What’s Xavi’s Age? The Young Stars Expanding Mexican Music

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By this point, you would have to live on another planet or inside a cave to not know the term ‘corridos tumbados.’ The Mexican star Peso Pluma took a subgenre to another level that was already initiated and shaped by prodigy artists like Natanael Cano, whose album Corridos Tumbados (2019) represents a sort of rosetta stone for the development of the trend. The same has happened with Xavi, the very young Mexican-American artist who has revolutionized the industry barely reaching legal age.

With the rise to success and the explosive unprecedented fame that has taken Regional Mexican music to another level (now reclaimed as Mexican Music), numerous Mexican artists have come along with Doble P who have exploded the charts inside and outside their country, including the United States. They all have two things in common: great talent that emphasizes the essence of the traditional and folkloric, and a very young age.

Let’s review a bit who are the faces of the explosive success of Mexican artists beyond Peso Pluma and Natanael Cano, like Xavi, Junior H, Gabito Ballesteros, Yng Lvcas, or the Esquivel Brothers, among others.

How old is Xavi? The Youngest Explosion of ‘Corridos Tumbados’

Joshua Xavier Gutierrez, better known as Xavi, started playing the guitar at just 10 years old, and writing his own songs at 12. Virality through social media has played a key role for the Mexican. ‘Amigos con Derecho’ was one of his first songs to gain recognition for this same reason. However, shortly after in 2021, the artist had a car accident that prevented him from singing.

After a year of recovery, in 2022 Xavi would return to music, but changing his style to romantic corridos. A blend of traditional music with urban styles and aesthetics that focus centrally on love and heartbreak. And with just 18 years old, his current age, Xavi managed to get ‘La Víctima’ (a song that even caught Karol G’s attention) to number 24 on the Billboard Hot Latin Songs Chart, even reaching the top 10.

Shortly after, he would earn his first number 1 in early 2024 on the Billboard Hot Latin Songs with ‘La Diabla.’ A position he also achieved on the Global Spotify chart, becoming the first Mexican artist to achieve the top spot with a single song.

Junior H

Antonio Herrera, popularly known as Junior H, is only 24 years old, but his name already resonates inside and outside of Mexico. Just like Xavi, at the age of 12, he was already writing his own songs. At 17, he began learning to play instruments like the guitar or the accordion as well.

Junior joined one of the most recognized record labels in the expansion of ‘corridos tumbados’ in 2019, Rancho Humilde, where he met other leading figures like Natanael Cano, with whom he collaborates on the song ‘Disfruto lo Malo.’ He has also collaborated on several occasions with his partner and friend Peso Pluma, on ‘El Azul,’ ‘Lady Gaga,’ or ‘A Tu Manera,’ the first song he released after his breakup with the Argentine star Nicki Nicole.

Gabito Ballesteros

Despite graduating as an industrial engineer, Gabriel Ballesteros, known as Gabito Ballesteros, has followed in the footsteps of references in the ‘corridos tumbados’ movement like Natanael Cano, Doble P, or Junior H, but shaping his own essence. He has also risen to fame thanks to the viralization of his songs, in this case, the first was a cover of ‘Apagaré La Luz,’ a song by the Hermanos Vega Jr.

Shortly after, he would achieve fame in 2022 with ‘El Chamán,’ which currently has 12 million views on YouTube. Some successful collaborations would also come, which are now milestones of the genre, like ‘AMG,’ his song with Peso Pluma and Natanael Cano, his first entry on a Billboard chart that also positioned itself on several charts inside and outside the United States. Since then, Ballesteros has not stopped harvesting successes and is now preparing for his concert tour in our country, the GB Tour.

Yng Lvcas

In a paradigm closer to reggaeton, Daniel Oswaldo Donlocas Martínez, popularly known as Yng Lvcas, managed to shake up the scene with the thunderous success of ‘La Bebé,’ a hit that would later explode with Peso Pluma’s participation in ‘La Bebé Remix.’ Even David Guetta would jump on the success with his own mix, showing that Mexican artists have not only revolutionized the world of ‘corridos’ but also other genres.

Sebastián and Eugenio Esquivel

Brothers Sebastián and Eugenio Esquivel, aged 23 and 19 respectively, have contributed to putting Mexican party music on the map with their super-viral TikTok hit, ‘Alucín’ featuring Marca Registrada, which they even accompany with some peculiar dances that make it a round success. Their songs distance themselves a bit from the nostalgia and pain of ‘corridos tumbados’ and romantic ones to delve into the party, or as they say in Mexico, ‘la peda,’ but without neglecting the mix of traditional and urban rhythms.