American Idols with Caribbean Soul: Cubanidad and the Latin Grammys

El Rock Star Perfecto? Theorizing Juanes and New Directions in Cross-Over Celebrity

“…Contextualizing this study within the literature on cross‐over celebrity and Latin American popular music cross‐overs (e.g., Beltrán, 2002; Cepeda, 2000, 2003; Dyer, 1986; Martínez, 2006; Molina Guzmán & Valdivia, 2004; Valdivia, 2000, 2005), the transnational feminist analytic allows me to consider the ways in which Juanes's many subject positions work with and against each other through media discourses. I consider the ways Juanes is represented in the press coverage of concerts, album reviews, philanthropic efforts, and activities, and how he represents himself in his Web site, songs, and press releases.…”

“…Katynka Z. Martínez (2006) examines this in detail regarding the Latin Grammy ceremonies, teasing out the political exigencies at work in the artists' and promoters' identifications. In many cases, the result of this has been the erasure of the particular geographic origins of artists, in the interest of appealing across the Latin American diaspora, and placating U.S. foreign policy interests.…”

“…2 2 Katynka Martínez (2006) discusses in‐depth relationship of Emilio Estefan, the “Miami Mafia,” and the Latin Grammys with the politics of Latinidad , and Cepeda (2000, 2001, 2010) also provides a detailed analysis of the hegemonic role the Estefans have played in the Latin music scene. …”

“…Notes 1 Beltrán notes that the figurative borders of cross-over stardom maintain these boundaries, where the mainstream audience is conceived of as White, even though ''nonwhites now comprise 30% of the U.S. population and the numbers of mixed-race families and individuals also are on the rise'' (2009, p. 146). 2 Katynka Martínez (2006) discusses in-depth relationship of Emilio Estefan, the ''Miami Mafia,'' and the Latin Grammys with the politics of Latinidad, and Cepeda (2000Cepeda ( , 2001Cepeda ( , 2010 also provides a detailed analysis of the hegemonic role the Estefans have played in the Latin music scene. 3 Cepeda (2010) provides an extended discussion and response to the press coverage of Shakira.…”

Learning Spanish as a foreign language through Music

“…The expansion of the Hispanic culture throughout the world, and more specifically throughout the United States, is generating a change in the music worldwide scene, where there is now more room for musical phenomena which deviate from standard classic American bestsellers. The consolidation of the Latin Grammys (Martínez, 2006), together with the increasing presence of artists singing in Spanish on the Billboard Hot 100, have contributed to Spanish-language music becoming more present on the playlists of young non-Spanish speakers. This increased appreciation of the target culture has been identified by Gardner (1985) as an influential factor in the success of learning a second language, whose mastery requires identification with the culture that uses it.…”