Around the World With Music: LGBTQ+ Latinx Artists

By Laurine Payet, Music Journalist

Western culture has experienced a growth in the queer representation of artists within the music industry. While huge mainstream artists break the male heteronormativity of the creative world, the Latinx community is stuck with the cliché of its roots in machismo. But how much of a reality is this stereotype?

Mexican-American reggaetonero Solomon Ray opened up about the need for visibility of queer people in the Latinx community, "Because of visibility, because of the media, people's opinions and their views change as well. That's our responsibility."

After Puerto Rican singer Ricky Martin came out as gay in 2010, the Latinx music industry became distinctively more diverse. Being an icon since the 80s, Martin turned into a role model for the queer youth and creatives to empower their identity through music. The Latinx is, indeed, full of queer talented artists. Here are our top picks of Latinx LGBTQ+ music.

CHITA

Born in Argentina, CHITA saw a lot of Europe before settling back to Buenos Aires where she is now a breakthrough songwriter and performer. Francisca Gil, 24, took a piece of everywhere she travelled to shape her music. From Barcelona to London through Berlin, CHITA has seen and experienced a lot, adding influences to the Argentinian roots mainly present in her sound and lyrics. Her neo-soul voice is the instrument for her lyrics, melancholic at times, empowering at others. Mainly composing in Spanish, her two years living in London didn’t push CHITA to sing in English. After releasing her debut album ‘Encanto’ in 2019, CHITA recently came back with ‘Lo Que Hace Conmigo’, a blend of softness, sensuality and Latin inspired beats.

Sailorfag is a 22-year-old recent sensational non-binary artist. The sound of Sailorfag is rooted in reggaeton rhythms with hints of indie music and rap vocals. Originally from Hermosillo, Sonora in Mexico, they are now based in Mexico City where their career has taken a new turn. After opening for massive events such as RuPaul’s Drag Race’s Adore Delano, Sailorfag has made a name for themselves within the queer Mexican and Latinx community. Sailorfag isn’t just a rapper; they oscillate between being a Youtube star, a fashion icon and a make-up artist. Our favourite track from Sailorfag has to be the powerful and catchy ‘Perrear Llorando’, featuring Maire Wink, from their second and latest album ‘Terrible, Perriemos’.

Sailorfag

Producer, songwriter and performer Entrópica has been in the Latinx music scene since the release of her self-titled EP in 2013. She has, since then, not taken a break and released four albums and dropped this year a new single ‘Monarca’. Taking a new path, it seems like the Chile-based artist reflected on her creative direction during her time quarantining at home. Her sound is far from traditional Chilean music. Blending pop and electronic with a hint of hip hop, Entrópica proudly records everything from her living room/home studio in Santiago. The queer producer is an explosion of energy for your favourite summer playlists.

We discovered Pabllo Vittar through her collaboration on Charli XCX’s 2017 ‘I Got It’ with Brooke Candy and CupcakKe but she had already released her debut album ‘Vai Passar Mal’. Pabllo Vittar is Phabullo Rodrigues da Silva’s stage name for his drag queen performances and persona. As one of Latin America’s most famous drag queens – if not the most famous -, Pabllo Vittar has been a role model for her community in Brazil. Because of the current dangerous situation in which LGBTQ+ peers are in Brazil, Pabllo Vittar has quickly become an icon for his openness about being gay. They quickly opened the conversation about gender identity and the lack of representation of queer people in his country. Their last album ‘Batidão Tropical’ has a reggaetón-style sound and is full of hits ready to be played in the clubs this summer.

Pablo Vittar

The indie music scene isn’t the most prominent in the Latinx music industry but Francisco Victoria still made his music heard. Originally from Chile, the singer-songwriter is far from being new in the field. While being part of Álex Anwandter’s band until 2019, Francisco Victor was making his way into music on his own to write what would sound closer to what he was aiming to be. After releasing his debut in 2018, he is making a comeback this year for a second album. His new single ‘Yo creí que eras mi amiga’ is our current top track to be added to your indie road trip playlist.

Francisco Victoria

With a culture that is said to be very linked to machismo - and in consequence, to hetero and cisnormative rules – the Latinx music scene is on its way to get the representation it deserves. Queer artists come from a range of genres, from pop and indie music to rap and reggaetón. It gives the opportunity to the local music scene to be a safer place for everyone and encourages the young creatives towards coming out and freely express their identities through their art.

Check out our playlist of our favourite Latinx music from queer artists: