Grupo Frontera

Apple Music Up Next artists Grupo Frontera never figured their music would go big. It’s traditional. It’s in Spanish. Not a lot of concessions to the modern listener, however imagined. But like other música mexicana artists who found their way into the global mainstream during the early 2020s, it’s precisely that sense of tradition that made them so comforting. “The thing is, we grew up listening to the type of music we play,” lead vocalist Adelaido “Payo” Solís told Apple Music. “You could say it’s an old type of rhythm, but...”—and then he shrugs, because what does “old” mean when people are finding joy in it now? Formed in McAllen, Texas, in 2019, the group started out uploading covers of classic Latin pop and norteño tracks to social media, amassing an audience far beyond the borderlands where they grew up. Eventually, they met writer and producer Edgar Barrera, who, as Solís put it, helped “bring the modern feeling” without diluting the roots of their sound. A series of collaborative singles in 2022 and ’23—including “Que Vuelvas” with Carin Leon and the massive “un x100to” with Bad Bunny—put them on the map; their first full-length album, El Comienzo, followed in the summer of 2023. Solís remains thrilled, but a little stunned. “For us to be able to have our music be heard all around the world, having it be what we grew up listening to—it’s something we never imagined.”