Fuerza Regida is pushing corridos into the future. After laying the groundwork for the música Mexicana explosion, the Mexican-American group returned with its ninth album Pero No Te Enamores. In addition to producing more fiery corridos, Fuerza Regida are also introducing the sound of jersey corridos alongside artists like Maluma, Major Lazer, Afrojack, and Gordo.
“It feels dope as hell being part of this Mexican corrido genre,” Jesús Ortiz Paz, the lead singer of Fuerza Regida who goes by JOP, says. “Being one of the pioneers and still being the ones pushing out this music to the world, it feels great.”
The corridos tumbados takeover on both sides of the US-Mexico border started stirring in late 2019. Before Peso Pluma‘s breakthrough last year, the acts leading the música Mexicana movement were Fuerza Regida, Natanael Cano, and Junior H. The San Bernardino-based band in particular has experienced multi-platinum success with their albums like 2019’s Del Barrio Hasta Aquí and last year’s Pa Las Baby’s y Belikeada. Last September, Shakira also tapped Fuerza Regida for “El Jefe,” an empowering ode to Latino people who migrate to the US in search of a better life.
Fuerza Regida recently scored its biggest hit yet by changing the corrido formula. The guys collaborated with Marshmello on the house-infused banger “Harley Quinn,” which has over 488 million streams on Spotify. With Pero No Te Enamores, the band wants to help the sound of corridos evolve and continue to reach more listeners. Over Zoom, JOP talked with Uproxx about the growth of corridos, the band’s ambitious album, and running his own record label.
As OGs of the corridos tumbados movement, what do you guys think about the música Mexicana explosion?
It feels crazy that our music now is making a different type of noise, going mainstream, and breaking barriers. Something that it wasn’t doing back then. It feels great.
How do you guys feel to be pushing this movement forward as Mexican-Americans in the genre?
It feels dope man, especially being born over here in the states. Getting to implement our style, the way we dress, the way we flow, and the way we do our thing into our Mexican culture is dope.
Why do you think millions of people are connecting with Fuerza Regida’s corridos?
The Mexican genre in general is doing really good for itself. All the artists, we’re all killing it. My music in general and the stuff we say is really relatable to the fans. We transmit good energy. I think there’s good storytelling behind our songs. Everyone can really relate to the lyrics. It talks about girls. It talks about everything.
How did you guys feel about Shakira choosing you to make a corrido-type song “El Jefe”?
Collaborating with Shakira in general is dope because she is one of our big idols and now we’re over here singing with her. That was crazy! It was dope and it was a good message for everybody who relates to that song. We’re big fans of hers. We’re not just big fans of Shakira. We’re big fans of Kylie Jenner, Ice Spice. All the women. We’re fans of all the girls.
“Harley Quinn” with Marshmello has become such a big hit. What was the experience like to fuse your style of music with his for that collaboration?
It was a different experience. I remember the first time we tried to make it happen, he couldn’t figure out how to tell us about making the song in 4/4. Our corridos are in 3/4. The second time I linked with him, he was like, “Hey man, I think you have to do it in 4/4.” I was like, “Alright, let’s try it.” We tried it. I had my composer right there and we started spitting some flows and we got “Harley Quinn.” That song put a whole different thing on the industry. I actually spoke to a couple friends saying that they should hop on the wave. I don’t think anyone has done it yet. I even told Gabito [Ballesteros] about it. I told him, “You should do it, bro. You should do this ‘Harley Quinn’ style.” He tried to do a little bit of it, but I feel like no one’s doing it. Everyone has to try it.
Why did you want to continue exploring this interesting mix of corridos and EDM on Pero No Te Enamores?
I wanted to do something different. We dropped Pa Las Baby’s Y Belikeada and the EP Dolido Pero No Arrepentido. We dropped those projects and our songs were like in the top 10. It was seven songs killing it, so I was like, “We have to do something different.” I got really inspired by the Drake dance album [Honestly, Nevermind] so I wanted to do my dance album. We just kept our essence of Fuerza Regida. When you hear the album and hear the different songs, you know it’s still Fuerza Regida. We didn’t change our style. We didn’t change our accent. We kept it Mexican. Whatever we’re talking about now, that’s what we’re saying in that type of music. It’s a different beat.
With this album, you also introduce the sound and concept of Jersey corridos. How did the idea come about to create Jersey corridos?
It was right there when we created “Harley Quinn.” It’s a jersey corrido, but Marshmello put his house music into it. I’ve always liked Jersey and I’ve always wanted to do Jersey. I told Marshmello, “Hey, we got to add Jersey.” He didn’t want to add it. He was like, “It’s burned out.” I was like, “Not in our genre. We gotta use Jersey.” We put it on the second half of “Harley Quinn.” We wanted to do one full jersey. That’s why “Secreto Victoria” is all jersey with the guitarras, the trombone, and the charcheta. In “Harley Quinn,” we were using the tololoche as well. In the first part, we used tololoche. That was iconic and we did it again with “Bella.” That one has tololoche. With the tololoche, we’re making the Jersey club beat. In “Secreto Victoria,” we didn’t use the tololoche. We use the whole 808s. It’s Jersey club with our guitarras and charchetas. We’re just experimenting and we’re creating something new. Jersey corridos are going to be the next thing. Watch!
How would you describe working on the jersey corridos with the producer Synthetic?
Synthetic made the song “Just Wanna Rock” by Lil Uzi Vert. He does good Jersey club. When I found out our team was friends with him, I was like, “We gotta get that guy on the album. We’re going to do a bunch of Jersey songs.” We have a lot of Jersey as well that doesn’t have the guitar in it like “Nel.” That song is Jersey club and then it turns into reggaeton. It’s still Jersey. We could pretty much call it a jersey corrido. Why? Because of what we’re singing in those songs. We can do whatever we want now. Being Mexican, talking our lingo, these new genres, and creating new music is dope.
One of songs that recalls your corridos tumbados style is “Belinda.” What was the story behind that one?
One of my writers had the song ready. His name is Jonatan Caro. I think he wrote it with Daniel Candia and Daniel Gutierrez. They had the song right there and I remember when he showed it to me, I loved it. That was eight months ago. I had that song for a while already. I had it before I dropped Pa Las Baby’s Y Belikeada. It didn’t make it on the album. I was already turning that album in and I wanted to save this song for later. Because I had a lot of different genres on this album, I just put three songs that are familiar like “Belinda.” That’s a song that I really like.
What do you want people to take away from this album?
I want them to feel the energy and the vibe. I want them to feel and know that it’s Fuerza Regida in there. I want them to appreciate the music. More than anything, they’re going to know it’s us. They’re going to know it’s Fuerza Regida. I expect that a lot of core fans will be like, “What’s up with this foo? I want the old JOP back.” They’ve been saying that already. Now they’re going to be more haters, but I feel like it’s going to settle in hopefully. It’s a risk, but I want them to like it of course.
You guys are on tour in the US. What can people expect from a Fuerza Regida concert?
It’s a whole experience. It’s crazy. It’s a 360 setup. Pretty much almost every show is sold out. We perform all the new songs. Now the new shows are going to have this new album. New things are happening every time. We invite a lot of our artists as special guests and there will be special performances.
You’re also running your own record label Street Mob. How would you describe the experience of working on the business side of the industry?
I got my partners Walks and Toro and my big team and they help me. I get to focus on everything. They help me with Fuerza Regida as well because the group is under Street Mob Records. I’ve always wanted to be a businessman, so that’s natural to me. All we do is work. Now we have a record label we gotta run. We got a band. We’re just busy being entrepreneurs. I’m doing the artist thing. We’re doing everything. With Oswaldo NR, Chino Pacas, Calle 24, and Clave Especial, we’re killing it to be honest. All my artists are killing it. It’s crazy. We’re living history right now. We’re all in our twenties. We got a record label coming up with a bunch of artists coming up. It’s amazing.
What do you see for the future of corrido and música Mexicana?
I see us being the next big thing. I see the music being mainstream. We just really got to be together. All these artists, we got to stop the egos and all that sh*t. We gotta collaborate more or the genre is going to fall. Right now that’s not happening. We need all of us to get back together and get to work. We gotta stick together.