The Mess is a column from journalist Richard Villegas, who has been reporting on new, exciting sounds flourishing in the Latin American underground for a decade. For this latest installment,
@songmess takes a closer look at claims of a revival around salsa, merengue, and cumbia following recent hits from Bad Bunny, Rauw Alejandro, and Karol G.
“Perhaps the culture perceives a revival of these genres because our current generation of pop idols is exposing younger fans to music once synonymous with their parents’ antiquated tastes,” he writes “Salsa icons Willie Colón, Rubén Blades, and Grupo Niche are constantly on tour, and while good music will always be immortal, for audiences in 2025, the messages behind “Pedro Navajas” and “El Gran Varón” may not resonate as powerfully as, say, Bad Bunny’s “La Mudanza.”
Of course, the underground also brings socially charged tales to the forefront, and in Puerto Rico, the plena and salsa quartet
@chuwi_pr create rallying cries around land protection and animal rights. In Colombia, salsa became an infinitely pliable medium that democratized storytelling, fusing with rock (
@la33orquesta ), cantos from the Pacific Coast (Los Nemus del Pacífico), and an exciting mix of house and hip hop called salsa choke (
@califlowlatinooficial ).” Swipe and read more about the independent artists and combos keeping tropical music alive and well at #linkinbio.
