Yahritza Martinez has officially become the youngest performer to chart on Billboard’s Hot 100. The 15-year-old Mexican-American singer released her debut single, “Soy El Único,” on March 25th. Before this, Martinez had primarily been singing and uploading videos to TikTok.
Her entry on the Hot 100 chart marks the highest entry by a Mexican music artist in history. Moreover, her Spanish-language single made its way to the No. 1 spot on Billboard’s Hot Latin Chart, and just two days ago, it had over 6.7 million streams on the U.S. YouTube songs chart. “Soy El Único” currently sits at No. 6 on Youtube’s U.S. Top music videos chart. To say she’s blowing up is an understatement.
Martinez has 733.6k followers on TikTok, and her following keeps growing. She formed her band, Yahritza Y Su Esencia, with her two older brothers, Jairo and Armando Martinez. Originally from Yakima, Washington — a city known for its fruit and apple orchards — the siblings grew up around Mexican music, waking up to hits from bands like Los Temerarios and Los Canarios playing throughout their house.
After Ramón Ruiz of the independent record label Lumbre Music found Martinez’s videos on TikTok, he flew out to Washington and signed her. Since then, the sibling trio has produced and shot the music video for “Soy El Único,” which is part of a four-part love story.
With her debut single, Martinez has established herself in Regional Mexican music, a genre that has been male-dominated for years. In “Soy El Único,” Martinez writes about how heart-breaking it can be to love someone who doesn’t value you. Seeing such a young talent sum up a universal feeling is shocking and inspiring.
With such raw talent and a voice that sounds lightyears beyond her actual age, it’s thrilling to witness the beginning of Martinez’s musical career and look forward to how they shift the Regional Mexican music scene.
