Is Feid’s popularity increasing since the Latine community started raising eyebrows and expressing disappointment over Bad Bunny’s dating life? While it all may be a mere coincidence, there’s no denying that the Colombian reggaeton artist is reaching a new level of stardom as Benito is experiencing lukewarm attitudes from his Latine fans.
Though Feid’s popularity has been years in the making—he’s worked with major artists like J Balvin, Sebastián Yatra, and Karol G—it appears he is finally experiencing a new level of a well-deserved spotlight. Last week, not only did he headline Billboard’s The Stage at the SXSW festival in Austin, TX, but he also announced his upcoming Ferxxo Nitro Jam Underground Tour, which is highly anticipated. His 2022 U.S. tour sold out in minutes.
Let’s be clear, we are not crediting Feid’s success to Benito, but there’s no denying his recent spike in U.S. mainstream popularity and growing fandom on TikTok in the recent week. Is it a direct result of Latine fans being upset at Bad Bunny’s recent headlines, like the rumors of him dating Kendall Jenner? In the TikTokverse, it seems like this buzz propelled some fans to look beyond Benito and enter their Feid era.
A TikTok user, danielajadexo, posted: “Over my bad bunny era & in my FERXXO ERA.” Her video’s hashtags include #CandleJenner. Another TikTok user, aztire29, posted a photo of Benito with the text, “Me a year ago,” and then a photo of Feid with the text, “Today.” The caption reads, “Stay with Kandela [Kendall] & I’ll stay with Ferxxo.” The video currently has more than 77,000 likes.
Another TikTok user, sandras.world, expressed in a video: “Now that Bad Bunny is dating Kendall Jenner, he’s betrayed all of us. I think we should all move on to a new boyfriend, and I propose we move on to Ferxxo.” She then invites her followers to see him in concert next month.
But it’s not just TikTok chatter. Statistically, Feid’s music listeners have also increased in the last month. According to Chartmetric, the “Hey Mor” singer had an 8 percent growth in Spotify, while Bad Bunny experienced a “slight decrease” of -1.55 percent in listeners. The same source also cited that Feid went from averaging 11.5 million Spotify listeners and 4.8 million YouTube daily views a year ago to 37.8 million listeners and 15.7 million views now. Will his music keep increasing now that people are “entering their Feid era?”
Moreover, could it be that Latine fans are looking for another star to relate to (Feid is known to use Colombian slang, especially his use of the endearment “mor”) now that Benito is appealing to the Anglo media more than ever?
While we don’t know what the future holds for the two artists, it’s clear that the Latine community is keeping an eye on their moves and continuing to stan the artist they can relate to the most.