It’s no surprise that one of Kpop’s magical superpowers is the mashing of different music genres. A standard Kpop song can go from Pop to EDM to Hip-Hop in the blink of an eye, which has contributed to their global success. Not to mention, the aesthetically pleasing music videos.
However, there is another genre that has also been growing and trending. That genre is Latin music. According to Billboard, “Latin is mainstream across the board. On Billboard’s overall Top 200 chart, Latin music is the third largest genre in the chart (13%), only behind rap/hip-hop and pop.”
With both international genres growing seemingly overnight, it’s inevitable that the two worlds would somehow collide. This would allow both genres to expand their popularity even further by dipping into each other’s fan bases.
According to this tweet from Twitter Korea, countries like Mexico, Brazil, and Columbia are among the top 20 markets that show a high interest in Kpop. It only makes sense that the industry would capitalize on this moment and shift to the Latin community in order to expand.
2021 K-POP 관련 트윗을 가장 많이 한 국가#KpopTwitter #Kpop pic.twitter.com/LzvMXCnxY3
— Twitter Korea 트위터 대한민국 (@TwitterKorea) January 26, 2022
Here are six times Kpop and the Latin community held hands to create wonderful interracial music:
This 2021 song was the first Kpop song to be released completely in Spanish. It even featured a Puerto Rican rapper by the name of Guaynaa. CHUNG HA, who lived in Dallas, Texas, had friends she could turn to when it came to her Spanish skills.
The veteran group sang over reggaeton beats in this 2018 hit, featuring Dominican-American singer, Leslie Grace. You may have seen her in the musical movie, “In the Heights.”
Kard has dabbled in Spanish lyrics and regularly mix Caribbean music throughout their career from “Hola, Hola” to “Red Moon,” where BM melted the hearts of his Latino fans by saying “Llamame Papi” Which translates to “Call me daddy.” However, nothing hit’s home more than this song from their 3rd mini album, Ride On The Wind.
They even covered, J Balvin’s, Willy William, and Beyonce's, “Mi Gente” during their Latin American tour as a dedication to their fans. The cheering sounds of the Argentinian fans radiate throughout the performance.
Taemin - "Despacito"
During the height of the popular song, “Despacito” by Luis Fonsi, Daddy Yankee, and Justin Beiber. SHINee member, Taemin joined this wave by performing the song to his Chile audience in 2018 during the South Korean TV show, Music Bank when they arrived to the country.
*Bonus Clip*
Here is MONSTA X showing off their Spanish skills in a karaoke game on the YouTube channel Hola82. It sure is fun to watch Kpop Idols try their best to entertain their international fans.
These were just a few times when Kpop idols collaborated with Latin artists and used Spanish influence to create new masterpieces. There are plenty more out there, but if one wasn’t mentioned, Leave us a comment with your favorite Latin-inspired Kpop song below!
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