Latin pop

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Latin Pop (Pop Latino, in Spanish) is pop music from Latin America, Spain, Portugal, and Hispanic-American artists who sing in languages spoken in Latin America, mainly Spanish and Portuguese. Other European singers who come from countries that don't speak Spanish or Portuguese, usually Italians, are sometimes considered Latin Pop artists.

There are two main variants. The first one is regular pop performed in the Spanish, Spanglish or Portuguese language. The second one mixes pop with a wide variety of Latin American or Iberian rhythms such as salsa, samba, cumbia, norteña, merengue, banda, tex-mex, flamenco, tango, reggaeton, vallenato, and reggae. More recently, Latin Pop has also included hip hop contributions.

Many international singers have a few Latin Pop hits in their repertoire, without necessarily having a Hispanic background. For example, Madonna's "La Isla Bonita", Spice Girls' "Spice up Your Life", Latvian Marie N's (also known as Marija Naumova, and was the 2002 Eurovision Song Contest winner) "I Wanna", Geri Halliwell's "Mi Chico Latino", Cher's "Dov'è L'Amore", or France's Lorie with "Sur un Air Latino".

Some artists usually include Latin remixes in their singles, which also could be classified as Latin Pop. These songs are usually mixed by DJ's with a Hispanic background, like David Morales, Junior Vazquez, or Pablo Flores, among others. Some singers who have released such remixes are, besides the ones already mentioned, include Mariah Carey, Britney Spears, Whitney Houston, Will Smith, Alexia, Jamiroquai, Jennifer Paige.

Latin Pop is usually marked by polished productions, while incorporating unobtrusive Latin rhythms and instrumentation into tracks. Latin Pop first reached a global audience through the work of vocalist Ritchie Valens in the late 1950s; in later decades, crooner Julio Iglesias, the versatile Gloria Estefan, and the revolving-door teen idol group Menudo carried the style forward. More recently Ricky Martin, Luis Miguel , Shakira, Thalía , Paulina Rubio and the teen idol pop group RBD have brought Latin Pop to millions of people around the globe.

Major Latin Pop songwriters include Richard Daniel Roman, Estefano and Shakira.