Within the opening days of 2024, a pioneering new sound vibrated all through the trade, capturing the highest spot on Billboard’s Scorching Latin Songs chart. The electrifying corridos monitor “La Diabla” (“She Satan”) was by newcomer Xavi, a comparatively unknown 19-year-old Mexican American artist delivering an equally unknown sound.
The tumbados románticos single — which tells the story of a foul boy’s romance with a foul woman — is crafted with the crisp strains of a requinto guitar — a signature instrument in regional Mexican music. However it’s Xavi’s mixture of the rebellious corridos tumbados spirit with the tenderness of romance that units him aside.
Nonetheless, “La Diabla” nearly by no means got here to be. “I DM’ed him and he wouldn’t reply me,” recollects Interscope government vp Nir Seroussi. He found Xavi in early 2021 due to the label’s A&R government, Emerson Redd, who shared the soul-stirring guitar ballad “Te Quiero” with him. Intrigued by the artist’s uncooked emotion, Seroussi was decided to fulfill the younger star — and his persistence paid off.
After two months, Xavi arrived on the Interscope places of work in Miami, guitar in hand, and carried out for practically an hour. “It was love at first sight,” says Seroussi, who noticed in Xavi not only a musician however an “outdated soul,” with a profound means to attach. “He has all these qualities that differentiate a hobbyist from somebody who might be an actual artist, a profession artist. It wasn’t about numbers. I fell in love with Xavi, the artist.” Seroussi signed him to a document deal later that 12 months.
Raised in Phoenix and Sonora, Mexico, the artist born Joshua Xavier Gutiérrez says that his bicultural upbringing deeply influenced his personal music, which blends Mexican corridos traditions with trendy rhythms. “We’re the primary era to maneuver right here, to provide [ourselves] a greater life,” Xavi says in Spanish.
He drew early inspiration from his grandfather’s church singing — “when he sang, he did so with a lot feeling, he sang with love for God” — in addition to the emotive voices of Mexican crooners in bands like Camila and Sin Bandera. Nonetheless, the primary tune he discovered to play on guitar was “Child” by Justin Bieber. At simply 12 years outdated, Xavi wrote his first unique tune; by 16, he began releasing his music to streaming platforms below Baga Music.
Across the similar time, the corridos tumbados motion, led by Natanael Cano, had taken the web by storm, paving the way in which for hit-makers like Peso Pluma, Fuerza Regida and Luis R Conriquez to interrupt by. In parallel, the shifting and melancholic melodies of unhappy sierreño emerged, led by a brand new forged of Mexican American Gen Z acts comparable to Ivan Cornejo, DannyLux and Yahritza y Su Esencia. Xavi navigates between the 2 along with his personal pressure of tumbados románticos, a subgenre he coined as a musician raised on either side of the U.S.-Mexico border. (His placing ruby, pearl and diamond necklace, a quintessential image of urbano tradition, additionally symbolizes his fusion of eclectic sounds.)
Nonetheless, his path to success was something however clean. A near-fatal automotive accident in 2021 that resulted in a cracked cranium and an altered facial construction drastically modified his perspective. “It was a foul hit,” Xavi says, “but it surely modified my life.” Fairly than deterring him, it impressed him: Within the aftermath of the accident, movies of Xavi, bandaged and enjoying the guitar whereas recovering, started circulating on TikTok, fostering a deeper bond between followers and the rising artist.
In early 2022, after his restoration, Xavi channeled his expertise into his music, rising as a tumbados románticos pioneer. Inside 5 months, he launched a string of singles below Interscope, every marked by poetic lyrics and haunting acoustic riffs. These solo efforts, interspersed with a couple of collaborations with Los Primos del Este and Eduardo Soto, culminated within the launch of his My Mother’s Playlist EP in Might 2023. The seven-track set, an homage to his mom, featured renditions of beloved Latin songs like Maná’s “Rayando el Sol” and Luis Miguel’s “Ahora Te Puedes Marchar” reimagined in his sierreño type. “She’d at all times ask me to sing these songs she’d play whereas cleansing within the morning,” he recollects.
Xavi’s supervisor, Raczon López, who got here on board on the similar time, then helped leverage his social presence and form his greatest hits thus far. On the finish of December, Xavi debuted on the Billboard Scorching 100 with not one however two entries: “La Diabla” and “La Víctima,” which have since reached peaks of No. 22 and No. 55, respectively. His world attraction is additional evidenced by his presence on the Billboard International 200 and International Excl. U.S. charts, with “La Diabla” reaching the highest 5 on each.
“Should you discover, Xavi is a child who just isn’t on social media a lot, so there’s this thriller in [his] profession,” López says. “Persons are keen to listen to what’s subsequent.” He provides that what Xavi has already launched is simply a preview of his potential: “This child sings pop, mariachi, R&B — I imply, every part matches him… Folks will step by step see the completely different aspects of Xavi.”
Having lately signed with WME, Xavi is already getting ready for an upcoming tour. However as Seroussi sees it, there’s no rush. He compares Xavi’s growth to that of award-winning celebrity (and labelmate) Billie Eilish, emphasizing private development alongside musical evolution.
“When [Interscope CEO] John Janick signed Billie, she was 14. It took three years to develop her, not simply as an artist, however as an individual,” Seroussi says. “It’s concerning the experiences, the life lived that feeds into the maturity of songs and songwriting. That’s what we see in Xavi — a star who was at all times destined to shine.”
This story will seem within the Jan. 27, 2024, challenge of Billboard.
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