Latin pop
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Latin Pop (Pop Latino, in Spanish) generally refers to pop music that has what may be perceived a "Latin" influence. The definition of "Latin" varies, however. Linguistically, pop music sung in Spanish, or other languages derived from Latin, may be considered Latin pop. Geographically, it could refer to pop music from Latin America or sung by Latin Americans, generally regarded as Hispanics (although this classification does not include the Portuguese). Pop music which has a significant Latin pop influence, no matter sung by who or in what language, may also be considered Latin pop.
There are two main variants. The first one is regular pop performed in the Spanish, Spanglish, Portuguese or English for international audiences. The second one mixes pop with a wide variety of Latin American or Iberian rhythms such as salsa, samba, cumbia, norteña, merengue, banda, tex-mex, flamenco, tango, reggaeton, vallenato, and reggae. More recently, Latin Pop has also included hip hop contributions such as the UK label Heavenly Records old school hip-hop inluenced latin pop artist Espiritu aka Vanessa Quinones with her cut-up hip-hop inflected top 50 releases like Los Americanos, Conquistador and Bonita Manana which also featured remixes from US hip-hop master Guru.
Latin Pop is usually marked by polished productions while incorporating unobtrusive Latin rhythms and instrumentation into tracks. Latin Pop first reached a global audience through the work of vocalist Ritchie Valens in the late 1950s; in later decades, Julio Iglesias, the versatile Gloria Estefan, and the revolving-door teen idol group Menudo carried the style forward. Since the late 90s, Latin pop and songs with significant Latin pop influences have achieved mainstream success in the United States and worldwide. Some of the most successful artists are Selena, Enrique Iglesias, Luis Miguel, Ricky Martin, Shakira, Thalía, Jennifer Lopez, Chayanne, Paulina Rubio and Ivete Sangalo. Julio Iglesias is to date the worlds best selling Latin artist selling 250-300 million albums worldwide.
Major Latin Pop songwriters include Emilio Estefan, Estefano and Richard Daniel Roman.
Best-selling Latin pop artists
- Julio Iglesias - 250-300 million records.
- Luis Miguel - 100 million.
- Gloria Estefan - 70 million.
- Ricky Martin - 55 million albums.
- Shakira - 50 million albums.
- Enrique Iglesias - 50 million albums.
- Carlos Santana* - 74-99 million.
