For more than a year, Edgar Alejandro left his song “A Tu Lado” in the drafts folder of his phone, unsure of what the public would make of the mariachi and jazz fusion.
At the time, corridos tumbados were dominating the música mexicana airwares. But here, Alejandro had written and composed a romantic ballad with soft strings descending like falling leaves, with the piano dancing around his warm tone. His voice breaks the surface with a breathy, smoldering whisper.
“No creía en el destino, hasta que te conocí,” Alejandro softly sings a Juan Gabriel classic.
The song flutters with the levity of a bolero. Alejandro is adamant that it’s a blend of románticas con mariachi meets jazz.
In 2023, the Los Angeles musician released the ballad from his drafts and shared his music with the world. Now, Alejandro is heading out on tour next month to introduce a new generation to a genre of music that harkens back to Mexican love songs from a bygone era.
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Alejandro, 23, knows he’s speaking to a niche audience with his music.
“When people think of mariachi, sometimes they think, ‘Ah, that’s just for old people,’” Alejandro said in a recent Zoom call from home.
But Alejandro is attempting to reinterpret mariachi con romanticas for a new, younger crowd much like Luis Miguel, who reintroduced American audiences to bolero, Cristian Castro with his blend of Latin ballad or Christian Nodal, who mixed mariachi and norteño music.
Born in Guadalajara, Mexico, Alejandro arrived in Los Angeles when he was 3 years old. Both his parents are professional mariachis and filled their home in northeast Los Angeles with José Alfredo Jimenez, Vicente Fernández, Javier Solis and Pedro Infante.
Unsigned and self-produced, Alejandro wrote and released music of his own in 2021. He started gaining followers and fans online but then things cooled off.
“I saw the little peek of what my music was going to give to me,” he said.
He poured more of himself into his artistry, hiring backup musicians and paying for studio recording sessions. But the mounting pressure of rising costs and no surefire hit left him stressed.
“I would cry,” Alejandro recalled. “I thought I made a bad decision because as much as I love music, there was no money coming in.”
At the time, his dad was trying to steer his career in other directions. Adrián Pérez plays trumpet full time and worried that his son would struggle to find success. He knew how tough it could be in the industry and did not want that for his son.
Still, Pérez tried his best to prepare his son for working in the industry.
“Le decimos que tenga cuidado con quien se rodea,” Pérez said. (Translation: We tell him to be careful with who he surrounds himself with.)
What’s clear is that Alejandro has the ache in his voice that’s reminiscent of forlorn romantics like Pepe Aguilar and the timbre of Miguel. “¿Porque Regresas?” features soaring strings and his voice. “Soy Yo” is a song that dips into bossa nova — the sound of a trumpet accompanies the percussion and lyrics. And music lovers are listening.
Alejandro drew sold-out crowds at his August shows in San Francisco and at the Paramount in Boyle Heights. He started to see his online views climb. While his violinist mother, Maria Alfaro, had the same worry as his father about her son entering the music industry, she wasn’t surprised that he was able to captivate an audience.
“Siempre lo miré que tenía el don,” Alfaro said. “Le gustaba mucho el cantar y lo que yo veía era que no le daba vergüenza cantar delante de la gente. (Translation: I always saw that he had the gift. He loved singing a lot and what I saw was that he was not ashamed to sing in front of people.)
And others are starting to take note. Earlier this year, the Icelandic Chinese vocalist Laufey, responsible for nurturing a love of jazz standards among Gen Z, played “A Tu Lado” in a TikTok post where she posed in an elegant dress and stylish shoes. For Alejandro, it was a moment of pride.
Looking back, Alejandro is not sure why he held on to the song for so long. Call it a gut feeling.
“I’m very much a believer in God’s timing,” he said. “I think it happened when it had to happen.”
This interview was edited for length and clarity.
What type of music did your parents listen to when you were growing up?
I grew up on José José, Juan Gabriel and Los Panchos. You know, that classic Mexican stuff. But it was just rooted so deep into my family because we’re musicians. That’s where that influence comes from, and I think you can kind of hear it in my music. It’s that nostalgic feel from before, but in a modern way. We listened to Los Angeles Negros. They were also a big influence.
Were you trying to bring up this older music with your friends in school?
While my friends were listening to Freddy Wap, early years of Travis Scott and Drake, I was like, ‘Yeah, you know, there’s this song by Juan Gabriel that’s really good, you know?’ I was like that one dude. I mean I’ve always loved modern music, but I would start putting all my friends onto older music.
How would you describe the type of kid you were, growing up?
Honestly, I’ve always been super-outgoing. In middle school and one year of high school, I was in mariachi. I’m not gonna lie, my English wasn’t that good. I think like two or three years ago my English started getting better. It was kind of broken at times. I would mispronounce a lot of words. I was the kid who would get his report card and it would say that he wouldn’t stop talking.
When was the first time that you felt comfortable singing in front of people who were not your family?
Well, my mom put me in two or three contests. So I guess the first contest was when I was like 10 or 11. Prior to that, I’ve always [sung at] family parties. I’ve always felt comfortable because at a super-young age I had the mindset that people are expecting you to not be shy or nervous when singing.
Do you remember what song it was?
Oh yeah, it was “La niña de la mochila azul” and it’s a classic Pedro Fernandez song. It’s a song that little kids sing. I remember that ... my parents would just pay attention to one note. And even now, they’ll say after I perform, “Yeah, it was good, but you seem a little flat in this one part, right here, just right there.” Since they’re musicians they hear it. But to a regular person they’ll say, “Oh my God, he was perfect.”
What is your state of mind now with your career and what does success look like?
The ball started rolling with “A Tu Lado,” and then once “¿Porque Regresas?” started making movement in my career, I was like, “Yeah, this is the route, I gotta keep going.” You just got to be truthful to your roots and just do the music that you want to create, the lyrics that you want to make. I’m not gonna say we’re in the best economical place I could be in terms of money, but I do not feel that pressure anymore. I feel like this thing is like a bomb and it’s only a matter of time where it’s just gonna explode and everything’s gonna fall into place. I get to interact with the crowds at shows. The L.A. show was super-organic. We could have done a second show, but we only wanted to do one show because we kind of wanted to create FOMO.
Edgar Alejandro will be on tour in November, with stops in Phoenix, San Diego, Houston, Dallas, Chicago and New York City.
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