First Stream Latin: New Music From Junior H, Kim Loaiza, Carin Leon & More

First Stream Latin is a compilation of the best new Latin songs, albums and videos recommended by the Billboard Latin editors. Check out this week’s picks below.

Junior H, “Nací Para Amarte” (Warner Music Latina)

Once a sad boy, always a sad boy. Junior H digs deep for an ultra personal heartbreak anthem that stays true to his sad sierreño style. The 21-year-old Mexican singer-songwriter delivers “Naci Para Amarte,” powered by melancholic melodies via an acoustic guitar that pairs perfectly with his nostalgic lyrics. “If only you knew how often I keep checking my phone. What will we do? If there’s something that should never die, baby, that should be our love,” Junior H sings in his distinguished hoarse voice. — GRISELDA FLORES

Casper Magico & Bryant Myers, “Karma” (Flow La Movie/GLAD Empire)

Produced by the late Flow La Movie, Casper Mágico and Bryant Myers join forces once again for their new single “Esclava.”
This mid-tempo urban collaboration follows a handful of collaborations between the Puerto Rican rapper who often link up for new songs and remixes. “Tell me, how do you expect me to forgive you? You failed thinking that I was not going to find out … Karma exists, baby. And one day you will be next,” Casper declares in the song. Flow, who often worked with Casper Mágico as his producer and was his manager, passed away at 38 on Wednesday (Dec. 15) in a plane crash. — INGRID FAJARDO

Carin Leon, “Como Que Me Enamoro” (Tamarindo Rekordsz)

A mix of covers (including his must-listen version of Selena’s “Si Una Vez”) and original songs, Sonora-born Carin Leon released his new album Pistiembre Todo El Año. A standout on the 22-track set, which was recorded live, is the banda track “Como Que Me Enamoro” penned by Leon and Gilbran Rosas. “This one is for all of those that are in love,” the 32-year-old chart-topping artist says at the top of the song, and there’s nothing quite like Leon’s golden-voiced delivery of a love ballad, his emotions are palpable. “I’m feeling so hopeful, they say I’m in love, and it’s true, I’m hooked, there’s no denying that.” — G.F.

Kim Loaiza & Ovy on the Drums “Ya No Somos” (Space Music)

Influencer and singer Kimberly Loaiza’s teams up with artist-producer Ovy on The Drums for a heartbreaking new single, “Ya No Somos.” The pop-urban track with thumping beats, penned by Loaiza, Ovy on The Drums, and Keytin, JD Pantoja, and Gotex, doesn’t fail to bring that nostalgic sentiment of a romance that once was while also exploring the complex emotions and overwhelming feeling that follow a breakup. “Today I drink in your honor. For what we were, and what we are no
longer, baby,” Loaiza sings in the chorus. — I.F.

Camilo, “Pesadilla” (Sony Music Latin/Hecho A Mano Music)

The ever-so chameleonic Colombian artist Camilo goes punk-pop for his new single titled “Pesadilla,” which dropped alongside a quirky music video directed by singer-songwriter Evaluna (Camilo’s wife). The Café Tacvba-esque track — which at first listen becomes one of those songs that gets stuck in your head thanks to its earworm hook (“Bye bye bye bye”) — takes inspiration from Camilo’s love for Mexican-music influences, which have always played an integral role in his sonority. In “Pesadilla,” Camilo sings about the nightmare of losing one’s partner to a rival. “But not even in my dreams you’ll take her away from me,” he declares in song. — G.F.

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Leonard ‘Hub’ Hubbard, Longtime Bassist for The Roots, Dies at 62

Leonard “Hub” Hubbard, who was the longtime bassist for The Roots, died after a long battle with cancer on Thursday (Dec. 16). He was 62.

His stepdaughter India Owens confirmed the news to The Philadelphia Inquirer, which reported that the cause of death was multiple myeloma, a form of blood cancer he had first been diagnosed with in 2007, the same year he left The Roots. His wife Stephanie told Philadelphia’s ABC 6, which was the first to report the story, that Hub was hospitalized Wednesday night at Lankenau Hospital. She said that Hub was “energetic and mobile” days before, and then, suddenly things took a turn for the worse.

“It happened quickly. He didn’t suffer a lot,” she told the local outlet.

The Roots issued a statement on their socials Thursday afternoon and shared a black-and-white photo of their former member. “It is with the heaviest of hearts that we say goodbye to our brother Leonard Nelson Hubbard. May your transition bring peace to your family to your friends to your fans and all of those who loved you. Rest in Melody Hub,” the band wrote. 

Born Leonard Nelson Hubbard in the bands’ Philadelphia roots, he joined the hip-hop ensemble in 1992, right when the group changed its name from Square Roots to The Roots, with founding members Tarik “Black Thought” Trotter, Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson and Malik B, who died in July 2020. That same year, The Roots moved to London and released their debut album, Organix, in 1993.

Hub went on to perform with the band for 15 years and record six more studio albums with the act, from their 1995 sophomore album Do You Want More?!!!??! to Game Theory in 2006. In 2008, a year after he left the band following his diagnosis of multiple myeloma, the bassist reunited with the group at The Roots Picnic for a performance.

The seven-time Grammy nominee won his first and only Grammy Award in 2000 for best rap performance by a duo or group with “You Got Me” by The Roots, featuring Erykah Badu and Eve. The band’s hometown Philadelphia chapter of The Recording Academy awarded The Roots with the Heroes Award in 2004. The chapter’s president Donn Thompson Morelli, otherwise known as Donn T, took to Twitter to commemorate Hub.

In 2016, Hub sued his bandmates Black Thought and Questlove and their manager Shawn Gee by claiming they failed to properly compensate him from a deal that made him co-owner of the band before his cancer diagnosis forced him to quit The Roots in 2007, just one year before The Roots became Jimmy Fallon’s in-house band on The Tonight Show. His wife told ABC 6 that the suit had not been settled.

Aside from his work with The Roots, Hub scored Bertha Bay-Sa Pan’s 2002 indie film Face and the 2006 documentary Darfur Diaries: Message From Home. 

He’s survived by his wife Stephanie, stepdaughters India and Onita Owens, and stepson Edward Owens.

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Travis Scott Is Trying to Standardize Safety at Festivals After Astroworld

Travis Scott is involved in a new effort to standardize safety measures at festivals across the U.S., a source familiar with the situation tells Billboard.

The embattled rapper, who is currently facing legal claims from nearly 2,800 Astroworld attendees after 10 people died and hundreds more were injured during his Nov. 5 performance at the festival, has spent the past three weeks working with The United States Conference of Mayors (USCM) on an initiative designed to put new safety protocols in place in the festival industry.

The effort, which is currently soliciting participants for a working group, would mark the first time key stakeholders from multiple sectors — including government, music, public safety, emergency response, event management, health care and technology — have mounted a collective attempt to standardize health and safety measures at festivals nationwide.

According to the source, Scott has been reaching out to music industry leaders to secure their involvement in the endeavor. In a draft of a USCM agreement viewed by Billboard, “target participants” for the working group include Live Nation, AEG, Spotify and Apple as well as ticketing companies, record labels, management companies, talent agencies and the technology industry. Emergency preparedness, public safety and healthcare experts will also be approached.

Entitled “Ensuring Festival Safety,” the agreement notes that a comprehensive report based on discussions and research conducted among the working group’s participants and outside experts will be compiled between January and June 2022. The report will include findings and recommendations on issues including chain of command and authority, clear lines of communication, crowd management and monitoring, enforcement of health and safety protocols and the adoption of new technologies and innovations to help address safety concerns. Once complete, it will be released electronically to 1,400 cities and other relevant stakeholders and be made publicly available online at usmayors.org.

“It is our hope that this report serves as the new safety and security blueprint for all festivals,” the agreement reads.

USCM will announce the initiative at the 2022 USCM Winter Meeting in Washington, D.C., slated for Jan. 19-21, 2022. The final report and recommendations will be discussed during a subsequent USCM webinar, to feature select working group members and experts.

Within USCM, the report will be led by Reno Mayor and USCM’s vp strategy Hillary Schieve, who chairs the organization’s Tourism, Arts, Park, Entertainment and Sports Committee. USCM’s Mayors and Police Chiefs Task Force as well as its Criminal and Social Justice Committee will also help spearhead the effort.

In the wake of the Astroworld tragedy, safety and live events experts have noted multiple safety failures at the festival, including lapses in crowd management as well as the hire of inexperienced security staff amid a global labor shortage in the touring industry. In addition to Scott, Astroworld promoter Live Nation and other festival organizers have been named in the various lawsuits, which were recently consolidated into a single giant case.

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Megan Thee Stallion & Jonas Brothers Cancel Jingle Ball Atlanta After Crew Members Test Positive for COVID-19

Megan Thee Stallion and the Jonas Brothers have canceled their appearances at the Power 96.1 Jingle Ball in Atlanta on Thursday (Dec. 16) after members of their teams tested positive for COVID-19.

The sibling trio announced Thursday morning on social media that an unspecified member of their production crew tested positive for coronavirus, and that they would not be performing at the show, which is taking place at Atlanta’s State Farm Arena.

“We are extremely disappointed that we can’t be there with our fans in Atlanta,” the Jonas Brothers wrote on their Instagram Story.

Megan Thee Stallion also shared on Thursday evening that she was pulling out of Atlanta’s Jingle Ball after members of her team were exposed to COVID. “While I tested negative today, I’m not feeling well, and as a safety precaution, I won’t be able to perform at Jingle Ball in Atlanta,” the rapper tweeted. “I’m extremely disappointed to let my hotties down. Hoping to feel better tomorrow.”

The remaining acts on Thursday’s lineup include Black Eyed Peas, Big Time Rush, Tate McRae, Monsta X, Bazzi, Dixie D’Amelio and Tai Verdes.

Since late November, the 2021 iHeartRadio Jingle Ball Tour has made stops in Dallas/Ft. Worth, Los Angeles, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Philadelphia, New York, Boston, Chicago and Washington, D.C. The final show is scheduled for Sunday (Dec. 19) at the FLA Live near Miami/Ft. Lauderdale.

The news comes on the heels of other positive COVID cases hitting musicians, including Doja Cat, who shared earlier this week that she was pulling out of the remainder of the iHeartRadio Jingle Ball Tour after testing positive for the virus. Lil Nas X and Coldplay were also forced to drop off the U.K.’s annual Jingle Ball in recent days after unspecified members of their teams tested positive.

See Megan Thee Stallion’s cancellation tweet below and the Jonas Brothers’ announcement here.

 

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Dulce María on Collaborating With Late Brazilian Artist Marilia Mendonça: ‘She Left Us a Gift’

When Dulce María heard the final version of what would be her first-ever collaboration with Marília Mendonça, she got chills.

“I would hear it over and over again,” the Mexican singer-songwriter tells Billboard, who on Thursday (Dec. 16) released her duet “Amigos Con Derechos” with Mendonça, the 26-year-old Brazilian sertanejo star who passed away Nov. 5 in a tragic plane crash. “To hear her sing in Spanish was really special because it was something she wanted to do in her career, and she had just started taking Spanish classes.”

Originally featured in her Origen album, which became the first set she released as an independent artist in October, “Amigos Con Derechos” is a country-tinged pop track on finding the courage to get out of a toxic relationship. It was the perfect song to sing with Mendonça, says Dulce, as she often sang about female empowerment and connected with women through her lyrics.

“The song, which I wrote along with Marcela de La Garza in 2010, was very much her style, lyrically and musically,” adds the former RBD member. “Sertanejo is like country, and out of all the songs on my album, this one is the that has the most folk instruments.”

Dulce and Mendonça’s respective teams had been in talks since August about the collaboration, which was proposed by Dulce’s team. “I was doing collaborations in Brazil and I suggested doing something with a big local artist that had the same vibe as my album and they said, ‘Marília is the top, and the most loved artist in Brazil right now.’ So we sent a request and she said yes right away.”

Four days later, Mendonça sent her two separate recordings of the track: one in in Spanish and one in Portuguese. “When I heard her versions I thought, ‘Wow she really made this song hers.’ So, I went in and added my vocals and it was so weird to have spent so many hours singing with her in a duet when she’s not longer here. But I still felt this special connection, although we never got to meet or talk.”

Dulce and Mendonça were supposed to jump on a Zoom call to flesh out details, but due to their conflicting schedules, their busy lives as recording artists and mothers to toddlers, the pair never got around to speaking — much less recording a music video for the duet, which Mendonça was willing to go to Mexico to make happen.

When Dulce heard the news of her passing, “I was in total shock. I didn’t understand why this had happened. She had a 1-year-old, I have a 1-year-old. As a touring artist and a mother, this impacted me greatly. And it was difficult for me to process everything that had happened just months before she died.”

She looked for answers to questions she would never get. “I finally understood that she had left this unique gift. She was a huge fan of RBD and even a fan of my character Roberta on the telenovela Rebelde, so maybe she said yes because of that. She didn’t need to collaborate with me, she was at the peak of her career. So, it wasn’t only a professional move for her, there was also a personal motive.”

After speaking with her team to discuss whether or not the collab should be released, all parties agreed to share one of her latest collaborations with her fans.

“Amid all this pain, she left us this gift that I want to share with all the love in the world, respect and honor for her. I especially want to share this song with her fans, everyone that loved her. And everyone that had yet to discover her because she was a woman with a beautiful voice but even a more beautiful heart.”

Mendonça was on her way to perform in the city of Caratinga when her plane crashed. All five passengers, including the plane’s crew, lost their lives in the accident. With more than eight million listeners on Spotify and more than 22 million subscribers on YouTube, the folk singer-songwriter, who began writing songs at the age of 12, had become one of  biggest exponents of popular Brazilian music.

Stream “Amigos Con Derechos” below:

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