Stephen Sanchez Named to Billboard’s 21 Under 21 List

Stephen Sanchez is officially making his mark in the music world…

The 20-year-old Latino American singer has been named to Billboard’s 21 Under 21 list for 2023. The annual list features the next generation of superstars.

Stephen SanchezSanchez, who has logged 460.2 million streams, evoked classic romance with his waltzing, 1950s-indebted hit, “Until I Found You,” which soundtracked hundreds of thousands of TikToks featuring wedding and couple celebrations.

The 2021 single crossed over from viral success to radio hit last year, reaching No. 23 on the Billboard Hot 100 and topping the Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart.

And while the Mercury/Republic Records crooner has released several versions of “Until I Found You,” he has also shared some new, retro-leaning tunes ahead of his fall tour.

“There has been a really healthy growth and certainly lots of adjustment,” says Sanchez, “but I’ve been having a hell of a good time along the way.”

But Sanchez isn’t the only Latino artist to make the list.

Angela Aguilar, born to Regional Mexican music royalty, has become a star in her own right.

The 19-year-old Mexican American singer, who has logged 322.8 million streams, scored her third top 10 entry on Billboard’s Latin Airplay chart in March with her collaboration with Yuridia, “Qué Agonía.

After spending the past few years on the road with her family for their top-grossing Jaripeo Sin Fronteras show, Aguilar will embark on a solo tour titled Piensa En Mí this summer.

DannyLux has also made the cut…

In April, the 19-year-old Latino American artist made his Coachella debut, performing his signature sad sierreño anthems in front of a significant crowd. It was a full-circle moment for the singer-songwriter, who grew up in the Coachella Valley area. He says he’s most proud of bringing his family along with him, “and for them to experience all of this as well,” but his impact extends well beyond his circle: DannyLux is helping usher in a new global era for Mexican music, which led to a record deal last year with Warner Music Latina in partnership with his independent label, VPS Music.

Ivan Cornejo secured his first Billboard chart entry with his 2021 debut album, Alma Vacía, at the age of 17, landing at No. 2 on Regional Mexican Albums. That same year, the project’s “Está Dañada” became the second regional Mexican song to ever enter the Billboard Hot 100. The singer-songwriter has since maintained momentum, with his sierreño tunes — mostly backed by melancholic requintos and emotional vocals — helping Cornejo score his first No. 1 on Regional Mexican Albums with his second set, Dañado.

The Linda Lindas, featuring the half-Latina sisters Lucia de la Garza and Mila de la Garza and Latina guitarist/singer Bela Salazar, rose to acclaim in 2021 with a live performance of the band’s song “Racist, Sexist Boy,” performed live at the Los Angeles Public Library. The four-piece punk group settled in last year with its debut album, Growing Up, released on Epitaph. The act subsequently toured the project at festivals, as well as on North American and international treks, during which Lucia de la Garza says she “really got the idea of how widespread the reach of the internet and streaming platforms are.”

Since debuting with his Into the Unknown EP in 2020, Riovaz has released music at a steady pace, with uptempo dance hits like “Prom Night” and “I Feel Fantastic” being among fan favorites. Most recently, the New Jersey native boosted his catalog with his February EP, Disturb the Norm — his first project to arrive since signing to Darkroom Records, in partnership with Geffen, last summer.

To come up with the list, Billboard editors and reporters weighed a variety of factors in determining the 2023 21 Under 21 list, including, but not limited to, impact on consumer behavior, measured by metrics such as album and track sales, streaming volume (listed here as each artist’s on-demand official U.S. career streams, according to Luminate), social media impressions and radio/TV audiences reached; career trajectory; and overall impact in the industry, specifically during the past 12 months. Unless otherwise noted, Luminate is the source for sales/streaming data.

Here’s the complete look at the Latino/a artists named to this year’s 21 Under 21 list:

Ángela Aguilar
Age:
 19
Label: Machín Récords
Publisher: SESAC
Management: Pepe Aguilar
Total Streams: 322.8 million
Born to regional Mexican music royalty — her father is Pepe Aguilar and her grandfather is Antonio Aguilar — the artist has become a star in her own right. In March, her collaboration with Yuridia, “Qué Agonía,” scored the ranchera singer-songwriter her third top 10 entry on Billboard’s Latin Airplay chart. After spending the past few years on the road with her family for their top-grossing Jaripeo Sin Fronteras show, the 19-year-old will embark on a solo tour titled Piensa En Mí this summer. Inspired by Pepe’s career, she says, “It’s nice to have someone that you admire at home, someone who can direct me in the right direction because everything that I’m going through, he has already gone through.” 

DannyLux
Age: 19
Label: VPS Music via Warner Latina
Publisher: Warner Chappell Music
Management: Jose Luis Aguilar
Total Streams: 217 million
In April, DannyLux made his Coachella debut, performing his signature sad sierreño anthems in front of a significant crowd. It was a full-circle moment for the singer-songwriter, who grew up in the Coachella Valley area. He says he’s most proud of bringing his family along with him, “and for them to experience all of this as well,” but his impact extends well beyond his circle: DannyLux is helping usher in a new global era for Mexican music, which led to a record deal last year with Warner Music Latina in partnership with his independent label, VPS Music. “I feel like there is a lot of pressure,” he says. “You have to stay consistent because it’s so easy to just fall off.” 

Ivan Cornejo
Age: 18
Label: n/a
Publisher: n/a
Management: Pamela Cornejo
Total Streams: 1.1 billion
Ivan Cornejo was 17 years old when he secured his first Billboard chart entry with his 2021 debut album, Alma Vacía, landing at No. 2 on Regional Mexican Albums. That same year, the project’s “Está Dañada” became the second regional Mexican song to ever enter the Billboard Hot 100. The singer-songwriter has since maintained momentum, with his sierreño tunes — mostly backed by melancholic requintos and emotional vocals — helping Cornejo score his first No. 1 on Regional Mexican Albums with his second set, Dañado. (A deluxe edition arrived last December.) “The most exciting part about being a young artist is the influence my music can have on other upcoming artists,” he says, which can best be reflected in his feature on the Yahritza Y Su Esencia “Inseparables” that dropped last fall. 

The Linda Lindas
Age Bela Salazar, 18; Lucia de la Garza, 16; Eloise Wong, 15; Mila de la Garza, 12
Label Epitaph Records
Publisher Warner Chappell Music
Management Fly South Music Group
Total Streams 12.8 million
Riding an initial viral wave in 2021 spurred by a live performance of its song “Racist, Sexist Boy” at the Los Angeles Public Library, the four-piece punk group settled in last year with its debut album, Growing Up, released on Epitaph. The act subsequently toured the project at festivals, as well as on North American and international treks, during which Lucia de la Garza says she “really got the idea of how widespread the reach of the internet and streaming platforms are.” In April, the band returned with single “Too Many Things” and a Coachella performance, which it will follow by opening for Paramore and playing at Lollapalooza Chicago in August. 

Riovaz
Age 19
Label Darkroom Records/Geffen
Publisher n/a
Management Jacob Byrnes, Argenis Hernandez
Total Streams 215.6 million
Since debuting with his Into the Unknown EP in 2020, Riovaz has released music at a steady pace, with uptempo dance hits like “Prom Night” and “I Feel Fantastic” being among fan favorites. Most recently, the New Jersey native boosted his catalog with his February EP, Disturb the Norm — his first project to arrive since signing to Darkroom Records, in partnership with Geffen, last summer. “A lot of people are focusing only on streams and followers, which to me doesn’t make me fall in love and remember an artist,” says Riovaz. “Success, to me, is to be remembered for your contributions to the music industry and the scene you’ve built around yourself as an artist … Community has always been a big part of my career in the early days, so taking that from the internet into real life is still such a crazy thing to me.”

Stephen Sanchez
Age: 20
Label: Mercury Records/Republic Records
Publisher: Universal Music Publishing Group
Management: LoyalT Management
Total Streams: 460.2 million
Plenty of aspiring artists write love songs in their bedrooms intended for their crushes. But few have evoked classic romance quite like Sanchez did with his waltzing, 1950s-indebted hit, “Until I Found You,” which soundtracked hundreds of thousands of TikToks featuring wedding and couple celebrations. The 2021 single crossed over from viral success to radio hit last year, reaching No. 23 on the Hot 100 and topping the Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart. And while the Mercury/Republic Records crooner has released several versions of “Until I Found You,” he has also shared some new, retro-leaning tunes ahead of his fall tour. “There has been a really healthy growth and certainly lots of adjustment,” says Sanchez, “but I’ve been having a hell of a good time along the way.”

Estevez to Direct the Dramedy “the public”

Emilio Estevez is bringing his next project to the public

The 54-year-old part-Spanish American actor/filmmaker is set to direct the dramedy the public, which will pull back the curtain on what is really happening inside America’s public libraries.

Emilio Estevez

Christian Slater, Jeffrey Wright and Michael Kenneth Williams will star in the film, which will tell the story about “the last bastion of Democracy in action.”

Having researched in the depths of the Los Angeles Public Library, Estevez said that libraries across the country have become a safe haven for the homeless.

“When I was doing research on the film Bobby, I spent a lot of time in the Los Angeles Public Library looking through microfiche for intel, so I saw this happening,” said Estevez, who wrote, is directing and also co-starring in the public.

“Then I read a Los Angeles Times article that was written by a former librarian about how the libraries have become de facto homeless shelters and how librarians had become social workers,” he added. “So on a daily basis, they would have to call emergency services about people who collapsed or had an overdose or diabetic comas … it’s the last bastion of democracy in action. I was so moved by the article and what I saw, having spent so much time at the public library, I decided to start researching for a new movie — the public.”

The film centers on a standoff with police and library officials during a brutal, life-threatening cold snap. Staging an Occupy-style sit-in, library patrons — many of whom are homeless and mentally ill — turn the Cincinnati Public Library into an impromptu shelter for one night. Drawing from the current political climate, the film strives to give equal voice to both sides as it examines the question of who will care for those who are unable to care for themselves.

After the critically acclaimed Bobby, the public also has become a nice ensemble film with Alec Baldwin, Taylor Schilling, Jena Malone, Gabrielle Union and Che “Rhymefest” Smith also in the cast.

“I haven’t done a film in a library for over 30 years, so I’m going back to it,” Estevez, who starred in The Breakfast Club said with a laugh. “But I think that the issues we’re dealing with in our story really shows both sides of the debate and the ongoing discussion about corporate personhood vs. the public. It’s something that I wanted to do in a film — show it from the inside out.” Very timely, considering what the national discussion in our nation has become.