If there was any doubt of Fuerza Regida's dominance over the música mexicana boom of the early 2020s, Sigan Hablando all but obliterated it. Released in the last week of 2022, the banda-sinaloense opus was the first installment of a double album that also included Pa Que Hablen, which dropped two days later. Together, the albums solidified the group's SoCal cowboy brand and highly envied status as a chart-topping juggernaut. While frequently returning to the corridos tumbados that launched Fuerza Regida to superstardom, Sigan Hablando kicks off with an onslaught of booming banda-sinaloense horns. Opening track “Se Logró” is an earnest, grateful nod to the blockbuster success the group built in a few short years while also acknowledging the many foes and challenges defeated along the way. Next come “Fiestas, Tragos, Noche Loca” and “Y Me Verán”—the latter featuring Sinaloan hitmaker Eden Muñoz—which not only boast about jewels, fancy shoes, and expensive pickup trucks but also unpack the darker side of fame with its many betrayals and two-faced hangers-on. Singer and bandleader Jesús Ortiz Paz clearly understands this moment in his career as legend-defining and takes the opportunity to reach beyond the outlaw tales of records past, instead opening his bulletproof heart for fans to gaze upon. “Prefiero Empedarme” is a straight-up heartbreaker that places the cure for romantic sorrows at the bottom of a bottle of wine, while an impassioned cover of Joan Sebastian's classic norteño torch song “Un Idiota” sets a refreshing romantic precedent for the group. Another amorous glimmer shines through on “Bebe Dame,” Fuerza Regida's cumbia crossover with Grupo Frontera—and the album's undeniable breakout hit, which was also its debut on the Billboard Hot 100. Of course, as a trailblazing force of the corridos-tumbados tidal wave, Fuerza Regida also stacked Sigan Hablando with sierreño-inflected bad-boy boasts. “El Diablo” (alongside Chihuahua ensemble Calle 24) spins a story of a reclusive drug kingpin who pulls strings from afar, while “El Pirata,” with Edgardo Nuñez, unfolds in a more cautionary fashion, warning of how certain organization leaders are not to be messed with. Though these stories are nothing new in the canon of Fuerza Regida, there's a fresh sense of self-reflection within, notably on “Me Tocó Morir,” which delivers gritty musings on the high mortality rate of the street business with poetic guest bars from Alfredo Olivas.