I want to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month by highlighting gen-z and latin culture’s post-pandemic TikTok saga, where content creators revitalized the landscape’s most trailblazing tunes. Let’s recognize the BOPS that came back to the mainstream(or should I say never left, but you know) and confronted the streaming charts to new heights. The video content from this era varied in sing/dance-along fashion, and thanks to TikTok’s [deadly] algorithm, some of our latin parents, aunts, and uncles’ greatest hits tapes scrolled onto screens. TikTok is regarded for its music dissemination, and seeing hits like: Ven Porque Te Necesito, Ahora Te Puedes Marchar, go viral bring me a glee like no other. This is music I remember hearing from my mom’s melodramas in the other room, or Telemundo’s morning hour on Saturdays. I could go on about how these TikToks re-enabled a certain “IYKYK” fandom; but the content’s nature was wholesome, inviting, and made for unapologetic virality. Fair warning, this coverage may unbiasedly cover more Musica Mexicana than other forms, but it’s not my intention to leave out glimpses of representation from across the pond, and below the Panama Canal. These are tracks that entered the content creation diaspora, and laid the groundwork for #latinotiktok. I wasn’t alive when some of these tracks dropped, while others I was just young enough to have heard during their conception, but that’s what resonates with me especially, because I feel we can attest to these songs with our unique experiences.
Los Temerarios – Ven Porque Te Necesito & Eres Un Sueño
Arguably one of the most nostalgic of the bunch, Los Temerarios *were a brothers band from (arriba)Zacatecas that have produced twenty albums. Adolfo Ángel and Gustavo Ángel Alba trivialized the baladas romanticas of the 1970’s. Their contemporaries, like Los Bukis from Michoacán, Mexico, complemented their new Mexican sound by sequencing romance and experimental grooves. For me, Ven Porque Te Necesito was colloquial to weekday rush hour, when my mom was behind the wheel, trekking from the grocery store to the neighborhood ROSS after school. Exclusive to their ’89 release, Internacionales y Romanticos, Ven Porque Te Necesito is Mexico’s benchmark for musical themes of ache and floundered emotion. It’s a track that soothes the ears, its concept lying in the drum-beat and synths, but above all is Adolfo’s symphonic vocals awaiting you in the super chorus.
La Oreja de Van Gogh – Rosas
I first heard this track straight from a scratch CD my mom had made herself— and I regrettably forgot about it until recently. La Oreja de Vangogh are double platinum grammy winners to say the least. Since 2004, the Spaniards solidified a new wave of pop-rock across Europe and Latin America. While I can’t weigh in on Rosas being the band’s most cutting edge and memorable song, its nostalgic replay-ability from all those years in the car stereo to high Spotify streams are the talking point. This ballad is depressing, but in the best way. Heart-break is illustrated in this euphoric tune about the void a past lover once filled. This tear-jerker plays from start to finish every single time it comes up on my shuffle.
Julieta Venegas – Lento & Andar Conmigo
Mexican born American singer and songwriter Julieta Venegas led the experimental indie rock wave of the late 90’s. She disposed of the formulaic elements of mellow rock melodies to make room for accordions, ska, and jazz snippets, culminating an enclave of new wave house rock. Her coffeehouse-esc tracks: Lento and Andar Conmigo, are the opening tracks to her second full-length. I speculate that regardless of how amazing these songs are, they’re a tease compared to Venegas’ full discography. She’s a queen when it comes to trying different beats and melodies, vocalizing on fictional narratives, and specializing in abstract soundscapes. If my memory serves me well, you couldn’t move across your home without hearing Julietas’ soundtrack to an accompanying novela on Univision.
Juanes – Es Por Ti
Juan Estaban Aristizábal Vásquez hosted Medellín to the world, by coming up with lavish rhythms and chispas that colloquially speaking: voiced the 2000’s gold rush of contemporary musical identity. 2002 marked his second self-produced full-length, Un día normal. Juan Estaban followed The Queen of Latin Music Shakira to open the world to South American contemporary-folkloric rock-pop. His feel-good tunes like La Camisa Negra and A Dios Le Pido pay personal testament to the global stardom that Columbia offers. But, I have to give it to Es Por Ti, a cohesive attempt at glorifying your partner and all they deserve, a song that still brings me to tears from time to time.
Luis Miguel – Ahora Te Puedes Marchar
Ahora Te Puedes Marchar’s viralization is the blueprint to why I thought of writing this piece. Luis Miguel, the latin prince of crossover, the golden package, and “El Sol De Mexico”, ignited the 1980’s with hits that still reverberate in the hearts of latinos today. I’ll admit, I saved Luis Miguel for last because of how much he’s meant to me over the past. His larger than life charisma on stage is something to compare to the likes of Jose Jose or Vicente Fernandez, some of the world’s most sensational artists. It’s all masculine bravado at the end of the day, but I’m glad he was re-packaged into internet culture for the sake of good music and vibes.