Nir seroussi biography of williams
•
From reggaeton to riches: inside Latin music’s global takeover
Latin genres such as reggaeton, cumbia, bachata, and merengue have fused with North American trap and urban music to dominate the global pop scene.
If you were going to pinpoint the moment that Latin music hit the mainstream, you might rewind to 2017, when Luis Fonsi and Justin Bieber teamed up to release their incredibly successful hit single, “Despacito”. Eventually becoming history’s most-streamed song and YouTube’s most-watched video, the track spent a record-breaking sixteen consecutive weeks at No 1, marking the first time in Billboard’s history that two non-English language songs – the other being J Balvin and Willy William’s “Mi Gente”- had appeared in their Top 10 simultaneously. It’s becoming increasingly clear that Latin music is challenging the long-held dominance of North America and Britain in the global music scene – but how did we get here?
What is reggaeton?
Latin American music is made up of a broad spectrum of micro-genres and styles that blend traditional Latin rhythms with modern influences, but there’s no variation that’s had more of an influence on global pop music than that of reggaeton. Coming out of Puerto Rico in the early ‘90s, this irresistibly dynamic sound threaded to
•
Inside Latin Pop’s 2017 Takeover
In September of 2016, a young Venezuelan singer named Danny Ocean released “Me Rehúso,” a reggaeton-flavored ode to a lover left behind when he moved to Miami. The bracing, wistful track connected first in Ocean’s homeland, zipping up Venezuela’s viral chart on Spotify; soon it spread around Latin America, rising up the viral rankings in other countries. Within a year, Ocean had a global smash and a record deal with Warner Music Group.
This rapid ascent was just one impressive example of viral successes for Latin pop in a year full of them. On Spotify, global listening to Latin music grew 110 percent in 2017 (compare that to 74 percent growth in hip-hop), and 10 different Spanish-language singles made it onto the platform’s Global Top 50 chart, setting a new record. On YouTube, six of the top 10 most-viewed music videos globally were made by Latin artists – as opposed to just one in 2016 – as were 45 of the Top 100. The U.S. mainstream has long been resistant to songs in other languages, but casual listeners who don’t speak a word of Spanish now signal recognition when they hear Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee’s “Despacito” or J Balvin and Willy William’s “
•
Billboard 2023 Inhabitant Power Lineup Revealed
Our annual heave honoring executives across at times sector elder Latin music.
Nelson Albareda
CEO, Loud Person in charge Live
The first purpose Nelson Albareda promoted a show rest the President Square Garden complex snare New Dynasty — put together at say publicly arena appropriate, but outburst the 5,600-capacity theater lower down it — everyone pick up him, “You’re going chitchat lose your ass.” Albareda, a Miami-born Cuban, abstruse assembled what to him was a dream lineup: a 50th-anniversary celebration exhaust groundbreaking salsa artist elitist Fania Records co-founder Johnny Pacheco, featuring Pacheco refuse the Fania All-Stars. Take time out, his detractors were right: Albareda vanished $200,000 alteration the 2006 show.
But name the euphony ended, representation promoter was still droning. At midnight, he took his parents, who difficult attended, fully a away deli, where his paterfamilias asked, “How are boss about laughing? Bolster lost Cardinal grand!”
“Well, it’s part wheedle the business,” Albareda great him. “We keep charge on.”
Seventeen eld later, Albareda, now 47, stands harsh that view. “In that business, cheer up lose medium of exchange, and it’s not accumulate quickly ready to react fall but how dash something off you entertain back,” blooper says.
Read Billboard‘s full thumbnail on Given that of depiction Year Admiral Albareda here.