Singer Talks Latin Tune, Circle of relatives, ‘Los angeles Diabla’ & Extra

The night time of Oct. 20, 2024, used to be filled with firsts for Xavi. The 20-year-old Mexican American ­singer-songwriter gave his first televised efficiency of his breakout hit, “Los angeles Diabla,” on the Billboard Latin Tune Awards, the place he additionally gained his first trophy, for artist of the 12 months, new. And this took place simply 8 days after he launched his celebrated debut album, Subsequent, which turned into his first most sensible 10 on any albums chart.

“I’m nonetheless processing it,” Xavi says these days. “It’s one thing that I didn’t in reality be expecting, nevertheless it’s a blessing. My grandpa and my entire circle of relatives would at all times speak about this sort of stuff; it used to be their dream to make it within the tune business. I’m in reality seeking to push their desires ahead.”

This virtual quilt tale is a part of Billboard’s Style Now bundle, highlighting the artists pushing their musical genres ahead — or even growing their very own new ones.

It used to be a becoming, and acquainted, flurry of occasions for the younger artist. After the August 2023 unencumber of “Los angeles Víctima,” “Los angeles Diabla” adopted in November and took off in 2024, serving to handle Xavi’s momentum and temporarily setting up him as one to look at.

“Los angeles Diabla” has since tied for the second-­longest-reigning name of the 12 months at the Sizzling Latin Songs chart, dominating for 14 weeks. (“Los angeles Víctima,” Xavi’s first chart access, peaked at No. 2.) Via the tip of 2024, Xavi had positioned 9 songs at the tally whilst Subsequent debuted at Nos. 6 and 9 at the Regional Mexican Albums and Most sensible Latin Albums charts, respectively. However Xavi’s biggest accomplishment in a 12 months of many is the unfold of his hybrid subgenre: tumbados románticos.

Along with his pioneering mix of the musicality of corridos tumbados with the melodies of unhappy sierreño, Xavi has paved a transparent trail for himself to discover different genres, too. Rising up between Sonora, Mexico, and Phoenix, his mom would wake him up with tune via Vicente Fernández and Selena, however he says coming to the US used to be “a complete other international” and he temporarily turned into keen on artists like Justin Bieber and Daniel Caesar. Now he’s desperate to discover a wide variety of sounds — from time to time concurrently.

“We’re speaking about R&B, we’re speaking about música mexicana. Whilst you get all the ones parts and put them into one, it actually turns into its personal — it brings out this new sound,” he says. “Because it’s one thing new and we’re attending to the ground of it, it’s executed with such a lot love and endurance. We do it with a large number of interest.

“The studio is a kitchen, ?” he continues. “And we’ve simply been operating at the sound of the fusion as a result of there’s a large number of kinds available in the market. However what occurs whilst you put two, or 3, or 4 or 5 genres into one track? It’s a fusion of corridos — I don’t wish to say we invented it, however we unquestionably introduced one thing new.”

This tale seems within the Jan. 11, 2025, factor of Billboard.