{"id":119146,"date":"2025-08-04T21:16:10","date_gmt":"2025-08-04T21:16:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/119146\/"},"modified":"2025-08-04T21:16:10","modified_gmt":"2025-08-04T21:16:10","slug":"latin-mafia-helps-carry-the-flag-for-latin-music-at-lollapalooza","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/119146\/","title":{"rendered":"Latin Mafia helps carry the flag for Latin music at Lollapalooza"},"content":{"rendered":"

On the last night of Lollapalooza Sunday, festival goers had a choice to make: A$AP Rocky, Sabrina Carpenter or Latin Mafia.<\/p>\n

Latin Mafia, formed in 2021, is a Mexican indie pop band of three brothers, twins Milton and Emilio and Mike de la Rosa. Their debut Lollapalooza performance on the Grove stage in Grant Park was, in a word, hectic: Milton and Emilio each ripped off their shirts, one of them scaled the stage\u2019s scaffolding and the other threw himself into the crowd. The band brought out Omar Apollo, a Mexican American alternative artist, to join the ruckus.<\/p>\n

Latin Mafia\u2019s appearance at Lollapalooza felt, to many, like a tribute to Latin music. The band, after all, is not nearly as famous as 2023 headliner Karol G, who, along with artists like Bad Bunny, have brought Latin artists more of a mainstream following in the United States over the last few years. Alongside The Mar\u00edas, Young Miko and Ca7riel & Paco Amoroso, the de la Rosa brothers made sure that Latin music was heard at this summer\u2019s festival.<\/p>\n

\"PeoplePeople cheer for The Marias during their performance at Lollapalooza in Chicago\u2019s Grant Park, Aug. 3, 2025. (Dominic Di Palermo\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

Many of their fans, though, said they wished that Lollapalooza organizers C3 Presents could do more to highlight Spanish-language performers \u2014 especially given that Latino and Hispanic people make up nearly 30% of Chicago\u2019s population.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing Mexican, it\u2019s awesome to see artists that are also Mexican on stage,\u201d said Giselle, a 26-year-old from Chicago who asked to use only her first name. \u201cI wish that there was more, because there\u2019s good music being made in our community, and I wish that they were given the spotlight a little more.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chicago residents Jose Perez, 38, and Kat Diaz, 30, worked a bar at Lollapalooza but managed to make it to Latin Mafia\u2019s and Young Miko\u2019s performances. They have both worked Sue\u00f1os, too, the Latin music festival<\/a> earlier in the summer in Grant Park also organized by C3 Presents. While Sue\u00f1os gives Chicagoans the opportunity to celebrate Latin music, Perez and Diaz both pointed out that Lollapalooza draws in a much bigger crowd and therefore provides more exposure for its performers.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo have a platform here for Latin music would be huge, not only for Latinos, but for the general population, because it\u2019s growing so much,\u201d Perez said.<\/p>\n

Noah Estrada, 27, who lives in San Diego County, has been to a number of music festivals over the years, including Coachella in Southern California, Electric Daisy Carnival in Las Vegas and Portola in San Francisco. Estrada has noticed that these big festivals tend to bring out the same Latin performers, as if they \u201ctravel in packs.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s whatever\u2019s trending that year,\u201d he said. \u201cYou\u2019ll get The Mar\u00edas and some of these other big Latin names together all at once, instead of on their own.\u201d (Mar\u00eda Zardoya, lead singer of The Mar\u00edas, was born in Puerto Rico and often incorporates Spanish into her songs).<\/p>\n

Latin Mafia, for instance, performed at Coachella in 2024. Estrada appreciates how they use synthesizers in their unique sound, and being half-Mexican, he has a bit of a sentimental reason for choosing the band to be his Lollapalooza closer.<\/p>\n

\"Mar\u00edaMar\u00eda Zardoy, lead singer of The Marias, performs at the Bud Light stage during Lollapalooza in Chicago\u2019s Grant Park, Aug. 3, 2025. (Dominic Di Palermo\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

The crowd that gathered to hear Latin Mafia took over The Grove, shouting excitedly in Spanish when Milton or Emilio urged them on. Almost everything the band members said or sang during their show was in Spanish, which didn\u2019t seem to pose a language barrier for anyone in the crowd.<\/p>\n

Jailine Cortez, Samantha Quiroga and Natalie Reyes, who are all 26 and live in Chicago, bought tickets just for Sunday. Reyes and Quiroga have been to Sue\u00f1os several times, but never Lollapalooza, until now, because it didn\u2019t seem to have much of a draw for Latin music fans.<\/p>\n

As Latin Mafia sang its final number, the brothers passed around a Mexican flag.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love to see Mexican representation anywhere in the world,\u201d Giselle said. \u201cIt makes me so proud.\u201d<\/p>\n

As he walked up and down the stage, singing in melodic Spanish, one of the twins wrapped the flag around his shoulders. The red, white and green trailed behind him like a cape.<\/p>\n

Originally Published: August 4, 2025 at 3:03 PM CDT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On the last night of Lollapalooza Sunday, festival goers had a choice to make: A$AP Rocky, Sabrina Carpenter…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":119147,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5124],"tags":[960,171,5386,1818,1370,728,5424,1072],"class_list":{"0":"post-119146","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago","8":"tag-chicago","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-il","11":"tag-illinois","12":"tag-latest-headlines","13":"tag-local-news","14":"tag-music-and-concerts","15":"tag-things-to-do"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114972576176973128","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119146","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=119146"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119146\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/119147"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=119146"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=119146"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=119146"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}