President Claudia Sheinbaum presented the initiative “Mexico Canta” (México Sings), a competition that seeks to promote Mexican music without content that advocates violence and drugs and that is part of the campaign for peace and against addiction.
During her morning press conference at the National Palace, the Mexican president explained that the project would boost the creative activity of young Mexicans both in Mexico and in the United States, as well as seek to bring part of the creative industry of the U.S. to Aztec soil. “It is an initiative on both sides of the border, with very diverse businessmen, businesswomen, and artists,” said Sheinbaum Pardo.
In explaining this initiative, the minister of Culture, Claudia Curiel de Icaza, emphasized that Mexico is culturally rich and has an impressive diversity in music that, throughout history, has enjoyed very important international recognition. She added that Mexico is ranked 10th in the global music industry market and 8th in digital consumption. However, the Mexican government is assessing the issue that more than 70 percent of a specific type of new musical genre, called “corridos tumbaos” may be considered as advocating physical and/or gender violence.
For this reason, De Icaza explained, this competition and new Mexican music will promote and preserve music that is inspired by themes and emotions; “it is obviously not about prohibitions or censorship but about talking about many other things and about providing conditions and other opportunities for the youth of Mexico”. In this same sense, President Sheinbaum mentioned the need to assess the causes of violence knowing that ‘one more artist, one more athlete, or one more student, is one less criminal’.
México Canta is expected to be a platform for the professionalization and promotion of new Mexican music to generate other types of creative opportunities so that young people can perform with the support of the Mexican Music Council, as well as take it to international stages.
The Mexican minister of culture stated that this competition has had a great response from the entire industry in the sector, being “a historic alliance between government and private initiative as an unprecedented cultural policy in the field of music, focused on young people for the benefit of Mexico to promote and strengthen this new Mexican music and the national industry”.
Who can participate and how?
“México Canta” is aimed at young performers and composers between the ages of 18 and 34, of Mexican and Mexican-American origin, with songs or performances of genres such as mariachi, norteño, banda, corrido, tropical, duranguense, campirano, bolero, among others, as well as fusions of rap, rock, pop and hip hop, to mention a few.
Participation in native languages, Spanish and “Spanglish” will be allowed. In turn, composers and singer-songwriters may participate in the contest with unpublished songs of up to 3 minutes, while performers may present a song, even if it is not of their authorship, with a duration of up to 3 minutes.
All participants must prepare their entries between April 7 and 27 and register between April 28 and May 30, 2025, on the website mexicocanta.gob.mx by sending an audio or video recording, which can be made with mobile devices (they do not have to be professional recordings).
The head of the Ministry of Culture specified that the competition would consist of four phases. The first two will be held virtually and the remaining two in person.
In the first selection (from May 31 to July 4), the jury will select 10 participants per state of the Mexican Republic and 15 per region of the United States. In total, there will be 365 participants. At the state level (from July 5 to August 8), the jury will select eight participants per region of Mexico and 8 per participating region of the USA. A total of 48. The competition will be live and in person on Sundays in different states and cities in Mexico and the United States; the regional competitions, which will be from August 17 to September 21, will be live and in person, broadcast by the public media, and will feature 8 participants. In the voting round, the specialized jury will have 70 percent of the participation in the result, while the remaining 30 percent will be live votes from the public.
The competition’s route will start in the United States: it begins in Chicago on August 17, continues in Houston on August 24, and finally in Los Angeles on August 31, in all with 8 selected and one winner. After this, Tijuana on September 7, Mexico City on September 14, Oaxaca on September 21; and the grand final will be on October 5 in Durango, which will be broadcast live on public media.
This competition will have first, second, and third place for Best Song and Best Performer, both decided by a 100% public vote, while the Best Artist will be chosen entirely by a professional jury vote.
Awards
The minister of Culture explained that the prizes for the winners will be awarded through the Mexican Music Council (CNM). The winner of the Best Song award will get a contract with a national, transnational, or independent CNM label. The winner of the Best Performer award will sign a recording contract with a national, transnational, or independent music company belonging to the CNM. They will also record an LP with 12 songs and video clips. Finally, the Jury Prize consists of the signing of a recording contract, which includes the recording of an EP with six songs and audiovisual material.
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