Maverick Mexican trio LATIN MAFIA tell Wonderland discuss their genre-bending approach, Omar Apollo, and their daring debut album, TODOS LOS DÍAS TODO EL DÍA.

Since releasing their debut album TODOS LOS DÍAS TODO EL DÍA last October, the past few months have been a whirlwind for LATIN MAFIA. The trio of brothers from Mexico City were nominated for Best New Artist at the Latin Grammy Awards, performed at Tyler, the Creator’s Camp Flog Gnaw Carnival, and now they’re on a sold-out tour of the U.S. and Mexico. Through their genre-bending and visceral LP, LATIN MAFIA have become pioneers for an avant garde future for Latin pop.

“It’s an album that came from our hearts and it’s like a part of our bodies,” Emilio de la Rosa, one of LATIN MAFIA’s singers, says. “It’s no longer just ours. The album now belongs to the people that listen to it, think about it, and can relate to it. We want to have that kind of connection with people.”

Emilio sings in LATIN MAFIA with his twin brother Milton while their older brother Mike produces all their music. They first broke through in Mexico as an independent act that blended genres like R&B, reggaeton, EDM, and dream-pop in their hits “Julietota,” “No Digas Nada,” and “Patadas de Ahogado” featuring Humbe. Last July, LATIN MAFIA signed with Rimas Entertainment, the home of Bad Bunny, which catapulted them into global prominence. The brothers’ experimental spirit from their indie days was fully unleashed in TODOS LOS DÍAS TODO EL DÍA with elements of trap, punk rock, flamenco, hyperpop, música Mexicana, and more becoming the soundtrack to their rollercoaster of emotions. 

The album’s pièce de résistance “Siento que merezco más” is the most emblematic of LATIN MAFIA being open about their doubts, anxieties, and how they’re dealing with the pressures of fame. The early twenty-somethings have also established an emotional bond with their fans through their personal lyrics that touch on their own struggles with mental health. LATIN MAFIA is not only trailblazing, but also transparent with their music, which has led to collaborations with Rauw Alejandro, Fred Again.., Omar Apollo, and recently Peso Pluma. While taking a break from the Mexico leg of their tour, the guys spoke exclusively with Wonderland about their life on the road, spreading mental health awareness through their music, and what’s next. 

Listen to TODOS LOS DÍAS TODO EL DÍA…

Read the exclusive interview…

Congrats on your sold-out shows across the U.S. and now Mexico! How would you describe the describe the experience your TE ODIO Y TE EXTRAÑO MUCHO Tour thus far?

Milton: I’ll remember the U.S. tour as a very beautiful chapter in our lives, not only on an artistic level as LATIN MAFIA, but also on a personal level. We had a really great time and it was a beautiful experience. To see that your art, or what you want to share with people, has reached another country is very incredible. In Mexico, it’s been very fun. It’s been a lot of work and tiring to be honest, but it’s all good. We’re having a blast. We’re very happy and we’re seeing if we’re going to extend this tour because we would love to visit other places. 

During your concert in New York City, I loved seeing you guys wearing Patricio Campillo’s “El Golfo de México” shirts. Why was it important for you to make a statement with those shirts? 

Milton: Being Mexicans ourselves, it was important for us to send a message of support and show our pride that we feel for Mexico. We wanted to show our support because I believe that we’ve always shown that we’re proudly Mexican. It’s a statement of facts. It’s the Gulf of Mexico, and even though they want to give it a different name, it’s still going to be the Gulf of Mexico. It’s simply a statement of facts about the truth of the situation. Even though some people might not like it, that’s the way it is. 

Milton, there’s many videos of you shirtless from the tour on TikTok. What do you think about the reaction of all the girls and gays who are lusting for you?

Milton: [Laughs.] It’s very beautiful. It’s very fun. It’s been a challenge for me to take care of my body, my mind, my physique, and my health in general. At the end of the day, to see people receive this in a positive way is something that’s very beautiful for me. That inspires me and drives me to keep going through this physical change that’s never linear. I want to make it clear that I don’t look like this all year long. There’s no perfect kind of body. Someone could have a body that’s very ripped and strong, but maybe not healthy. I simply want to keep taking care of my health. I want to add that a body doesn’t have to look like mine to be aesthetically acceptable. I’m just taking care of myself because I like to do that and I’m grateful for how people are reacting. It feels beautiful that people like it. I’ve had a good laugh seeing all the videos. 

Speaking of taking care of yourselves, why has it been important for you guys to open up about your struggles with mental health in your music? 

Milton: Mental health and problems with anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, and thousands of other mental illnesses exist, so why wouldn’t you want to give that visibility? There’s a high percentage of young people and older people, including men and women in Mexico, that have mental health issues that are untreated. Our way to send a message of support and be a lifeline for someone that might not have access to mental health treatment or information is to let them know that they’re not alone. We’re spreading more of that awareness in other parts of the world too. In Puerto Rico, we did an activation about the importance of mental health awareness and we have plans to do more of that kind of work in the future. I continue to have issues with anxiety, depression, and mental health, and I want to share my story with someone going through what I’ve gone through, so that they don’t have to suffer like I did. I believe it would be stupid to not want to help someone else. 

TODOS LOS DÍAS TODO EL DÍA sounds like a cathartic moment for you guys. How would you describe the experience of being vulnerable and opening up about your mental health in that album?

Mike: It’s not an album of fleeting emotions. It’s an album of emotions that we’ve felt all our lives. We felt it was time to take into account all those emotions in our music. Today we haven’t overcome them, but we’re coping with them, and we feel that it’s good to talk about all of that. There was a moment that we felt very exposed in front of a bunch of people. This album is about things that we kept to ourselves for a long time. It was something that was no longer just ours. We’ve shared it with so many people and they could see the feelings and emotions we went through with the process of making this album. The day it came out, we felt super exposed and we didn’t know how to handle that. That was a process that we went through together and we’re still learning how to cope with those emotions. It wasn’t easy.

Milton: In a way, I feel like the music we put out before this album was like sharing a piece of our minds with the world. Now with this album, we’re letting the world inside of our heads to see what goes on in our minds. 

The music of LATIN MAFIA can’t be defined by one genre or one sound. Where did the idea come from to mix different genres within your music in your own way?

Mike: We love to listen to everything. We love to work with everything. We love to explore everything that’s out there. I feel like we’ve done a lot of exploring and many different things that we can say that this album sounds like us. 

Emilio: We love to experiment and we love to have fun making music. We love movies. We love music from movies. We love to read. We love everything. We love to experience new things and to enjoy ourselves, which is the most important thing for us we’re working on music. 

Mike: We never want our music to be empty. We want it to be full of emotions. We’re at a  moment where we need to create music from new experiences, new emotions, and new things. It’s the time to get back to that to be able to tell new stories. We can’t tell a story if we haven’t experienced it. We want to tell stories that are genuine and human. It’s time for music with emotions and values.  

In an Instagram live, you recently played a piece of your song with Omar Apollo. What can you tell us about that experience of working with him?

Milton: We love Omar so much. We’re fortunate enough to call him our friend now. He’s a great friend. We’ve hung out many times together, including outside of the studio. We’ve kept in touch with him. He’s a great person. He’s also an exceptionally amazing artist. We’ve very excited for you to hear what we’ve created with Omar. There’s going to be multiple songs. We’ve done many songs with him and all of them are incredible.

You guys were also spotted in the recording studio with Peso Pluma. What can you tell us about that collaboration?

Milton: There’s a song coming with Peso. To be honest, we need to finish it because we have to work on a few things in terms of our voices. You know how we’re perfectionists. There’s a song coming. It’s a surprise and it’s coming out this year. There’s a lot of collaborations coming. We’re not going to put out another album this year. We want to work on a lot of our own music too because there’s a lot of collaborations coming soon.

What do you see for the future of LATIN MAFIA?

Milton: This year, I would love for us to become the No. 1 artists in Mexico. It doesn’t have anything to do with our egos. It’s just an accomplishment that we would love to achieve. It’s a personal goal for us to be something new and fresh from Mexico and we want to represent that on a global level.

Emilio: We want to grow our audience in other parts of the world and in other countries. We know that we have a successful tour in the US, but we want to keep breaking through the Anglo market. One of our dreams is to perform in Japan. We have to see how that will happen. 

Words – Lucas Villa

Photography – @directony