“$ad Boyz” Unite: How Sad Sierreño Music is Captivating GenZ

Giovanni Mancilla resonates with the romantic guitar and melancholy lyrics of Sierreño music, a regional Mexican sound popularized in recent years. For many GenZ Mexican-Americans, like Mancilla, Sierreño style speaks to their emotions. “I definitely think our generation is more emotional when it comes to the real world,” said the 17-year-old. 

In recent years, Sierreño music’s somber ballads are becoming a staple of contemporary Mexican sound and its artists are finding mainstream success with GenZ audiences. Artists like Ivan Cornejo have integrated American alternative rock, pop, and indie into their own songs, and are calling the genre “Sad Sierreño.” In March 2024, Cornejo’s “Baby Please” reached the Top 10 on Billboard’s Hot Latin Songs. In this tune, Cornejo sings longingly “Lo que tú necesites de mí, cúlpame, pero no me dejes de amar,” (Whatever you need from me, blame me, but don’t stop loving me.)

Though Sierreño was first popularized by Ariel Camacho in Mexico in 2013, new artists in the U.S. are emulating his same requinto-style guitar to tell gripping stories of love, nostalgia, and heartbreak. Junior H, a mexican singer/songwriter, rode this wave to fame with songs like “1004 KM” and “Y Lloro.” In singing about long distance relationships in 2021, he created a fandom of “$ad Boyz,” or “Niños Tristes,” who connect with lyrics like “Y yo intentando contener mi llanto, Haciendo como que no duele tanto,” (And I’m trying to hold back my tears, pretending that it doesn’t hurt that much). Junior H has had 8 songs in the Billboard Hot 100 that resonate with a new generation of latin music enthusiasts. 

This style spread to young Mexican-Americans across New York City. Alina Cecilio, a Washington Heights High School senior, listens to her Sierreño playlist on repeat. “It’s not just a song, it’s a feeling. Even though you haven’t experienced it, it can bring a sense of that feeling” she said. 

These artists inspire young Mexican-Americans like Mancilla to play an instrument. Sierreño had a great impact on Mancilla’s own guitar-playing and emotions. “It felt like a genre truly describing exactly how I felt,” he says. “That small snippet is described very well to the point you can make a movie in your head.” 

Sad Sierreño changed the way Jose Gonzalez, 17, engaged with latin music. He discovered Eslabon Armado through YouTube San Valentin, which highlights a song from the album Corta Venas that reached No.1 on Billboard’s Regional Mexican Albums chart. Lyrics like “Quiero sentir lo que es estar solo, en mi cuarto viendo fotos desde hace tiempo,” (I want to feel what it’s like to be alone, in my room looking at pictures from long ago) made him a fan. “I feel at ease and somewhat sad because of how the lyrics are delivered,” said Gonzalez.