In Mexico, the vacation season begins with the standard posadas, a celebration with household, associates, star-shaped piñatas, heat fruit punch, and naturally, villancicos or Christmas carols. This 12 months, Spotify is celebrating this custom with the first-ever unhappy sierreño version of Holiday Spotify Singles.
Sierreño is folks music from Mexico’s northern mountain vary area that’s greatest identified for nostalgic ballads carried out with acoustic guitars. This 12 months there’s been a resurgence of the style with a Gen Z twist that has shaped a brand new classification: unhappy sierreño. Sad sierreño is represented by a era of younger Mexican American artists and is distinguished by a bed room pop manufacturing fashion ethos and sound, leading to songs about love and heartbreak with an angsty edge.
The assortment contains “Triste Navidad” from DannyLux, a tragic Christmas tune that echoes Elvis’s “Blue Christmas.” The artist, Daniel Balderrama Espinoza, is initially from California and imprints new-wave influences on the standard sierreño.
Eslabon Armado, a trio shaped by the brothers Pedro and Bryan Tovar with Gabriel Hidalgo, recorded a model of “Blanca Navidad” with the traditional plucked guitars of sierreño and their trademark vocal harmonies. The trio has 7.2 million month-to-month listeners on Spotify and their album Nostalgia ranked among the many most-streamed new releases globally earlier this 12 months. When they have been youngsters, the Tovar brothers listened to the traditional Christmas songs of Vicente Fernandez on the radio.
“We chose to do this song because we are big fans of Luis Miguel, who famously made an album with Christmas songs,” Pedro, the lead singer and lyricist of Eslabon Armado, instructed For the Record. “We have always liked ‘Blanca Navidad’ but we added our style of guitars and bass to this version.”
Los Aptos, a trio from Fort Wayne, Indiana, delivered “Por Ti,” an emotional romantic ballad with a bittersweet style of nostalgia that invades the vacation season.
Conexión Divina is the primary all-female sierreño trio, shaped by Mexican American artists Liz, Sandra, and Ashlee, presently based mostly in Los Angeles. For this assortment, they recorded “Cómo Poder Olvidar,” an upbeat observe that mixes heartbreak lyrics with mushy guitars.
Finally, Eduardo Granado Rojas, higher often known as ERRE, initially from Phoenix, Arizona, rendered “Solo en Navidad,” a observe with melancholic lyrics and an indie sound that stands out for a guitar with reverb over acoustic guitar concord.
Eduardo’s mom gave him his first guitar for Christmas when he was 11 years outdated. He drew on inspiration from artists like Ariel Camacho and Los Plebes Del Rancho to be taught to play Mexican music on his guitar.
“As a child I listened to the music that my family liked, which were songs like “Navidad Sin Ti” by Los Bukis or songs that got here out on the radio and in shops throughout the holidays,” mentioned ERRE. “I chose this song because the lyrics have a meaning that many people can identify with. In a season that couples enjoy a lot, one can feel lonely for not being able to have that person with whom to have that New Year’s kiss or that affection during the holidays.”
Listen to all of the tracks in our unhappy sierreño playlist.