Pop music's 'Latin Explosion' of 1999

It's Been a Minute

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🗓️ 12 October 2021

⏱️ 34 minutes

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Summary

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Latino artists like Ricky Martin, Marc Anthony, Jennifer Lopez and Shakira ruled the pop charts. But who was that so-called "Latin Explosion" actually for, and what were the business considerations behind it? In the third part of our series exploring crossover in pop music, we examine how this supposed boom turned out to be more of a marketing creation, which evaporated when digital streaming entered the picture.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Let's go back to February 24th, 1999.
0:04.2	I can recall this night in detail because that was the night the Grammys were broadcast
0:09.0	that year.
0:10.4	And in terms of award shows, those 41st annual Grammy Awards had everything.
0:16.0	This was the night Lauren Hill won five Grammys, including album of the year for the miseducation
0:21.5	of Lauren Hill.
0:22.5	This is education of Lauren Hill.
0:24.5	An album that truly got me through high school.
0:27.5	You know what, this is so amazing.
0:30.1	Thank you, God.
0:31.8	This was also the night that Celine Dion won record of the year for my heart will go on.
0:45.5	Shania Twain and Alina Smoreset won multiple awards that night.
0:50.2	And Aerosmith.
0:51.2	Yes, Aerosmith, they performed, I don't want to miss a thing, from the Armageddon
0:56.8	soundtrack.
0:57.8	This award show, it was the perfect time capsule of late 90s pop culture.
1:08.6	But also, this show offered a bit of foreshadowing of a new trend that would sweep the nation just
1:14.6	months later into the new millennium with one Ricky Martin at the forefront.
1:22.3	That award show in 1999.
1:25.5	That was where Ricky really made his American debut.
1:30.0	He performed a song called La Copa de la Vida.
1:32.7	He performed the Cup of Life.
	...

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