The Vaya Blog: Just A ‘Lil NYC Spanglish!

Latin Pop, or Pop Latino, covers pop music from Latin America, Italy, Spain, and Portugal.  Pop Latino includes languages spoken in Latin America, mainly Spanish, Italian and Portuguese.  There are two main “worlds” when speaking about Latin Pop or Pop Latino.  The first world is regular pop performed in Spanish, Spanglish, Portuguese or English languages for international audiences.  The second world mixes pop with a wide variety of Latin American or Iberian rhythms.  Some common musical genres are salsa, merengue, cumbia, samba, tex-mex, flamenco, tango, vallenato and reggae.  Hip-hop and it’s close cousin, reggaeton, are more recent contributions to the Latin Pop.

Three main artists that helped Latin Pop reach global audience in the last century were Julio Iglesias, from Spain, and the versatile Gloria Estefan, from Cuba.   Before them Ritchie Valens, in 1950, started the wave.  Menudo, a group of teenagers from Puerto Rico, reached big popularity in several countries around the world.

Major Latin Pop songwriters include Richard Daniel Roman, Estefano and Emilio Estefan.A lot of artists without any Hispanic or Latin background have some Latin Pop hits; for instance Beyoncé’s “Irremplazable” and Madonna’s “La Isla Bonita”.  Some artists have Latin remixes in their singles, the songs that are mixed by DJ’s with a Hispanic background. These “remixes” could be classified as Latin Pop.  Some of the singers who have remixes are Will Smith, Jamiroquai, Britney Spears, and Mariah Carey among others.

Some of the Latin singers well known in the United States and currently popular are:

• Enrique Iglesias
• Shakira
• Paulina Rubio
• Thalia
• Daddy Yankee
• Ricky Martin
• Chayanne
• Celia Cruz (dead now but an amazing artist from Cuba)

So, do you listen to Pop Latino? Who is your favorite singer? We would love to hear what your favorite genre is!!