Five Latin Musicians Making Moves On Pandora

While we've likely all heard the chart topping 'Despacito' Emily Blake here introduces us to five slightly less well known up and coming Latin artists rising through the ranks of Pandora's streaming charts.

_____________________

Guest post by Emily Blake of Next Big Sound

In case you haven’t heard, Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee’s “Despacito” is officially the most-streamed song of all time. It’s also the first mostly Spanish language single to top the Billboard Hot 100 since “Macarena.” And there hasn’t been just one version of it on the Top Spins Chart, but three. It is, for lack of a word that is actually a word, yuge.

But “Despacito” isn’t just some super catchy anomaly. Rather, there seems to be an increased interest in Latin music over the past few years. In a recent interview with Billboard, chairman & CEO of Universal Music Latin America Jesús Lopez attributed it to the more “democratized” music landscape, thanks to streaming. Streaming, he says, “has made Latin music increasingly relevant on the charts and it has amplified our songs and videos to a world stage.”

In this democracy, “Despacito” isn’t the only one with a voice. J Balvin’s “Mi Gente” is a bonafide sensation, currently at #45 on the Top Spins Chart and climbing. But when you venture past the MVPs and onto the Pandora Trendsetters and Predictions charts, there are also a ton of less established Latin acts seizing the moment as well. Let’s take a look.

Danny Ocean

Not to be confused with this guy, this Danny Ocean is a rising singer/producer from Venezuela who’s on one hell of a rise. His rapid rise is all thanks to “Me Rehúso,” the breakout single he wrote, produced and sang independently. The song not only landed him on global streaming charts, but also got him a record deal with Warner Music Group. As of this week, he’s officially a Pandora Trendsetter — meaning he’s one of the 20 up-and-coming artists seeing the highest numbers of artist station adds on Pandora.

Ocean debuts at #20 this week after seeing well over 1,000 Pandora artist station adds in one week. He’s also seen an increase in spins since the release of “Baby I Won’t,” the English-language version of “Me Rehúso” — +130% month-on-month.

Alex Hoyer

Over on the Predictions Chart we have rising Mexican pop star Alex Hoyer. The 20-year-old studied under Ricky Martin when he competed on La Voz… México, Mexico’s version of The Voice, and it seems he’s still taking cues from the Puerto Rican icon, from his crisp dance moves to his balance of songs in both Spanish and English.

It’s way too early to tell if Hoyer could reach Martin levels — I mean, can anyone live up to “Livin La Vida Loca”? But since the release of his latest single “Ella,” he’s moving in the right direction. Over the past month, Hoyer has added over 12,500 fans on Facebook, more than 20,000 Instagram followers and around 50,000 Twitter followers — up significantly from the previous month’s gains of 80, 1,300 and 200 fans, respectively.

Darkiel

Puerto Rican urban singer Darkiel has been bubbling under the mainstream surface for a while now, having previously collaborated with Plan B, J Alvarez and more, but now it seems he’s starting to break through with his latest single, “Hasta el Cielo.” In just three weeks, the music video for “Hasta el Cielo” has racked up over 3 million views on YouTube. The song’s release has also helped him see a 225% month-on-month lift in Twitter followers.

Mau Y Ricky

Brothers Mauricio and Ricky Montaner have been churning out Latin hits as songwriters for years now, but it’s only recently that they stepped up to the mic with the release of their own EP, Arte, via Sony. Mau y Ricky, who are sons of Venezuelan music icon Ricardo Montaner, debuted on the Predictions Chart at the beginning of June, shortly after the EP’s release.

Since the album’s release, Mau y Ricky have seen the largest growth on Twitter, seeing an average of 250 daily mentions over the past month. In that time, they’ve also added around 13,000 followers on the platform.

Raymix

Rising Mexican artist Raymix produces what he likes to call “electrocumbias,” which essentially means dance-y takes on the original cumbia sonidera genre. The young artist — who’s based in Brooklyn but is a native of Estado de Mexico — has managed to hit the Trendsetters Chart without having released a proper debut album, thanks to buzzy singles like “Oye Mujer,” “Dónde Estarás” and “Primer Beso.”

Raymix has been sitting pretty in the top 10 of Trendsetters for a while, and this week he stays strong at #6 as he maintains a steady pace of around 4,000 weekly artists station adds. Oh, and did we mention that he only just turned 20?

See the full list of Predictions and Trendsetters artists here.