As we wrap up our coverage of the year in music, we are publishing lists of the music loved best by individual members of NPR Music's team. For more, check out the full team's picks for the 124 best songs and 50 best albums of 2024.
Every year I spend days mulling, relistening to records, trying to find the throughline of my personal best albums of the year. I ultimately always find little threads that reflect sweeping cultural breakthroughs: the United States mainstream discovered dembow and liked it, while young Mexican Americans found community with accordion. But this year, I'm coming up blank.
The music we love consistently says the most about where we are as a community. Every four years, it seems, people in this country realize that all Latinos don't think the same. A friend recently commented to me that Latinos spend more time looking for nationalistic credit for our most beloved pan-Latin cultural touchstones than anything else ("Mi Burrito Sabanero" is Venezuelan, I've been schooled and concede.)
The US-perceptible trends in Latin music, the years of pan-Latin pop's explosion, haven't let the rest of the world in on this never ending struggle: to find community in Latinidad and maintain individual cultural pride within our respective countries. That is, until this year. After years as a community rallying around our biggest names, our most marketable, flashy genres, in 2024 it felt like we could really just be who we are. There's no neat, bow-tied trend to explain this year in Latin music because maybe, more than ever before, Latin music was allowed to be just music, that happens to be in Spanish.
Across Latin America, people are returning home — Mexicans listening to Mexican music. Chileans to Chilean music, and so on. We're finding solace and support in our home countries with such unapologetic authenticity it's allowing music of all kinds (and quirks) from all places to gain recognition and air time in this country too. There's a magic to re-localization, to loving our similarities, and at the same time, celebrating and uplifting our differences. I am proud to be Mexican, Latina, and born and raised alongside a mix of all of these parts of me in this country.
Proudly local music found space to be loved, cherished and uplifted by the people who understand it best. As we all return to loving home, maybe there we can find the road map to loving the rest of the world too.
My top 10 favorite albums
- Álvaro Diaz, SAYONARA
- Nathy Peluso, GRASA
- Sanje, De Repente Otra Vez
- Amaia Miranda, Mientras vivas brilla
- Ed Maverick, LA NUBE EN EL JARDÍN
- Trueno, EL ÚLTIMO BAILE
- Carin León, Boca Chueca, Vol. 1
- RaiNao, CAPICÚ
- Helado Negro, Phasor
- PJ Sin Suela, Todo Época Tiene Su Encanto
Copyright 2024 NPR
