An hour before his first performance on the main scene of the Coachella Music and Arts Festival, a horde of managers, group members and label leaders cluttered the entrance to the trailer for artists from Junior H.
Among the many faces, there was Jimmy HumbildeThe director general of Rancho Humbilde Records, who signed the singer after his song “No Eh Cambiado”, a hunting anthem supported by Requinto, has become viral on Youtube.
Junior H, whose real name is Antonio Herrera Pérez, was a high school student from Utah at the time. Now, almost seven years later, the 23 -year -old artist, who grew up in Guanajuato, Mexico, is one of the biggest names in the increasingly popular world of Música Mexicana.
“It is really good for us to be here at the moment, representing Mexico and representing all this music that we make,” said Junior H, tilting between Spanish and English. “Being the kind of artist I am, I try to get as much ears as possible. This is why I am here to attract the attention of people.”
Junior H “$ Ad Boyz 4 Life II “'s latest album was released in 2023 and it remains one of the” largest “projects in his career.
(All J. Schaben / Los Angeles)
Junior H and the Natanel Cano teammate are credited for the pioneering corridos tumbados, a hybrid sound that mixes traditional corridor instrumentation with elements of hip -hop and trap beats – Cano's 2019 album, “Corridos Tumbados”, greatly presented Junior H.
In the kingdom of Música Mexicana, there are the corridor manufacturers of traps that sing about the party and drugs, then there are “sad boys”, desperate romantics who are crisp being in love or being broken. Junior H rides conveniently the line between the two.
“I don't really have any problem looking at who I am. I think people have given me (the title of” sad “) a few years ago. They started to categorize me with sad and sentimental music. So I accepted and we continued to move forward,” said Junior H. “Especially with men, I think it is important to show people that feelings are not bad and we can express them.”
After his American tour, Sad Boyz Mania, which took place last summer and included two nights with closed counters at the BMO Stadium de la, Junior H received a second -line invoicing on this year Coachella programming. His name appeared between Electronic Dj Zedd and K-Pop Idol Jennie, and was One of the three Mexican music performers playing the whole party – he is joined by his other sad boy Ivan Cornejo And Reggaeton Mexa Up-and came El Malilla.
The festival organizers began to book Música Mexicana Actst in 2018 – Legacy Cumbia Group Los Angeles Azules was the first to play the three -day event.
While world interest in gender has grown, Goldenvoice, the company behind Coachella, has reserved acts like Los Tucanes de Tijuana, Grupo firm, Banda MS and Cano. Last year, Peso Pluma, Carin León and Santa Fe Klan were in the programming.
It was during the Peso Pluma set that Junior H made his debut in the desert, making an appearance to sing “El Azul”, a narcocorrido believed that she was a Sinalane drug lord. Now, with his own 50 -minute set, Junior H says he was delighted to be in a position where he could return the gesture to Pluma and bring his own “sad boy” on the scene.
Junior H will come back to the stage of the desert for Coachella Weekend Two, performing on Sunday.
(All J. Schaben / Los Angeles)
“You know, this is not an opportunity for him, because he was the first to have opened this way to us,” said Junior H. “It is a very beautiful thing between artists, and especially between friends like us when we work very hard for this genre, then get the privilege of playing on stages like this.”
While the start of the Sunday evening set with a linger above his head, Junior H exchanged his relaxed pink jersey for an entirely white outfit which would contrast the entirely black outfit of his group. In the subdued trailer, journalists, friends and VIP fans all shared a few moments from his desired attention. The singer SoftSpoken remained silent and seems to be in a relaxed state of mind. Outside, the toloche The player settled his instruments while the guitarists gathered in a corner to cover some agreements and Horn players have exploded some test notes – while intermittently taking photos of Clasl Azul Tequila. When it was time for them to go to the stage, they moved to a dense pack where Junior H was barely visible.
On stage, Junior H took on the role of a conductor supervising the 25 musicians supporting him. The number of people has created a presentation show, each group of instrumentalists at different raised levels. The whole even understood someone whose only goal was to deliver photos of Tequila to the musicians and to hold the Red Solo Cup of Junior H, to generate an atmosphere of celebration on stage and in the audience. While the feeling of Música Mexicana sang the words of the broken heart of “y lloro” and that a symphony of “rockstar” horns sounded, he commanded the parade of the scene and struck each note of the pits of his diaphragm.
Throughout the show, he continually shouted in Mexico and encouraged the crowd to scream the words. Towards the end of his set, he released Peso Pluma to sing “Luna”, and followed him by inviting Tito Double P on stage to join him for “5-7”.
Many expected a different setlist from the Corridos Tumbados origin, because it has neglected many of its most popular corridos such as the new “El Chore” and one of its first successes, “El Hijo Mayor”. There were online speculation surrounding the exclusion of these tracks, especially after The cheerful of American ravine visas has been dismissed For having shown an image of the drug Lord Nemesio will dare to cervante during a recent concert. But Junior H shared that he wanted to put more spotlight on his “sad” sound.
“(Sad Boyz 4 Life II) is one of the most and most important albums of my career. We forced ourselves to prove and show people what we can do and that we can change our music. He doesn't need to be typical. We can also make pleasant and beautiful music, not just music for the streets or the narcos and all the S-”, he says, to relax. “We want people to see that we are not only doing this type of music. We also make beautiful music and poetry. This is our goal: to show them that we do more than that. ”
Before leaving the scene, a massive image of the Mexican flag appeared on the largest screen of the main scene. The explosive guitar riffs of “Disfuto Lo Malo”, a collaboration with Cano, caused a roar of the crowd. Junior H has made a last tour around the mega scene, establishing visual contact with each screaming individual and paying tribute to his musical roots.
