Music
DannyLux & Tornillo showcase Mexican excellence at Red Bull SoundClash 2024
Here’s how DannyLux and Tornillo reflected their Latin community at the Red Bull SoundClash in Los Angeles.
This year’s Red Bull SoundClash exudes a new take on Mexican excellence. From DannyLux’s emotional sierreño croons to Tornillo’s hard-hitting rap verses, the young Mexican talents expose new refreshing sounds that give their respective genres a breath of fresh air.
DannyLux — born Daniel Balderrama Espinoza — has been the face of sierreño after his first hit song “Jugaste y Sufrí” alongside musical colleague Eslabon Armado. Following the success of their popular joint track released in 2020, he quickly went from TikTok cover singer to starting his musical career. By prioritizing melancholic guitar chords and his sentimental croons, the young star paved a new pathway for the sad sierreño subgenre of música mexicana, also known as regional Mexican music. Now, he’s nominated for prestigious awards, most recently in the Latin Grammys’ new category Best Contemporary Mexican Music Album for his recent album Evoluxion.
DannyLux and and Eslabon at Red Bull SoundClash in Pico Rivera, California
© Natalie Somekh / Red Bull Content Pool
By revitalizing sierreño, Palm-Springs native DannyLux is a great representation of what’s hot in the Latin community, specifically coming from young Mexican artists. But he’s not only sticking in the sierreño zone. Recently, he released a collaboration “Mi Tormenta” with American rockstars The Black Keys, proving he’s not only renewing traditional sounds but pushing the genre forward. But this isn’t the first time he has collaborated or shown his love for rock music — much of DannyLux’s music is inspired by folk rock. Furthermore, the singer’s rockstar qualities were demonstrated at the Red Bull SoundClash in Los Angeles, CA, when he gave an ode to the genre with covers of Argentinean rock band Enanitos Verdes’ “Lamento Boliviano” and Mexican rock band Café Tacvba’s track “Quiero Ver.” All of these are great examples of why DannyLux is a great contestant for Red Bull SoundClash, which essentially is a celebration of clashing music and testing the competitors’ musical wits.
But Latin America is not only known for its iconic rock tunes. On the other hand, DannyLux’s Red Bull SoundClash opponent Tornillo — born Osiel Armando Vázquez Pérez — brings a different flavor to the mix. Tornillo, known for his alternative hip-hop and innovative rap and cumbia fusions, brings equal hype to the table. With popular songs like “Nena Ven,” “Morena,” and “Sentosa,” the 21-year-old MC is the current face of the thriving rap and hip-hop culture that’s brewing in Mexico and ready to be celebrated in the U.S. mainstream.
Pushing his urban genre forward with a personal twist, Tornillo is quickly being recognized for his echoing high-pitched vocals, emotive lyrics, and down-tempo hip-hop and cumbia melodies. He not only represents a new take on the urban rap game but also puts forward the rap culture thanks to being signed with Santa Fe Klan’s 473 Music label. One of the ways he represented all of this was by showing his Mexican hip-hop culture complete with breakdancing and spray painting at Red Bull SoundClash in Los Angeles.
Tornillo performs during Red Bull SoundClash in Pico Rivera, California
© Daniel Topete / Red Bull Content Pool
But he’s not all about urban rap and hip-hop. To further prove his genre-bending mastermind, he reimagined tracks like his emotional ballad “No Te Alejes De Mi” to a rhythmic cumbia. He also reconstructed his entrancing and romantic hip-hop track “Ven A Mi” into a salsa tune, and “Nena Ven” to an acoustic guitar-forward sound. By harnessing rap, hip-hop, salsa, and cumbia elements, the MC consistently kept the crowd’s energy at a maximum level. The hype was measured by the Decibel Meter, which ultimately signaled Tornillo as the event’s winner, 3-2. All of these efforts prove why Tornillo is a great choice for this year’s Red Bull SoundClash.
Beyond the two polar opposite artists’ sounds, Red Bull SoundClash demonstrated the diversity of Latin music. In one event alone, fans were able to capture glimpses of their culture’s rich Latin history. Between the two artists, fans celebrated and danced to genres like salsa, cumbia, reggae, rock, and even EDM at the Pico Rivera Sports Arena.
To give context: part of the event’s competition challenged the artists to cover popular tracks from other artists, and reimagine their own. Tornillo’s originality took him to cover the iconic salsa track “El Día De Mi Suerte,” made popular by Willie Colón and Héctor Lavoe. He kept his dancing shoes on by reconstructing the aforementioned tracks “No Te Alejes De Mi” into cumbia, and “Ven A Mi” into salsa. On the other hand, DannyLux reconstructed “EL HOMBRE PERFECTO” from bachata to reggae; and “ATRAPADO” from sierreño to cumbia. DannyLux also ended his set with the EDM track “HOUSE OF LUX,” once again showing that his talent goes beyond his regional Mexican roots.
DannyLux performs at Red Bull SoundClash at Pico Rivera Sports Arena
© Daniel Topete / Red Bull Content Pool
All of these genre-switch-ups genuinely represent the artists’ Mexican-American and Mexican communities, giving the fans a peek into their mundane lives. In Mexico, it’s common to hear cumbia and salsa daily while cleaning or commuting to work. In the U.S., it’s common to hear EDM and rock on the radio while doing the same activities. A majority of both communities also consume regional Mexican music, part of it due to the global regional Mexican boom that broke out into the mainstream in the last five years by the hand of artists like DannyLux, Eslabon Armado, and Peso Pluma.
That’s why both artists, DannyLux and Tornillo, make this edition of Red Bull SoundClash so special. In a year where regional Mexican and hip-hop/rap are meshing (take Peso Pluma’s Éxodo Tour for example), the event is right on the nose of amplifying the community’s craving for a genre-bending clash event.
Red Bull SoundClash is catering to the Latin community’s eagerness to not only dance to cumbias, but also sway to regional Mexican genres like sad sierreño. It’s opening space for our community to express themselves in ways they always have in their quinceañeras or weddings. The desire for these types of nights on a larger scale was clear throughout the event in Pico Rivera, where fans danced the night away in their sombreros and cowboy boots.
BReal of Cypress Hill and Tornillo at Red Bull SoundClash in Pico Rivera
© Natalie Somekh / Red Bull Content Pool
DannyLux and Tornillo continued the party on November 16 at the Byline Bank Aragon Ballroom in Chicago, IL. After a close competition and a tiebreaker, DannyLux took home the W. To relive Red Bull SoundClash’s Los Angeles edition that took place at the Pico Rivera Sports Arena on November 2, check out the official recap here.