In 2023, more than 35 songs from the genre entered the US Billboard Hot 100 chart.

The most successful was the corrido tumbado 'She dances alone', by Eslabón Armado and Peso Pluma, which made history by reaching number five. The song also spent six weeks atop the Billboard 200 chart, which tracks global music performance.

Likewise, 'La Bebe', the remix of Yng Lvcas ft. Peso Pluma made history as the first Mexican reggaeton to reach first place on the Latin Air Play, and achieved four platinum records in the United States.

For Jimmy Humilde, president of the independent label 'Rancho humble', where the corridos tumbados were born, "that search for alternative sounds to reggaeton also opened the door to new artists in Mexican music, who have a lot to say, especially those who "They are at that crossroads of more traditional music and urban sounds."

Mexican music not only benefited from the proliferation of small record labels associated with multinationals for distribution and success on TikTok but also received the support of established urban artists such as the collaboration of Grupo Frontera and Bad Bunny in 'X Ciento', Fuerza Regida and Marshmello in 'Harley Quinn' and Maluma with Carin León in 'According to whom'.

Peso Pluma also collaborated with El Alfa, incorporating Dominican dembow into their sound, and with Anitta. His song 'Bellakeo', which came out last week, is a novel fusion of Mexican reggaeton with Brazilian funk.

Carin León, whose career also grew exponentially this year, has found a niche in her fusion of sierreño, norteño, blues, and flamenco. His song 'First Date' took him not only to Spain but to the iconic program 'The Tonight Show' with Jimmy Fallon.

The outstanding debt with women

Shakira, Karol G, and Natalia Lafourcade swept the main Latin music awards in 2023, including the Latin Grammys, the Latin Billboard, Lo Nuestro and the Rolling Stone.

With 'Sessions, Vol. 53' Shakira and Argentine producer Bizarrap achieved 13 Guinness records.

Karol G was the first Latina to do a stadium tour in the United States and her two 2023 albums, 'Mañana Will Be Nice' and 'Bichota Season', made history on Spotify and Apple Music.

However, the numbers make it clear that Latin music still does not open space for women. Only Karol G, Shakira, and Rosalía are among the 20 most successful Latin artists in streaming and sales, in positions 3, 14, and 17, respectively.

Among the 50 most popular songs of the year, 11 are sung by women. Six by Karol G, three by Shakira, one by Becky G with Peso Pluma ('Chanel'), and 'Beso', by Rosalía with Rauw Alejandro.

The story does not change on Billboard's list of the 20 most successful albums of the year. Only 25 percent are by women and three are by the same artist, Karol G, in addition to the 'Motomami' that Rosalía released last year, and 'Ones', by Selena Quintanilla.

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"In other words, without Karol G, the representation of women in the year-end numbers would have been much worse. It's nothing new. Except for a handful of names like Selena, Shakira, and now Karol G, women have had a very limited presence on the charts," says Billboard's director of Spanish content, Leila Cobo, in her 2023 analysis.

This absence is attributed to a multitude of factors "such as the lack of female executives supporting female artists, lack of support from record companies and the emergence of reggaeton and regional Mexican music, both dominated by men."