Saga or ‘nepobabies’? The new generation of artists living with their parents’ legacy

In the book Destruction of the Father / Reconstruction of the Father, sculptor Louise Bourgeois (1911-2010) reflects, among other aspects, on how the artist is conditioned by their origin, family, and sociocultural context. Bourgeois displays her lucidity in each of the reflections and, especially, in those that allude to the permanence of a creation: “A work must stand on its own and form is what guarantees its survival.” This conclusion is appropriate today to approach two concepts: that of artistic saga and that of nepobaby.

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The saga has a good reputation, is socially recognized in terms of prestige, and refers to hereditary succession with a purpose: that ancestry influences artistic skills to provide creative continuity in the public sphere. Sagas build their own family tree within the cultural industry to generate both their own discourse and a legacy.

However, the label nepobaby is a product of social media, not even five years old, and has its own entry in that glossary of contemporaneity that is Urban Dictionary. It derives from the word nepotism, objectifies the individual pointing more to privilege than to the opportunity to prove their worth, and identifies them as someone who can develop work in creative industries at the expense of their parents’ careers. It arose from a tweet on February 21, 2022, in which a user pointed out that one of the actresses in the series Euphoria (HBO), Maude Apatow, was the daughter of actress Leslie Mann and film director Judd Apatow. But there was more. The series director, Sam Levinson, is the son of Barry Levinson — director, among other titles, of Rain Man (1988) — and the new signing for the third and final season was Homer Gere, 26 years old, son of Richard Gere and Carey Lowell. Gere is also one of the protagonists of Ryan Murphy’s new series The Shards, in which he shares the cast with Kaia Gerber, daughter of supermodel Cindy Crawford.

The desired independence of the ‘nepobabies’

To embody a nepobaby means knowing the executive network and the always useful who’s who of the business from the cradle. It is not the same to rely on a favor as to know how to take advantage of an opportunity but, sometimes, the line between both possibilities is very thin and in public opinion it can be perceived as blurred. Some artists who have been labeled with this tag come from affluent families or work in creative industries in the executive or artistic field. The problem with this designation arises when nepobabies equate their effort with that of others who come from environments completely unrelated to culture, with much less favorable circumstances. In their case, their main obstacle, in reality, is prejudice.

An example could be Maya Hawke (28 years old). For the daughter of actors Uma Thurman and Ethan Hawke, the spotlight is on both her musical and acting facets (she participated, for example, in the series Stranger Things), and not so much on her relationship with fashion or advertising (she is the face of Prada). Last May she released her fourth LP, Maitreya Corso, a work published with the label Mom+Pop (the same as Courtney Barnett). With Hawke, the perception of nepotism may be softened by alternating more mainstream works with a music career developed in a folk and independent circuit.

A similar case is Gracie Abrams (26 years old), daughter of the director of Lost, J.J. Abrams, and producer Katie McGrath. She has released three albums; the latest, last July: Daughter From Hell. She received two Grammy nominations, has been an opening act for Taylor Swift on The Eras Tour, and opened several dates of Olivia Rodrigo’s Sour Tour. Or, in other words: she is managing to please both critics and the public (she has 36.3 million listeners on Spotify and her most listened-to song on that same platform, That’s So True, has almost two million plays).

“Your parents are quite prolific, and that inevitably raises questions about the advantages that entails within the music industry. How do you respond to that?” Rolling Stone magazine asked Moses Martin, son of actress Gwyneth Paltrow and Coldplay singer Chris Martin, who released his first EP, Bunny, this year with the band People I’ve Met. “Without a doubt, it’s something to keep very much in mind. I think, deep down, the most important thing is that I feel very grateful for the position I’m in and for having inherited that musical DNA from my parents. My parents are incredible and I really value the position I’m in. But what I mean is that, while we recognize all that and are grateful, we are creating something special and unique for ourselves, something that really matters to us,” replied the 20-year-old in the interview published last August 24. Another who released his first EP, Wear & Tear, this August was Cruz Beckham, the third son of David and Victoria Beckham.

Despite her youth, Dora Postigo (22 years old) is no newcomer; she is the eldest daughter of Bimba Bosé and filmmaker Diego Postigo. Since 2019 she has been releasing her own music, but it was not until 2024 that she released her first album, A flor de piel. In addition to composing and producing, she plays piano and acts (she recently finished filming Achero Mañas’s new movie, Ama). This spring she released Feria, a new single that reaffirms her trajectory on the more alternative side of the industry.

It is precisely on that same side where Ona Mafalda (32 years old) is. She is the granddaughter of King Simeon II of Bulgaria and her mother, Rosario Nadal, is an art consultant, as well as having been a model and muse of designer Valentino Garavani. The elitist environment in which this princess (who strives to clarify that this royal designation is just a title) was raised seems to be the counterbalance to the artistic life she has chosen. She gave her first concert in Madrid seven years ago at the Madrid venue Siroco, which already gave a clue about the place from which she wanted to start.

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Artistic sagas: from Hollywood entertainment to flamenco

When Miley Cyrus (33 years old) starred alongside her father, country singer Billy Ray Cyrus, in the series Hannah Montana (2006-2011), it closed the circle of presentations in the show business through the television format. Before them, Frank Sinatra with his daughter Nancy in 1957 and Judy Garland with Liza Minelli at Christmas 1963 had already done so. After the series, Miley Cyrus reinvented herself without breaking. Since then, she has nine albums, seven tours, three Grammy awards, and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. A musical and executive itinerary that surpasses that of her father (with whom she now maintains a distant relationship).

In Spain, there is a good example of sagas if we look at flamenco. Several families, for generations, have cultivated artists whose surnames provide them with the hegemony that nourishes the genre and keep the duende alive. The Habichuela family (whose real surname is Carmona), the Morente, the Lucía, or the Flores are examples of this. Among all the young people who are building their own branches in the music industry without forgetting the trunk from which they come, two stand out: Juan Carmona Jr. (42 years old) and José del Tomate (28 years old). The first is the son of Juan Carmona (one of the founders of Ketama) and grandson of the legendary guitarist Pepe Habichuela. He is a percussionist, singer, and guitarist; he moves between the flamenco and jazz circuits. The second is the offspring of guitarist Tomatito; live, he is prudent and conscientious, but he already has flair and, when listening to him, it is inevitable to recognize that his virtuosity is gradually blossoming, as seen in his performance in Madrid as part of his father’s cast in the concert held last June in the Villanos del Flamenco cycle.

An emerging artist who is part of a saga must publicly identify with it and use their genes in favor of their own identity as a creator. In the current rock and pop scene, three young artists can be chosen as examples of this.

On one hand, there is Violet Grohl (20 years old), daughter of Dave Grohl (Foo Fighters, Nirvana). 2018 was the year she debuted on stage alongside her father at a benefit concert. A few seconds after the then-child stepped on stage, Grohl, jokingly, addressed the audience to make a confession: “Violet is the first to tell anyone that she is the best singer in the family. And she’s right.” Last May she released her first LP, Be Sweet To Me. An album she herself has crafted, as she managed her recording contract without the advice or favor of her parent. Violet’s debut has certain reminiscences of those early Foo Fighters works, although it also evokes Hole or Queens of the Stone Age thanks to a production that, among other details, highlights the vocal line, the hummable riffs, and places the drums in the foreground, as happens in Bug in the Cake.

There is no doubt that Aaron Romero, 22 years old, is the son of Kutxi Romero, leader of Marea. With a voice and mannerisms reminiscent of his father’s, he has already debuted with his own project: Linaje. At the beginning of 2025, the group released their first LP, Desataron a los perros, whose songs have their seed in the influences with which he was raised. A few months ago, he visited with his band La revuelta and revealed the advice Robe Iniesta (a friend of his father) gave him: “What you have to do is take good care of your voice when you go to sing, because then things will happen to you.”

Andrés Ferreiro, son of Iván Ferreiro, is proud of his genes. He is 23 years old and is the leader of the group Querido, with whom he has already released two albums. His timbre is very similar to his father’s and together they recorded the song ¿Qué va a pasar? Part of its lyrics goes: “I lose my mind when I think / about what they might think / burden of conscience or freedom / What will I be? What will happen?”

What is a fact is that, whether we talk about sagas or nepobabies, the use of certain surnames and their influential effect will continue to open doors. The crux of the matter is knowing how to stay in the business showing a personality of your own that takes risks to prove that privilege does not replace either lack of talent or lack of skill.

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