Latinx Files: Fuerza Regida is just like us, kind of
There’s fashionably late, and then there’s Fuerza Regida late.
Last Thursday, the popular Mexican regional act hosted a last minute listening party for their latest album, “Pa las Baby’s Y Belikeada,†released that same night on the streaming platforms. The group had rented out the Fiesta Mexicana Banquet Hall in San Bernardino for the event, scheduled from 4 p.m. until midnight.
Jesús Ortiz Paz, the band’s leader, better known as JOP, showed up closer to 9 p.m.
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Earlier that evening, JOP posted on his Instagram stories that he was performing a short set atop a carniceria in Lennox, about 75 miles away, and instructed his millions of followers to roll up. Hundreds of them did.
After that set, JOP and his entourage hopped on a private jet at the Hawthorne Municipal Airport and made the short trip to the next county over. All of this, of course, was chronicled on social media.
When the guest of honor finally arrived, he pulled into the venue in a blue Lamborghini SUV. After a quick run through the press at the red carpet, JOP headed inside and the desmadre began.
It didn’t take long for the Fuerza Regida frontman to jump on the banquet hall’s small stage and perform snippets from “Pa las Baby’s Y Belikeada,†a 30-track album of corridos tumbados and a few genre-bending songs. The LP includes collaborations with EDM DJ Marshmello and Argentine pop singer Maria Becerra. “Pa las Baby’s Y Belikeada†even features JOP rapping on â€Daf—,†the most obvious example of hip hop’s influence and impact on the new wave of Mexican regional acts.
As the evening progressed, the listening party became less an industry event and more like a well-catered family gathering. In other words, precisely the type of joyful communal chaos that Fuerza Regida’s music is meant to accompany.
While munching on my umpteenth serving of aguachile, it dawned on me that what I was witnessing explained part of Fuerza Regida’s charm.
Here was the frontman for one of the hottest acts on the globe — someone who has acquired wealth and fame and collaborated with Shakira — hosting a new hit album release in a venue more accustomed to hosting weddings and quinceañeras.
Fuerza Regida embodies the idea that if you work hard enough, you can achieve your version of the American Dream. This mindset is the subject matter for many of their songs (much of their music is either about the hustle, or the rewards that come from all that hard work). They’re not all talk, either. In the last 12 months, the band has released three albums and has gone on tour across the country.
This party could have been thrown at some swanky club in Hollywood. But it wasn’t. Instead, it took place next to a Mexican grocery store in the Inland Empire. There’s something oddly endearing about that.
Despite his success, JOP celebrates his wins just like we do. The only difference is that Santa Fe Klan and Jenny69 don’t show up to our parties, nor do we jump on a private plane to get to them.
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