What a difference two years can make.
In March 2022, Fuerza Regida embarked on a guerrilla marketing campaign to promote an upcoming show at the Toyota Arena in Ontario, California. The San Bernardino-based quintet had already topped Billboard’s U.S. Regional Mexican Music chart twice with 2019’s “Del Barrio Hasta Aquí” and 2020’s “Adicto,” two albums filled with corridos tumbados, or trap corridos, that combine elements of traditional Mexican music (requinto guitars and a brass rhythm section) with Spanish-language hip-hop-like lyrics about cheating, drug dealing, and scams. Despite the success, there were still plenty of tickets left unsold. Equipped with a megaphone, the band members’ instruments, a camera crew and a desire to see every seat filled for what would be a hometown concert, Fuerza Regida showed up unannounced at nearby Arroyo Valley and San Bernardino high schools and performed a quick set for students before moving on to the Ontario Mills mall, where they delighted unsuspecting shoppers.
But what created the biggest stir of this traveling show was the band's final impromptu performance, which took place in the middle of the westbound 10 Freeway, right in front of the Toyota Arena. In a video clip In a post on Fuerza Regida frontman Jesús Ortiz Paz’s TikTok account, we see the band’s caravan of vehicles blocking all five lanes while playing a banda version of “El Muchacho Alegre,” a song made popular by legendary mariachi singer Pedro Infante. The stunt went viral, racking up millions of views and thousands of comments, many of them admonishing them for paralyzing traffic, while others praised the members for their ingenuity.
By the day of the concert, all the tickets had already been sold.
“Back then, we had to get up [to a city] “We arrived early to promote them because they weren’t selling like that. Thank God we don’t have to do that anymore,” says Ortiz Paz, better known as JOP, between bites of baby carrots and hummus.
It’s a mid-July afternoon, and I’m sitting with the 27-year-old singer and his entourage of at least a dozen people at a fast-casual Mediterranean restaurant in downtown Culver City, an hour-long stop on a day packed with interviews to promote “Pero No Te Enamores,” Fuerza Regida’s eighth studio album (out July 25 on Rancho Humilde Records and Street Mob Records). Before speaking with The Times, JOP joined Apple Music DJ Zane Lowe to record an episode of the streaming service’s “New Music Daily” radio show. After lunch, we drove to Burbank to be interviewed by DJ Bootleg Kev for his syndicated hip-hop show. In a few days, JOP and the rest of the band—requinto guitarist Samuel Jaimez, guitarist Khrystian Ramos, tuba player José García and tololoche player Moisés López—will fly to Dallas to resume a national tour that has sold out most dates and will culminate with two shows at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood in mid-November.
The requinto guitarist of Fuerza Regida, Samuel Jaimez, from left, the guitarist Khrystian Ramos, the singer Jesús Ortiz Paz, the tuba player José García and the tololoche Moisés López.
(Courtesy of Fuerza Regida)
“Today we are exclusively dedicated to English-language media. We have never worked in that market before,” says JOP with a hint of satisfaction perceptible in his voice.
The fact that the English-language music press was interested in covering the release of “Pero no te enamores,” an album recorded in Spanish, is a testament to the growing popularity of Mexican music in the U.S. and Fuerza Regida’s role in its rise. Once considered a niche, it has become mainstream in the wake of the pandemic thanks to a group of artists who built their audiences on YouTube and TikTok before conquering streaming services; according to entertainment data analytics firm Luminate, Latin music was the fastest growing genre in the United States. On platforms like Spotify and Apple Music during the first half of 2024, thanks in large part to Mexican music. The subgenre is not a cultural import. Many of its young stars and growing fan bases are located on this side of the border.
“I feel like people in the U.S. identify with Fuerza Regida,” says JOP. “All the non-sabos, all the pochos, know that our culture is a different culture that was born here. [rather] that there.”
The dominance of Mexican music is most evident in Southern California, home to the largest Mexican-American population in the country. As of this writing, 14 of the 25 songs on Apple Music’s daily trending list for Los Angeles belong to the genre, sharing space with songs like pop “it” girl Sabrina Carpenter and Kendrick Lamar’s epic diss track “Not Like Us.” Of these, six are songs by Fuerza Regida.
The band started out in 2015 playing covers at parties and local venues in San Bernardino, and the good times haven't stopped since. Concerts are notoriously loud and alcohol-filled events.Fuerza Regida’s specialty is making catchy tunes to play at full volume, whether it’s “Radicamos en South Central,” their first hit, a 2018 corrido tumbado about building a drug empire brick by brick; “Bebe Dame,” a romantic cumbia recorded with Tex-Mex group Grupo Frontera in 2022; or “Tu Name,” a dismissive snub released earlier this year about moving on and getting over someone by sleeping with other women.
In addition to their ability to create infectious party anthems, Fuerza Regida’s success can be attributed to their prolificacy. Over the past two years, the group has released four albums and one EP, all of which cracked the Billboard 200 chart of top all-genre albums. When not recording, Fuerza Regida has been on the road, playing close to 100 shows during the same period.
“Before I was an artist, I was an entrepreneur,” says JOP, who oversees the creative direction of Fuerza Regida, about his entrepreneurial approach to the music industry as the diamond-encrusted logo of Street Mob Records hangs from his neck. Not content to be just a musician, he founded the independent music label in 2019. Since then, he has signed Calle 24 and Chino Pacas, two of the most promising artists in Mexican music.
“My dad works in construction and he loves what he does. He has been doing this for 35 years. He doesn’t have to work anymore, but he keeps working because he likes it. I am the same. I go to the office, work 14 hours a day, come home and I am happy,” he added.
“Pero no te enamores” is Fuerza Regida’s most ambitious project to date, one that tests the flexibility of Mexican music. Throughout its history, Mexican music has borrowed from other genres and incorporated them into its repertoire: the accordion, a staple of the Conjunto and Norteño, first arrived in the country in the late 19th century at the hands of Czech and German immigrants via polkas; cumbia arrived from Colombia in the 1940s. With its latest work, Fuerza Regida adds electronic dance music to the mix.
“Jersey corridos, make sure you put that in there,” says JOP, giving a name to the fusion of Jersey club, Drill, house music and corridos found on the album.
Fuerza Regida first dipped its toe into EDM waters last year with “Harley Quinn,” a bouncy, trumpet-heavy collaboration with DJ Marshmello — the single, from “Pa’ Las Baby's and Belikeada,” peaked at No. 40 on Billboard’s Hot 100. With “Pero No Te Enamores,” the band dives headfirst into the deep end of the pool. To make the 15-track record, Fuerza Regida enlisted producers Gordo (who worked on Drake’s 2022 album “Honestly, Never Mind”) and Synthetic (produced Lil Uzi Vert’s 2023 single “Just Wanna Rock”), and collaborated with EDM heavyweights DJ Afrojack and Major Lazer.
The hybrid sound of New Jersey corridos is most evident in tracks like “Bella” and “Secreto Victoria,” which seamlessly blend guitar instrumentation with catchy dance rhythms. In some cases, Fuerza Regida completely abandons the sound of Mexican music: “Nel,” the album’s lead single, is closer to reggaeton.
“The album has a summery, EDM vibe, but it doesn’t lose the Fuerza lingo; the album is totally Fuerzado,” says JOP. Lyrically, “Pero no te enamores” comes from the perspective of someone having too much fun being rich, famous, and single, a recurring theme in the band’s extensive work.
If fans were upset by the album’s experimental turn, that dissatisfaction wasn’t reflected on the charts. Within 24 hours of its release, “Pero No Te Enamores” shot to No. 1 on Apple Music’s all-genre chart. The following week, it debuted at No. 25 on the Billboard 200.
Despite the success of the album, JOP says the band is not done with corridos.
“I love the Jersey club, so when we decided to do a dance album, we knew it was going to be this. I don’t want to do different types of music throughout my career. I wanted to do this album and then go back to my original material,” she said, hinting that the next album was already in the works.
JOP isn’t done taking a do-it-yourself approach to promoting Fuerza Regida’s music. On the day of the release of “Pero No Te Enamores,” the frontman and his team hosted two free listening parties for the record in the Los Angeles area. The first was an impromptu afternoon bash at a beachside mansion in Santa Monica, where hundreds of people showed up after the location was posted on the band’s Instagram account. Later that night, the party moved to Boyle Heights nightclub Don Quixote for a Spotify-sponsored event that included free drinks and tote bags with the album’s logo — a crossed-out heart — silkscreened on the spot. These functions, JOP says, are a way to thank his fan base.
“We like to do something for people who can’t afford a ticket to our shows. We have to do our shows, that’s how we make money and live, but we always want to do something for the fans,” he tells me during a brief follow-up interview an hour after the party in Boyle Heights ended. It’s late at night and we’re standing in the driveway of the Mulholland Drive mansion he’s rented to rest his head after driving around the city all day.
“I’m tired, but in a good way. We love it. I don’t see myself doing anything else,” he says before thanking me for my time and heading back inside. The next day, he and the band would fly to Atlanta to continue the tour.
