Meet The Artists Leading Mexico’s Dreamy Folk-Pop Wave

It’s no secret the Mexican pop landscape holds a somewhat mythical status – both as a rich ecosystem of homegrown and global sounds, and for carrying the promise of stardom to legions of artists eager to make it in the world’s largest Spanish-language music market. But in an ocean of possibility, trying to predict the next trend can be tricky. And yet, if one thing is certain across our fickle pop culture landscape it’s that young people will always dictate the tastes of the future. So it shouldn’t come as much of a shock that the new school of artists storming the Mexican charts reflect the stripped down emotional sincerity of our time. Armed with little more than simple guitar melodies, earnest songwriting and a fanbase so young most are driven to each sold out show by their parents – the future of Mexican pop now seemingly rests in the hands of scrappy storytellers narrating an entire generation’s coming-of-age journey.

The masses began taking notice of Mexico’s teen folk wave last year with the emergence of Ed Maverick, the raspy-voiced 19-year old crooner who became a household name with sullen, minimal hits like “Acurrucar” and “Fuentes de Ortíz.” And while Maverick is no doubt the most successful brat out of the pack, already touring extensively across the U.S. and Mexico and snagging a coveted slot at Coachella this coming April, you can hardly credit him with opening the floodgates. That honor goes to mercurial madman Juan Cirerol, who blurred the lines between corridos, folk and punk with his 2009 epic, Ofrenda al Mictlan. Wielding only an acoustic guitar and the occasional harmonica, the Mexicali native injected his songs with boozy vulgarity and lo-fi edge, unwittingly shattering the aura of sanctity surrounding such music. His raw simplicity appealed to a new generation of musicians and fans exhausted with rock star antics, choosing instead to write from the heart and growing less concerned about studio magic.

Los Blenders and Dromedarios Mágicos soon blossomed from the seeds planted by Cirerol, exploring thematically similar territory of adolescent infatuation and heartbreak over starkly contrasting sonic canvases. The punkish influence of Los Blenders can now be heard across Señor Kino and Sr. Trigger records, while Dromedarios Mágicos’s lo-fi weepy sweetness seems to have paved the way for boy-with-guitar sensations like Sous-Sol and Ed Maverick. However, it should also be noted that while several of these artists invoke the narrative directness and unpretentious aesthetics of folk music, most have skipped out on the once-requisite political songwriting, opting instead for heartrending lyrics and John Hughes-esque romance fantasies.

“Everything is organic and real, which I think is key,” Bratty told Remezcla during a recent press conference ahead of her performance at March’s Vive Latino. “Within so much press and social media strategizing, people are looking for things that are more real.” Bratty is one of the most visible women within the veritable boys club of the folk pop wave, also noting the refreshing and perhaps coincidental regional impact of this movement, where most of these voices hail from Northern Mexican cities like Hermosillo, Mexicali and Chihuahua. “It’s something super new for me to see in my own city,” adds the Culiacán, Sinaloa native, “especially since people mostly listen to narco corridos. We’re now showing that Northern Mexico isn’t just about banda and corridos, but there’s also people creating new sounds.”

In order to properly contextualize this fledgeling movement, we’ve compiled a list of ten artists cultivating these vibrant and refreshing musical perspectives. From folk to psych and grunge, the new generation of Mexican songwriters is shaping a brave new world of emotional honesty and musical freedom that will ripple through the industry for years to come.