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Alt.Latino: Why Harry Styles and The xx love Latin America
NPR Music
Harry Styles just finished a 5-night run in Mexico City. You know who else had a 5-night run in Mexico City? Michael Jackson in 1993. Mainstream artists have a long history of being enticed by the energy of performing for a Latin American crowd … which means there’s also a long and less-known history of big pop stars making music for that audience. Did you know Michael Jackson has a Latin track? So does Madonna. A few actually. As early as the '50s, Nat King Cole experimented with Spanish and released an entire record, Cole Español , writing songs in partnership with legendary "Bésame Mucho" composer Consuelo Velásquez. This week’s Alt.Latino is a pop takeover. We’re mythbusting the idea that there’s only been one kind of crossover — from Latin to mainstream — and walking through a long history of mainstream wanting to go… Latin. Support public media with NPR+ and enjoy perks for over 25 podcasts like this one. This show’s perks include bonus episodes and sponsor-free listening. Learn more at plus.npr.org . See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences. NPR Privacy Policy
View originalHarry Styles just finished a 5-night run in Mexico City. You know who else had a 5-night run in Mexico City? Michael Jackson in 1993. Mainstream artists have a long history of being enticed by the energy of performing for a Latin American crowd … which means there’s also a long and less-known history of big pop stars making music for that audience. Did you know Michael Jackson has a Latin track? So does Madonna. A few actually. As early as the '50s, Nat King Cole experimented with Spanish and released an entire record, Cole Español , writing songs in partnership with legendary "Bésame Mucho" composer Consuelo Velásquez. This week’s Alt.Latino is a pop takeover. We’re mythbusting the idea that there’s only been one kind of crossover — from Latin to mainstream — and walking through a long history of mainstream wanting to go… Latin. Support public media with NPR+ and enjoy perks for over 25 podcasts like this one. This show’s perks include bonus episodes and sponsor-free listening. Learn more at plus.npr.org . See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences. NPR Privacy Policy
- Published
- August 12, 2026
- Status
- active
- GUID hash
- 4d513e304805ee1cade7a665938393267244edc85fde605c29db51889471ac74
- Archive key
- alt-latino-why-harry-styles-and-the-xx-love-latin-america--entry_721ae760d3511e4d000a07040f5a
- Archive id
- entry_721ae760d3511e4d000a07040f5a