The success of regional Mexican music and its aspects is not a new thing. But it’s fair to say that right now, it’s getting attention and outreach that maybe it didn’t before. And in the midst of this boom driven by the opening of digital platforms, viral phenomena and collaboration with artists of other styles, we found Grupo Frontera.
And it is that their case is striking because right at this moment, they come from having played at Coachella 2023 as guests of Bad Bunny. The thing is the band has just over a year of formalizing itself as a project within the music industry.
Who are Frontera Group?
Grupo Frontera was formed in the Texas Valley, in the MacAllen area, this in the United States. The members are Adelaido Solís III, Juan Javier Cantú, Julián Peña Jr, Alberto Acosta, Carlos Guerrero and Carlos Zamora; all with roots from northern Mexican states such as Tamaulipas and Nuevo León.
The band was formed at the initiative of Cantú and Acosta, vocalist and bajo quinto respectively, with Solís as the last to join. Like any project, the first thing they did was play as a hobby, for each had his own work. Or in the case of Solís, he had barely finished high school when he joined the group.
Between 2021 and 2022, they were a local cover band that played at parties or family gatherings. But very soon they decided that they wanted to find a space in regional Mexican music, especially combining their norteño influence with cumbia, grupero and more.
Taking the project seriously
It was at the beginning of 2022 when Grupo Frontera decided to take everything to the next level and they began to upload their covers to social networks. Some of the first to be found on his YouTube channel are those of “The thief” by Diego Verdaguer and “Estos celos”, original by Joan Sebastian but remembered more in the interpretation of Vicente Fernández. They were part of an EP.
But his acting talent did not stop there. They saw a good opportunity to cover more pop artists like Ha-Ash, or the Colombians Morat. Of the latter, they released a cover of the song “No se va” that went viral on both YouTube and TikTok… And so, they gained notoriety in the networks.
In accordance with an interview they gave to the LA TimesAlthough their covers and other songs were already beginning to gain momentum, it was not until August 2022 when the members of Grupo Frontera decided that they wanted to dedicate themselves to the project 100 percentalso composing his own songs.
In that same talk, the incursion of the renowned Texan composer Edgar Barrerawho has worked for Ariana Grande, Shakira, Maluma, Angela Aguilar, Marc Anthony, Jennifer Lopez, Christian Nodal and other artists. They had tried to contact him for some time without a prompt response, and it was not until last year that Barrera responded.
Edgar Barrera’s pop-urban influence led them to collaborate with artists such as Fuerza Régida in the song “Bebé dame”, Carín León in “Que vuelvas” and “Say yes” with Grupo Marca Registradaamong other.
Soon, his name began to gain ground in regional Mexican music, not only in our country where there is obviously the largest flow of listeners; also in the United States, where the number of fans is growing due to families of Mexican origin and Latino who settle there.
Arriving at Coachella 2023 with Bad Bunny
Despite its penchant for regional Mexican music and its different styles, Grupo Frontera has collaborated with urban artists themselves. For now, the group signed his biggest collaboration to date with Bad Bunny for the song “un x100to”where Edgar Barrera also participated as part of the composition team.
The theme came just in the days between the weekend 1 and 2 of Coachella 2023, a festival where the Puerto Rican was the headliner and where he had the Mexican-American group as guests.
Since its release, the song has dominated trends on all social networks and platforms, from YouTube to TikTok. Bad Bunny’s foray into the Mexican regional is not new because in 2019, The Puerto Rican participated in the remix of the lying down corrido song “Soy el diablo” by Natanael Cano.
Let us explain the phenomenon Grupo Frontera
The great rise of Grupo Frontera In the last year, it is when regional Mexican music begins to experience increasing popularity in the international industry. Much of it has to do with the slope of the lying down corridos and the fusion of the Mexican musical style, along with the aesthetics and themes of urban music like hip-hop or reggaeton.
But unlike exponents like Featherweight, Junior H or Natanael Canoencompassed more in that terrain of the ‘urban run’ (to call it in some way), the project of Grupo Frontera focuses on the aforementioned influence of cumbia, grupero and norteño. Of course, in addition to his marked tendency towards more romantic themes.
The success of Grupo Frontera can also be understood if we take into account the origin of the band. Historically, there is a significant community of Mexicans in the United States, in addition to Mexican American families feel closer to their roots through regional music.
All this means that currently, in the midst of the rise of digital platforms and the scope they allow, more and more generations of Mexicans born in the United States approach this musical style and its different aspects.
The US market was already strong to the point that groups like Los Tucanes de Tijuana, Los Tigres del Norte or Los Ángeles Azules They have reached precisely scenarios like Coachella. And the American tours of other groups or similar artists have always been profitable for the extensive Mexa community on the other side of the border.
Now, we are facing a scene of artists not only based, but also born in the United States, feel identified musically in the Mexican tradition from the grupero, the ranchero, the norteño and others. There we have the aforementioned Fuerza Régida or DannyLux himself who was also at Coachella… And as you can see, Grupo Frontera is the great hit of the moment.
