VivirLatino

Latino or mainstream, or are Latinos the mainstream?

13:17 H | Topics: Culture - Marketing - Media - Music

The topic of "the mainstreaming of Latino" seems to be a popular one this week in media. An article in Billboard entitled "Latino music moves into the U.S. mainstream" is not about what the headline alludes to at all. It's about the fact that the Latino population itself is mainstream, so much so that Latino performers can now "get away with" not doing Latino music and can "exploit" their Latino-ness for the good of their careers:

Marcos Hernandez barely speaks Spanish. He grew up listening to Barry Manilow, the Temptations, Michael Jackson and U2. And on his debut album, "About Me," he sings soulful R&B -- in English.

But Hernandez is of Hispanic heritage, a fact that he, and his label, TVT, have embraced and exploited when it comes to making and promoting his music.

"We were careful about me being Latin, R&B and pop," Hernandez says. "About pulling the strings of my Latin heritage."

Although "About Me," released late last year, has Latin tinges on a couple of tracks, and even a Spanish-language remix, it is not a Latin album by any stretch of the imagination. But TVT has been marketing it to the pop mainstream and Latin markets alike, banking on a growing number of Americans who are like Hernandez: First-, second- and even third-generation Latinos who may not speak Spanish, but who still define themselves as Latin -- "a Mexican kid from the South" is how Hernandez describes himself in his album liner notes -- and share a common cultural identity.

It's kind of like having your cake and eating it too. The article goes on to make the following observation:

This growing population of assimilated Latinos -- and the growing awareness of their buying power -- is changing the way Latin artists are signed, marketed and promoted.

So what does this mean? Are Latinos now such a powerful population -- now "sophisticated" enough for the mainstream -- that pop music will jump through hoops to to attract Latino dollars, or is Latino-ness doomed to be diluted by the white bread pop industry?

This perceived "mainstreaming" and "sophistication" of Latinos was the topic of an article in Business Week this week as well. I was (mis) quoted (you won't catch me using the word "Hispanic" or musing about George Lopez) in a piece about how advertisers are straying from the traditional messages of la abuelita, la familia, el hogar, etc. and going for edginess and sarcasm just like they do with the mainstream market.

The fascination with this topic on the part of mainstream media points to the fact that neither media nor advertisers have ever considered Latinos as part of the general public until now. Before, Latinos were "bichos raros", a group that responded only to tired stereotypes, cliches and trashy double entendres.

All of a sudden, Latinos are just like everybody else. Yawn.

Via / MSNBC.com and Business Week

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