Latin pop

Latin Pop (Pop Latino, in Spanish) is pop music from Latin America, Spain, Portugal, Italy and Hispanic American artists who sing in languages spoken in Latin America, mainly Spanish, Italian and Portuguese. Other European singers who come from countries where Spanish or Portuguese are not spoken, usually Italians and French, are often considered Latin Pop artists.

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.

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. More recently Enrique Iglesias, Luis Miguel , Shakira, Thalía, Paulina Rubio, Daddy Yankee, Ivete Sangalo,and the teen idol pop group RBD have brought Latin Pop to millions of people around the globe.

Major Latin Pop songwriters include Richard Daniel Roman, Estefano and Emilio Estefan.

Latino References

Many international singers have a few Latin Pop hits in their repertoire, without necessarily known for having a Hispanic or Latin background: For example, Beyoncé's "Irremplazable", Madonna's "La Isla Bonita", Spice Girls' "Spice up Your Life", Latvian Marie N's (also known as Marija Naumova, and was the 2002 Eurovision Song Contest winner) "I Wanna", Cher's "Dov'è L'Amore", or France's Lorie with "Sur un Air Latino", and finally Geri Halliwell's (has Hispanic heritage) "Mi Chico Latino"

Some artists usually include Latin remixes in their singles, which also could be classified as Latin Pop. These songs are usually mixed by DJ's with a Hispanic background, like David Morales, Junior Vazquez, or Pablo Flores, among others. Some singers who have released such remixes are, besides the ones already mentioned, include Mariah Carey, Britney Spears, Whitney Houston, Will Smith, Alexia, Jamiroquai, Jennifer Paige.