Viva Friday is a compilation of the best new Latin songs, albums and videos recommended by the Billboard Latin editors.
Chino & Nacho – “Raro” (Universal Music Group)
After a four-year hiatus embarking on their solo careers, Chyno Miranda and Nacho have returned as a duo with the release of “Raro.” The highly awaited Chino & Nacho comeback was born thanks to their fans on social media asking the Venezuelan artists to record together again. “Raro,” which translates to rare, is a pop tropical fusion that best characterizes the Chino & Nacho essence. Directed by Daniel Duran, the music video (and single) tells the story of a rare-kind-of-love, one that’s not found nowadays. In the clip, Chino & Nacho are seen together like the good ole’ days as different couples, young, old, interracial and same-sex, are living their best life despite it all. As of now, Chino & Nacho only have plans for releasing this track together. Watch the music video below. — JESSICA ROIZ
Mala Rodríguez – “Mami” (Universal Music Group)
“Me asomo al pasillo sin hacer ruido cuando te escucho. Llevas toda la noche trabajando fuera y te extraño mucho” (I peek at the corridor when I hear you, trying to be very quiet. You’ve been working all night and I miss you a lot). That’s the opening line of Mala Rodríguez’s homage to her working mother, told with an adult’s voice but with a child’s point of view. Sung over a sparse piano-only accompaniment, it’s a poignant track that makes a point of admiring the mother who spent time out of the home making ends meet, but also admits to missing her deeply. Unexpected and beautiful, it acquires added depth with Mala’s flamenco-tinged delivery and a gorgeous black-and-white video that underscores the ambivalence that working mothers everywhere feel when they leave their kids behind. — LEILA COBO
Natalia Lafourcade – “La Malquerida” (Sony Music Latin)
Backed by just a cuatro (a ukulele-type lute) and a collective of female voices chanting in unison, Natalia Lafourcade delivers another belter with “La Malquerida” (The Unloved). Its delicacy is as symbolic as the urgency for a harmonious exchange between a woman and a man, the gracefulness it should flow with and the need to balance female-male energy. Fire is the main element of the song’s music video, as Lafourcade and her female counterparts gather around a bonfire to heal their unreconciled emotions with music. “Every time I sing this song I feel splinters in my body,” Lafourcade expresses through spoken words. “I feel as if I were connected to other times, to other places, to other women… I feel that in these times what we really must focus on is on the reconciliation of our energies with our men. There have been very bad men in history but there are also good men and a masculine and feminine energy cohabit in all of us. It has been an apprenticeship… learning to live with those two energies that inhabit me, learning to balance them out so that I am in harmony with myself and with my surroundings.” — PAMELA BUSTIOS
Tainy – NEON16 Tape: The Kids That Grew Up on Reggaeton (NEON16/Roc Nation)
After dropping songs such as “Nada” and “Mera,” Tainy has officially unveiled his highly anticipated solo EP, NEON16 Tape: The Kids That Grew Up on Reggaeton. The seven-track set features collaborations with rising acts and renowned names, bringing to the forefront a fresh wave of urban gems. “I got to bring in some of my favorite artists that are making major strides in their prospective countries and crossing into this one, and there is variety in the types of music we created, showcasing them in their best light,” Tainy said. From the women empowerment bop “Malvada” with Kali Uchis and Khea to the infectious reggaeton “Tu Amiga” with J Quiles, Dylan Fuentes, Lennox and Llane to experimenting with global sounds, Tainy’s innovative musical perspective is heard track-by-track. “I listen to a lot of types of genres of music,” he previously told Billboard. “Most of my influences are producers and artists. The artist’s vision adds to it, seeing what you can take from it and what you can input also. Everything, really. Even art, movies, imagery, help me get that perfect sound that fits with the project I’m working on.” Artists in the NEON16 Tape: The Kids That Grew Up on Reggaeton EP include Dalex, Alvaro Diaz, Sean Paul, Cazzu, Mozart La Para, Lauren Jauregui, C. Tangana, Kali Uchis, Khea, Kris Floyd, Las Villas, Dylan Fuentes, Lennox, Justin Quiles and Llane. Listen and stream below. — JR
Gregorio Uribe feat. Jorge Villamizar – “Media Naranja”
This accordion-led song is the first single from the Colombian singer-songwriter’s forthcoming album. In this tropical track, Gregorio Uribe fuses cumbia beats with guaguancó, a subgenre of Cuban rumba, and the sabanero rhythm known as paseaito. Uribe’s fellow Colombian singer-songwriter Jorge Villamizar, lead vocalist of Bacilos, is featured on this song that talks about how relationships are reinventing themselves. In his reimagined version of famous relationships like that of Romeo and Juliet, she gets a doctorate and Romeo doesn’t commit suicide. “I’m not your other half and you’re not my solution. I don’t want you to depend on me… but I do like how you smell. “Media Naranja” was co-produced by Uribe and Mexican producer Luis Guzmán. — GRISELDA FLORES
Fito Páez – “La Conquista del Espacio” (Sony Music Entertainment Argentina)
The Argentine singer/songwriter’s new studio album, released on his birthday, is equal parts a nod to The Beatles sound Páez so identifies with, and equal parts eclectic experimentation. The common threads are the beautiful melodies, lush and thoughtful arrangements and Páez’s trademark casually emotive delivery. La Conquista ranges from the triumphant, joyful title track to “Gente en la calle,” a duet with Lali whose lilting melody and almost ’70s arrangements contrast almost shockingly with lyrics that talk about homelessness. In the middle, the bluesy rock ‘n’ roll of songs like “Las cosas que me hacen bien” and the impish “Nadie Es de Nadie” for an album that covers all the Páez bases but with a fresh, imaginative outlook. — LC
Jackie Cruz – “Be Bad”
Another empowering new anthem is singer and actress Jackie Cruz’s “Be Bad,” which starts her off changing up a script given to her where she plays the role of Eve. “We’re both equals and we both came from the earth,” she says at the beginning of the video lying next to Adam. Immediately the director, played by Mexican actor Eugenio Derbez, brings another actress to replace Cruz. “Be Bad” is a feminist anthem that calls for gender equality and equity. In the R&B-influenced, soulful song, Cruz sings about challenging labels for women that have been set by society. In the end, she joins forces with the woman who had “replaced” her in the scene of Adam and Eve. — GF
Ruben Salazar – “Capaz de Todo” (Afinarte Music)
After writing hits for other regional Mexican artists like Gerardo Ortiz and Julión Alvarez, Sinaloan singer-songwriter Ruben Salazar released his first single titled “Capaz de Todo.” Inspired by Latin music icon Joan Sebastian, Salazar shows off his distinctively deep and hoarse voice with this new norteño-tinged song was produced by Jorge Gaxiola from Voz de Mando. In the confessional, Salazar, a hopeless romantic, reveals his love for someone that he will do anything for. — GF
Jonja – El Cuento de Jonja
Fraught with searing melancholy and eerie fabled-like instrumentation, El Cuento de Jonja (Jonja’s tale) was incubated by the lead singer-songwriter of Venezuela’s alternative pop band Telegrama, Javier Garcia, who goes by the moniker #YEI and follows his local acclaimed album Barriendo Escombros Después De La Fiesta. Produced by Ruben Gutierrez, written by García and composed by García and Gutierrez, the set’s folksy swells were Illustrated by Juan Daniel González and animated by Sol Dominguez. Packed with quiet reflections throughout the nine-track set, El Cuento de Jonja is a transformative space of creative flow. “El Mismo Lugar,” the album’s opening track displays #YEI’s enigmatic vocals in an intimate aesthetic, a parallel space from his days at Telegrama, with Alisa Lovera in background vocals and bookended by Eduardo Betancourt’s pure harp chords. About Jonja: Born in a mountain in the outskirts of the desert derives Jonja, a lad whose mystical upbringing influenced his character. With a father consumed by work and a mother forsaken in madness, Indio Shaman’s the father’s faithful friend, becomes Jonja’ caretaker. Born with a special gift, Jonja’s friends encompassed two fairies, the trees and animals whose bodies had instruments as part of their phenotype. Years later Jonja is rescued by his animal friends through music after he falls in love with a human and leaves his magical world. — PB
