Ximena al rescate

Don't let anybody fool you. If you want to know if any Mexican musical act is really crossing over to the US market (non-Latino US market), this is your source for the facts and nothing but the facts. Thalia? Oh please... for a few hours her single "I want you" in 2003, but that was pretty much it. Paulina? Well, very strong in the US Latino market (way stronger than Thalia), but in the non-Latino market she was just a brief presence in 2004-2005 and then she was gone. And of course then we have Anahi and RBD, who were pretty successful with the crossover thing in 2006 and early 2007 with "Rebels" and mainly their cover of Jon B's "Tu amor." That song was really a crossover hit, and the RBDs were performing in n0n-Latino stations and venues that other crossover-attempting Mexican acts can only dream of. Everything was cool and then they did heavy promotion of their follow up album, "Empezar desde cero" (in Spanish), but the non-Latino audience didn't get it, and nothing happened. The problem with this situation was that suddenly Anahi was the most popular "voice" of Mexican music in the United States. Cool, but is that really a voice? Is that really the flag we want to be proud of? Don't get me wrong, I find the RBDs very entertaining and I have nothing but love for them, but they are a commercial product with limited shelf life, and once the "oh cool" factor of listening to their music on English-only radio was gone, I was really worried about their role as ambassadors of Mexican pop music in the non-Latino market.
Enter my beloved Ximena Sariñana. Last weekend, hurricane Ximena took over the airwaves and record stores in the United States. The coolest thing is that her album "Mediocre" is in Spanish, but suddenly it crossed over to the non-Latino market in this country. Of course, it didn't happen in one day. Her summer performance on KCRW's "Morning becomes eclectic" sure got the fire started, and then Rolling Stone magazine had a very positive capsule review of her album. However, the biggest detonator was last Saturday's interview on NPR's "Weekend Edition." The album skyrocketed to iTunes top 25 in any language. Sure, in the Latino albums it was (and still is) number 1, but it was in the Top 25 of the general chart, in there with the Rihannas and the Jonas Brothers and all of those things that sell millions and millions of albums. I don't think even RBD did that with an album (sure, "Tu amor" sold like Starbucks coffee on a cold morning, and no one can say that's not true). And it makes me much more comfortable to have Ximena as ambassador of Mexican pop music because she can actually sing, she has a good style (the Fiona Apple comparisons are not bad, but she has her unique spin), and she writes her own stuff. I am happy, but of course there are some morons who go out and put hate messages on the NPR and Rolling Stone's boards, saying that she is only famous because of her dad's movies. Helloooo?? Who the hell knows her dad in the US? Nobody does!!! So, follow this formula: If a non-Spanish speaking US audience member listens to her album without a) knowing who the hell her dad is, and b) not understanding Spanish, and still goes "wow" and buys the album.. who deserves credit? This blog is happy for Ximena's success in the US so far, and hopes she gets only bigger.