Junior H walks across the stage in Austin, Texas, and takes the microphone: “How I miss singing corridos, man. What are we going to do? We can’t do anything. It’s the Government against us, it can’t be… But here in Austin, it’s allowed, damn it.” The scene, which took place in March, was the artist’s last cry to the sky against the restrictions on apologetic corridos in Mexico, which, although not banned by the federal Government, have faced fines and bans in some States or municipalities. Junior H’s speech, 25 years old, changed radically last Monday when he arrived at the National Palace to present a contest by the Ministry of Culture. “At the beginning, some of the stories I told in my songs didn’t add to the positive message,” he explained. It was the unexpected culmination of a metamorphosis that, for now, seems to manifest only in Mexico.
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Antonio Herrera —the artist’s real name— is one of the great generational voices alongside artists like Natanael Cano or Peso Pluma, and one of the promoters of corridos tumbados, that variant of the traditional corrido that embraces influences from urban culture that has taken the genre to historic heights. But his discography also includes some controversial tracks, such as El Azul, directed at Juan José Esparragoza, one of the former leaders of the Sinaloa Cartel, or El Chore, about Raúl Alberto Carrasco, one of the high-ranking members of the Los Chapitos faction. In his latest album, DEPR</3$$ED MFKZ, released in February, he delves into more sentimental lyrics. He accumulates more than 30.2 million monthly listeners on Spotify.
His arrival at the National Palace caught many by surprise. Herrera was, along with Majo Aguilar, one of the presenters of the second edition of México Canta, a contest in the style of The Voice with which the Government seeks to promote a new narrative in Mexican music. The Secretary of Culture, Claudia Curiel, explains to EL PAÍS that the department chose Junior H to lead the contest for several reasons. “If you look at his most important song, it has a billion listens. That’s a lot, and it’s a romantic song called Y lloro,” she explains. And she continues, “the ones that connect most with people are not those that glorify violence, they are romantic songs.”
Curiel assures that she did not know Junior H and that it was the Mexican Music Council, an organization that gained some public relevance with the first edition of the contest, that recommended his name. “Based on what he has declared, his latest album has nothing to do with violence […] I had been told that he was on a different path, because he had indeed gone through that [apologetic lyrics],” she says. It is, she says, a way to connect with figures who connect with young people for this edition of the contest, which last year already featured “established artists.” “We are not solving any issue, nor is there any agreement of any kind, nor is there a contract,” she assures.
The album Curiel refers to, DEPR</3$$ED MFKZ, emerged after turbulent months for the corrido genre, in which state or municipal authorities — never the federal — imposed fines and even cut live audio of artists when controversial songs were played. Junior H shared a statement on social media against this measure to present his album: “They banned corridos, now everyone wants to be a $AD BOY [sad boy, a symbol in his career].” Curiel concludes that the Government “at no time” will tell an artist “what they have to do.” “We simply do not agree with normalizing violence and normalizing discrimination. It’s not about banning […] At no time has she [the president, Claudia Sheinbaum] regulated or urged any governor to ban [them],” she emphasizes.
The earthquake in the musical genre began at the end of March last year, when Los Alegres del Barranco projected the image of Nemesio Oseguera, El Mencho, then leader of the bloody Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), during a concert in Guadalajara. At that moment, they were singing El del palenque, a corrido about his figure. The controversy sparked a wave of criticism about the narcocorrido, embroiled since then in a controversy that has led many artists to seek less explicit lyrics. That episode was also the origin of the contest promoted by the Ministry of Culture, which last year managed to gather 15,000 young people.
Natanael Cano, initiator of corridos tumbados, downplayed that catastrophic view last August. “Yes, they have removed one or two songs from my setlist. But it hasn’t been felt that much, thank God. You get ideas in your head [that it could be bad for your career], but in the end, it’s a fuss. You have to be respectful. If it’s really going to help in any way [to stop singing those songs], let’s move forward,” he explained in an interview with businessman Pepe Garza.
That controversy seems to have been limited to Mexican territory. On Tuesday night, just one day after Junior H arrived dressed in a black jacket at the National Palace, he took the stage in Bogotá, Colombia. The music plays in Bogotá territory and he sings El Azul: “In my blood I carry 701… [referring to Joaquín El Chapo Guzmán].” Junior H’s metamorphosis, that of the artist aware that those stories did not add to the positive message, remains parked in Mexico, where shortly after participating in the National Palace conference he presents a stadium tour for 2027.
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