Reik & Xavi Team Up for ‘La del Primer Puesto' & More Best New Music Latin
Reik & Xavi, 'La del Primer Puesto' (Sony Music México)
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Mexican trio Reik — comprised of Jesús Navarro, Julio Ramírez and Bibi Marín — released one of its most versatile collaborations, 'La del Primer Puesto,' a sentimental duet with the música mexicana star Xavi. The song fuses the best of two worlds, including Reik's unmistakable Latin pop ballad with R&B touches and the folk and urban rhythms that distinguish the Mexican-American singer-songwriter. The result is an emotional declaration of love that exudes passion in every note to the rhythm of melodic and vibrant guitars, and a vocal duo between Navarro and Xavi that shakes the listener. — NATALIA CANO
Banda Los Recoditos, 'De Esta Me Levanto' (Fono)
Banda Los Recoditos' new regional Mexican ballad about heartbreak invites listeners to heal wounds of the heart. 'De Esta Me Levanto,' or I'm rising from this in English, is the cry of someone who has decided to move on after a romantic disappointment. 'There's no pain that lasts a hundred years/ Having so many, I came to find you/ I regret it, but I will forget you for sure,' vocalist Santos de Jesús Pérez (Jeypi) sings with pathos, accompanied by the sound of snare drums, clarinets, trumpets, charchetas, and trombone. This is the first single from the band's upcoming album, Se Pronostican Borracheras Deluxe, produced by Alfonso Lizárraga. – TERE AGUILERA
Ambik, 'Estrella' (GMR)
Argentine singer-songwriter Ambik's new R&B ballad continues to demonstrate her talent and potential. In 'Estrella' – produced by n.a.n.o and described as 'a love letter that's both intimate and universal' in a press release – Ambik sensually sings about her devotion and longing for a partner with her powerful, piercing voice. 'I don't want to share you/ Let's walk without end/ Look me in the eye, tell me yes,' she pleads in part of the lyrics. The single comes with a homemade music video created by the artist herself, filmed in Spain earlier this year while she was opening and singing backups for her brother Tiago PZK. – SIGAL RATNER-ARIAS
Cancamusa, (Self-released)
With Dopamina, Cancamusa unravels the intoxicating chase of fleeting highs, while exploring the tender euphoria and ache of human connection — all through a prism of lush sunshine rock, moody pop and introspective grandeur. Anchored by her skills as a songwriter, co-producer (alongside Julián Bernal), and singer, the album conjures serotonin-laced warmth with vibrant brass, reverb-soaked guitars, and undeniable melodies. Tracks like 'Antes de Que Apague el Sol' and 'Check' radiate effervescent joy, while the brooding 'Cicatriz' and the sweeping, bluesy 'Reviví' juxtapose the record's playful highs with heartrending lows. On the focus track 'En Medio del Desierto,' the Chilean artist's breathy yet potent voice recalls the sultriness of Amy Winehouse, its lyrics painting fever dreams of desire. Meanwhile, the title track, featuring indie pop icon Gepe, soars with indie rock heft and an adrenaline rush of pop hooks. Through it all, Cancamusa captures moments of bittersweet intimacy and joyous abandon, making her third album a sweeping, emotional journey that lingers long after its final notes. — ISABELA RAYGOZA
Frank Miami & Lirios – 'Acércate' (ESCOL Network)
With banjo, handclaps, and the classic Southern folk stomp, Frank Miami teams up with band Lirios to release 'Acércate.' It is the first single from the album El Pescador, which will be released Oct. 9 in collaboration with several Christian artists, and follows his first Christian album, Transition, released in 2024. The lyrics, full of faith and hope, speak of second chances and that 'no one is disqualified; no matter our condition, we can always get closer to God,' Frank Miami tells Billboard Español. The music video takes place in a rural setting, where three vulnerable characters — a depressed teenager, an alcoholic, and a fisherman — who are all invited to the table, feel embraced, and celebrate as a community. — LUISA CALLE
Check out more Latin recommendations this week below:
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Refinery29
an hour ago
- Refinery29
Watching Becky G Embrace Her Gray Hair Helped Me Change How I See Mine
When Becky G recently went on TikTok and revealed weeks' worth of grown out grays down the front and middle parts of her hair, I realized something: I couldn't think of ever seeing another Latina celebrity around my age admit she has gray hairs. As the 28-year-old Mexican-American singer sarcastically talked about her 'old age' and being a 'viejita,' at least in the eyes of TikTok's generally younger user base, she tilted her bouncy hair downward and ran her fingers through silvery strands. 'No, I do not care that my canas are showing,' Becky says in the video. 'It's natural. I call them my sparkles and so I need my sparkle gang to pull up, because I know I'm not the only one that doesn't just feel bonita but is 'stressita' too.' As a graying brunette, this helped me feel seen. I found my first silver strand in middle school and have been begrudgingly dying my grays since college. I found solace while scrolling through the thousands of comments on Becky G's video as countless other people commented 'sparkle gang,' shared their graying stories, and even replied with photos of themselves letting their grays grow out as well. ' "No, I do not care that my canas are showing. It's natural. I call them my sparkles, and so I need my sparkle gang to pull up." becky g ' 'Found my first gray at 14 years old,' Becky G wrote in her caption. 'Could be that I am the eldest daughter of a Mexican-American household, started working at 9, the fight-or-flight response, which involves the release of norepinephrine, can contribute to hair graying, simply genetics, or ALL OF THE ABOVE. No pues como que no voy a tener canas guys, like be for real.' It's 2025 and still rare to see Latina celebrities open up publicly about having gray hair, let alone a Gen Z star like Becky G. In a Vogue 'Beauty Secrets' interview, actress Salma Hayek also recently shared that at 58 years old, she doesn't dye her hair. But when she does want to tame her 'rebellious' grays, she swipes on some Benefit's Roller Lash mascara. Latina creators like Heren Mercedes, behind Silver Curls, and Kat Lovelis are also making content to help other women embrace their grays at any age. Yet we know the burden on women to maintain youthful appearances isn't limited to Hollywood or the online world. The stigma held toward Latina with gray hair permeates across age, income, and the many cultures that comprise Latine identity. Latine beauty standards generally mirror, if not amplify, Western societal ideals, which discourage women from displaying any visible signs of aging. It's not surprising women feel pressure to conform, given studies have found that women with gray hair are more likely to be perceived as less trustworthy and are likelier to experience ageism. These factors indicate that there's a social cost of not following beauty norms, explains Katie M. Duarte, a postdoctoral fellow in Latinx Studies at Smith College and researcher on the natural hair movement among Dominican women. ' "Latine beauty standards generally mirror, if not amplify, Western societal ideals, which discourage women from displaying any visible signs of aging." zameena mejia ' 'Because gray hair is associated with being 'old' and, therefore, supposedly incompetent or undesirable, women with gray hairs are socially encouraged to dye their silver strands for a youthful appearance to combat these stereotypes. This is true regardless of race or ethnicity, as many women deal with the beauty standard and social pressures of appearing young,' Duarte shares. 'Women who forgo dying their gray hairs report that others consider them less competent in the workplace, more physically fragile, and less attractive. For some women, the decision of dying their gray strands comes from personal choice and preferences, while for others it is about avoiding these social stigmas of 'letting go' of their beauty and feeling socially invisible and, therefore, socially irrelevant.' Duarte also calls attention to the role the media plays in reinforcing these standards. While beauty standards vary across Latine communities, generally, the ideal beautiful hair look for Latinas is understood as dark or blonde, long, straight or wavy (but not kinky), and it should be obviously styled, looking feminine and distinct from men's hair. Think: Eva Longoria, Jennifer Lopez, Karol G, Shakira, and Selena Gomez. While dominant beauty standards will continue to privilege straight over kinky textures and presumably youthful, dark or blonde hair over gray hair, Duarte notes that the growth of the natural hair movement — in which some Latinas, especially Afro-Latinas, are accepting their naturally kinky, curly, or wavy hair — and moments of vulnerability from celebrities and influencers can help other Latinas accept their graying hair. ' "Because gray hair is associated with being 'old' and, therefore, supposedly incompetent or undesirable, women with gray hairs are socially encouraged to dye their silver strands for a youthful appearance to combat these stereotypes." Katie M. Duarte ' 'For Latinas that have embraced their natural hair, many have also wanted to stay away from chemically altering hair treatments, like hair dye,' Duarte says. 'I believe there will be more Latinas accepting their naturally graying hair as those in the natural hair movement age into gray and silver strands.' In Becky G's TikTok, she added that viewers might notice her grays in videos because covering her grays was expensive, time consuming, and because, ultimately, they are natural. When she asked others to chime in if they also have gray hair, one commenter, Annette Greenham, left a photo of herself — smiling while rocking long, styled gray hair — and wrote that she started getting gray hairs as a kid. 'I started growing gray hair in elementary school. I felt embarrassed that I had them at a very young age,' Greenham tells Refinery29 Somos. While growing up in a multigenerational Mexican household, she saw her family members covering and dying their gray hair every few weeks, but no one ever explicitly talked about it. As an adult, she started dying her hair almost every two weeks as she felt the pressure to maintain her look for holidays and get-togethers. But in 2022, she saw people grow out their hair due to the Covid-19 lockdown conditions and she decided to let hers grow out as well. 'I feel so much better now that I let my gray hair grow out. My mom has now even started to let hers grow out, too,' Greenham says. 'I am happy with the decision of growing out my grays and I get a lot of compliments.' We spoke with five additional Latina women who shared their journey toward accepting their own gray hair, how they have overcome cultural norms, and how this decision has impacted their relationships with loved ones and themselves. Jacqueline Cordero, 34, California I was around 12 years old when I became aware of my grays. Middle school was really stressful, but my mom reassured me it was my Puerto Rican father's genetics. There weren't many, but they definitely stood out against my long dark hair. Students and even teachers pointed them out. As I grew older, they showed up more. While I was in high school, I was no stranger to a straightening iron and quickly learned my grays were unruly. I could never really control them. Then in my 20s, as I began a career and real adult life, I had a mix of my hereditary grays and my stress-induced grays. Society told me grays were a sign of stress and age and something worth hiding. My mother would always encourage me, saying they were gifts of wisdom. Still, she was influenced by U.S. beauty standards. Her face card has always been incredible, but societal pressures prevailed when it came to covering her grays. She allowed me to color my hair for fun, and even though covering her grays was a must, she never put that expectation on me for my grays. As I'm navigating my new identity in motherhood and my 30s, I've thought about covering them up in an attempt to look more youthful. I'm grateful for my Trinidadian and Puerto Rican genes for prolonging wrinkles and other signs of aging, but the grays have become their own entity within my hair. My grays symbolize my heritage, my family. They represent all the growth I've made in my life. They are a reminder that I'm right where I need to be and showing up how I need to. Anyuli Ramos Lopez, 33, Texas The first time I noticed I had gray hair was around senior year of college. I was 22. At first, I was embarrassed and in denial that I was graying early. I would pluck them out, dye my hair, or just style my hair differently to cover it up. Straight out of college, I started teaching in rural Texas and our salary was not one to be envied. I was paying rent, bills, and bought a new car. I would go to a salon to get my roots dyed every six-to-nine weeks because of how fast my hair grew out and the price each time was $90. I tried to box dye my hair to help with the cost, but that was damaging my hair. Around the summer of 2019, I decided to embrace it and grow out my grays. I went to a salon and dyed a part of my hair that grew out platinum blonde so that it could 'blend,' and when Covid-19 hit, I just let it grow out. Even to this day, my 83-year-old grandmother still dyes her hair to hide her grays. My grandfather on my paternal side had a head full of grays, so when mine started growing out, my father would call them brillos. He was proud that I had inherited this from his side of the family. I lost my father back in 2020 to the pandemic, and I feel as though my hair is a part of him that I can carry with me every day. I've come to truly love my grays. It symbolizes my individuality and how much I have grown in my own self-confidence. I'm not going to lie, I do smile and feel 'cool' when I get compliments from strangers. I love that I have used less chemicals on my hair, so my natural curls and waves have been able to come back. Kat Lovelis, 30, North Carolina I noticed my first gray strands at 15 years old. I immediately yanked them out because I didn't want to feel old. Growing up, I didn't really hear much about gray hair because my mom would always dye her hair. The ladies in my family would encourage me to cover mine up. I guess they didn't want to look old, and that pressure passed on to me, too. That sent an unspoken message that gray wasn't something to be shown. I grew up watching my dad have full gray hair, but he would cover it up, too. My mom always dyed her hair. No one really embraced it. I started going gray at 29 after I decided I no longer wanted to keep covering them up. At first, I didn't like them, but as they grew longer, I started to love the salt and pepper look. Now, my family loves my gray hair and it has inspired my mom and sister to let their gray hair grow out. To me, my gray hair symbolizes loving all of me, even the parts that used to make me feel insecure. It's a daily reminder to accept myself fully and not feel like I have to hide or change to be beautiful. I love that celebrities like Becky G and Salma Hayek are embracing their grays and encouraging others to do the same. Embracing my gray hair has helped me gain so much confidence. I used to feel embarrassed and try to hide them but now, I show them off proudly. They're part of who I am. Samantha Carranza, 32, Texas When I got my first couple of gray hairs at 28, I felt so confused. At 30, I noticed more grays coming in. I started to feel insecure when I realized I couldn't pull my hair back without the grays being noticeable. As a little girl, I noticed my grandmother always dying her hair to cover up her grays. I never heard her complaining about it, but my grandmother never exposed her grays in public. My mother now does the same. Looking back, I think witnessing my abuelita and my mami dye their grays had influenced me to want to do the same. I recently got my hair professionally done and instead of covering my grays up completely, like I have in the past, I decided to blend in my grays with a new hairstyle. I had every intention to get my hair done and cover up my grays, but Becky G's TikTok post really inspired me and made me feel less alone. I want to break the cycle by embracing my grays. It symbolizes strength and resilience. It reminds me of being a mother and of going through difficult seasons but still pushing through. I want to be able to inspire other women to love themselves completely. I have vivid memories as a little girl of when my great grandmother would visit from Mexico and I would brush her hair or run my fingers through her beautiful thick white hair. I want one day for my granddaughter to run her fingers through my hair. Dulce Maria Rodriguez, 32, Texas The first time I noticed I had gray hair I was around 17 years old. I would pluck them out of embarrassment. Around the age of 20, it started to get more noticeable and no one in my family embraced it. Funnily enough, even my dad covered his gray hair. I started dying my hair black or dark red with box dye at home because it's all I could afford. My parents didn't understand why I dyed it, even though they did the same thing. Growing up in a Latine household, I was told gray hair was caused by stress. But I never understood why I was getting gray hair so young if I wasn't feeling stressed. Looking back, I realize all of the pressure I was under as a kid and understand I had grown used to underlying stress for things such as always needing to translate for my parents and getting scolded for not understanding everything. Hearing, 'Entonces para qué vas a la escuela!' At 21, I took a more subtle approach to my gray hair. Instead of dying it one color, I incorporated highlights to blend with my grays. At first it was a style that was 'in,' but as time went on I started embracing it. Now, I feel like I have broken a cycle. Embracing my gray hair has been a journey. I am now 32 and I don't feel like I need to be embarrassed about my hair. I am lucky to be able to enhance it with the help from my hairstylist, but I feel empowered now. I wish younger me was as open about her struggles with gray hair as I am now, but I feel like it's just the way we as women are. My advice to younger generations is to be open about your feelings about getting gray hair. It's valid to feel insecure and the emotions have to be felt, but it's hair. Speak to your family members and believe them when they say it isn't a big deal because we are all headed to gray hair at some point, but a few of us get our sparkle sooner.
Eater
2 hours ago
- Eater
A Magical Mexican Restaurant Leads the July Openings in Houston
is an editor for Eater's Texas region. She lives in Dallas, where she's written about James Beard-celebrated and Michelin-recognized restaurants and she loves nachos. This periodic column highlights notable restaurant openings in and around Houston. Catch up on more news about Houston restaurant openings right here. Know of a new or soon-to-open restaurant that should be on Eater Houston's radar? Get in touch by emailing houston@ 811 Buffalo Park Drive, Suite 130 in Houston Named after the ancient Aztec goddess who watched over the maguey (agave) plant and its production of liquor, this fine dining, modern restaurant in Montrose's Autry Park features heirloom corn sourced from Mexico that is ground daily to make masa. Keeping the ingredients seasonal and local is a priority, and so is featuring foundational flavors of Mexican food such as vanilla, cacao, and coffee. Look for dishes including beef carnitas croquette with salsa taquera and cilantro-lime aioli, tacos mar y tierra with Gulf shrimp in adobo and beef cheek confit, and cochinita served with black bean purée and tortillas. There is also a chef's tasting menu that highlights the best of what the restaurant is serving on any given night. Inside, gold rules the decor, echoing the sacred use of the metal in ancient Mexican societies. Time to belly up to the bar at Bar Buena. Brian Kennedy 2002 West Gray Street in Houston Mezcal is the star at this new bar from Goode Co. in River Oaks. On the menu are drinks like the Oaxacan Old Fashioned (reposado tequila, mezcal, piloncillo, and mole bitters) and Tequila y Tonic (blanco tequila, agua de jamaica, lime, cucumber, aloe, and tonic) along with bar bites such as Gulf crab tostadas with smashed avocado and chili arbol aioli, plus pato tinga memela (braised duck leg, refried beans, and pickled onions) and a taco stuffed with rib-eye and salsa morita. The dimly lit bar has a rustic Mexican aesthetic, with leather, brass, and a tin ceiling. 2416 Brazos Street, Suite A in Houston Want to drink like a rock star? Maybe don't drink exactly like Koe Wetzel, who is known to be a Texas-style party animal, but visit the second location of his bar chain (the first is in Fort Worth), which is now open in Midtown. It's got all the beer and liquor you can imagine, and for bar bites there are Chicken Wannnngggs (please, ask for them exactly like that) with Buffalo hot sauce, lemon pepper, or barbecue sauce; a couple of salads if that's how you roll; a couple of burger options a chicken tender platter; and fried pickles; and a chicken sandwich called the Cluck Norris. 7623 FM 3180 Road in Baytown Ready for a barbecue truck to take you to outer space? This one from pitmaster Logan Glenn (Big Woodrow's, Chi'Lantro BBQ), features a menu of brisket ($16/half pound), spare ribs ($13/half pound or $40 for a full rack), turkey ($13/half pound), pulled pork ($12/half pound), sausage and boudin ($7 per link), and pork belly burnt ends ($14/half pound) that won't break the bank. The sides are inventive, with options including burnt end pinto beans and corn bread casserole, while fun dishes like barbecue nachos and the Space Jam burger are sure to tempt diners.
Los Angeles Times
5 hours ago
- Los Angeles Times
A new iteration of Taco María opens, in an unlikely place
Carlos Salgado wowed the world of Mexican food the moment he opened Taco María in 2013. His marriage of high-end with homestyle — sturgeon tacos, Flamin' Hot chicharrones, handmade blue corn tortillas from kernels he imported from Mexico and milled himself — seemed better suited to Los Angeles or Mexico City than a hipster food hall in Costa Mesa. The accolades came quickly: L.A Times restaurant of the year in 2018. Four straight Michelin stars. One of Esquire's most important U.S. restaurants of the 2010s. Salgado was a Best Chef in California finalist for the James Beard Awards — the Oscars of the restaurant industry — in June 2023. A month later, Salgado shocked his fans by closing Taco María. As his good friend, I have the exclusive on what's next. It's … Wisconsin? A few months after the restaurant closed, Salgada relocated to Door County — the childhood home of his wife, Emilie Coulson Salgado — in a move that left Southern California's food scene befuddled, if people knew at all. If anyone deserved to go all 'Walden,' it was the thoughtful Salgado. He had worked nonstop for a decade, weathering the pandemic and an Orange County audience that usually got mad when he explained why his space didn't serve chips and salsa or had 'Black Lives Matter' stenciled on the patio window. Taco María's lease was up, the location was never the best fit and Carlos and Emilie wanted to spend more time with their two young children and her parents while they recharged and decided what was next. Now, after some time off, they're in the restaurant business again, opening La Sirena this month in Ephraim, population 345, about an hour and a half away from the nearest big city, Green Bay. Expect everything that made Taco María so incredible — a prix fixe menu, a focus on local produce and meat, those fabulous blue corn tortillas that taste like a time portal to Tenochtitlan — except on the shores of Lake Michigan instead of off the 405 freeway. Nothing against the Badger State, but the idea of a Mexican chef of Salgado's caliber setting up on a peninsula jutting into a Great Lake is like Shohei Ohtani announcing he's leaving the Dodgers to join a Sunday beer league. Gustavo Dudamel deciding his next gig isn't the New York Philharmonic but the Whittier Regional Symphony. Gov. Gavin Newsom forsaking his office to run the Friends of the Sacramento Public Library. About 8% of Wisconsin's population is Latino, and Door County is 96% white. The Mexican food scene outside Milwaukee and maybe Racine is still mostly combo plates washed down with massive margaritas, or cartoonishly big burritos in the Chipotle model. Wisconsin is ... Wisconsin, land of cheese curds and brats and brandy Old Fashioneds. 'I would push back that [Mexican food] is out of place anywhere in the United States,' Salgado told me by phone last week. 'We are the foundation of the restaurant and hospitality industry, farming and construction — I don't need to say all the ways we're embedded.' He sure shut me up there! Besides, I'm proud that his and Emilie's next step is in an isolated spot in a state that went for Donald Trump in two of the past three elections. California needs all the ambassadors we can get, especially in places that don't look like us — and we can't get better ambassadors than them. 'In parts of the Midwest, you mention you're from California, there's inevitably haters who want to believe that we left California because it's a failed state, and they try to commiserate with us about how California is uninhabitable,' the 45-year-old Salgado said. 'Of course, I don't believe that. I have pangs of longing for my home state every day, especially fruits!' 'I actually thought we'd live in California forever, and I still consider us California people,' Coulson Salgado, 41, said in a separate interview. 'But this experiment to be here [Wisconsin] turned out to be really good for us and our children.' The two met in San Francisco in 2008, when Coulson Salgado was working for a literacy nonprofit and Salgado was a pastry chef at a high-end restaurant. He moved back to his native Orange County in 2011 aiming to help with his immigrant family's Cal-Mex restaurant in Orange. Instead, he capitalized on the era's food truck craze and opened Taco María. Coulson moved down in 2013 to help transition the luxe lonchera to a brick-and-mortar, eventually becoming the restaurant's general manager and beverage director, roles she will also assume at La Sirena. Taco María was a daily miracle, especially given its Orange County location. Salgado got nationwide media coverage and forced Angelenos to do the unimaginable: travel to O.C. for Mexican food. His exhortations for people to value Mexican cuisine and the people who make it was essential in an era where too many Americans love the former and loathe the latter. But the grind of running a restaurant — which I know too well, through my wife — wore on the couple. They didn't want to be rushed into opening a new Taco María, so they decided a sojourn to Door County would be fun and also right. 'Emilie put in 15 years with me in California,' Salgado said, and moving to Wisconsin 'was something we felt we deserved as a family.' He unwound from the restaurant rush by hiking through Door County's forests and fishing in its waterways while continuing Taco María's successful salsa macha mail-order business; Emilie moonlighted as a grant writer. The plan was to return to California sometime in 2024 and hop back on the restaurant hamster wheel. But the more they experienced Door County's slower pace of life, the more they realized it would be nearly impossible to replicate that in Southern California. 'We started Taco María without kids,' Salgado said. 'This trial gave us the opportunity to imagine the kind of balance that we wanted, and we realized that we stood a very good chance of creating it here.' I asked if he meant the cost of living or the sclerotic traffic or the lack of affordable housing or any of the other reasons California quitters give when they leave and whine about their move. 'We're certainly not California quitters,' Salgado deadpanned. 'People talk all the time about making career changes to spend more time with their families, and this is really it for now.' Coulson Salgado said it's been 'wonderful' to return to where she grew up 'with the eyes of an adult.' Door County has seen newcomers from California in recent years, mostly young families drawn by its immaculate landscapes. She does miss the multiculturalism of Southern California — 'My son will say, 'Let's get pho!' and I have to remind him we're not in Orange County anymore,' she said with a laugh. She doesn't frame the opening of La Sirena in the rural Midwest in the age of Trump as a political act. But she brought up the 'terrible' deportation deluge that has hit Southern California this summer (Wisconsin has so far been spared, 'but we're on high alert for it') as a reason why their presence matters. 'It's not like we're in some alternate universe out here,' she said, 'but you could be if you weren't paying attention, and that's what's scary … But that's why it's more important than ever to create more pockets of joy.' Her husband vowed that California 'hasn't seen the last of us yet,' while giving no timeline for a return. In an ideal world, he and Emilie would run both La Sirena and a restaurant back in O.C. 'I'm proudly Mexican American,' Salgado said. 'And I'm not going to shy away from taking up space and perform brown excellence in anywhere that I am.'
