Music That Has Shaken the World Lately: January 2026
Image credit: Chris F via Pexels
In 2026, Latin America Music will continue to grow, including my 2024 prediction of local/regional genres becoming more universal such as Forró, Carimbó, Salsa, Mexican Corridos and so on blending into other genres. For this reason, the January edition of Music That Has Shaken the World Lately could not be about another topic.
A year ago I wrote about Bad Bunny DtMF already being my favourite album of 2025, even though the year had just begun and today I feel the urge to write about it again, especially ahead of Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl Half Time show and the symbolism that it is having him performing it this year and right before the Grammy Awards because this record might be even more relevant now than it was when it came out.
DtMF is Bad Bunny’s most explicitly political album and a portrait of current times, addressing identity, resistance to US dominance and the ongoing gentrification of Puerto Rico. What began as a cultural intervention, reshaping narratives around the island and its people, became something much larger. Sonically, the album returns to the rhythms that formed Puerto Rico’s musical identity, such as Plena and Salsa, visually and lyrically it reveals through storytelling a collective experience, turning the album into a manifesto that resonates across all Latin America.
The record has sparked a celebration of Latin American culture, but more importantly, it has opened space for criticism and questioning, denouncing the deterioration of living standards, environmental destruction and corruption across the region. By bridging the gap between those living on the island and the diaspora, Bad Bunny highlights shared experiences of separation, longing and the fight for cultural survival, connecting with global audiences not through simplification, but through confrontation. From the album cover to its lyrics,without concessions, it reinforces an inter Latin identity.
Now, ahead of the Super Bowl, Bad Bunny’s booking marks the first time in the event’s 60 year history that an artist will perform exclusively in a language other than English and is doing so in an unprecedented moment of Latin Music and culture flourishing and reaching global levels.
Latin Music is more successful than ever in the US history, continuing to grow globally and having generated $490.3 million in revenue during the first half of 2025 alone, a 6 percent increase from the previous year according to the Recording Industry Association.
At the same time, The United States is experiencing mass deportations, violent arrests and assassinations, alongside Trump signalling expansionist intentions and imposing new tariffs.The symbolism of this performance goes far beyond entertainment, even if the choice might have not been intentional.
What else to expect in 2026?
In recent years, we have seen Dancehall and Reggae move fluidly into Afrobeats, hip hop, trap and Brazilian Funk. Artists like Karol G and Ryan Castro incorporating more noticeable Reggae and Dancehall influences in 2025 is a reflection of how Caribbean rhythms continue to reinforce popular music across Latin America. A$AP Rocky’s recent Dembow infused release also confirms how these sounds are now embedded in global hip hop culture.
Brazil might be one of the most interesting case studies with artists such as Ludmilla that have long engaged with reggae and dancehall, but more recently figures like IZA, MC Cabelinho and Matuê that have been incorporating these rhythms in ways that feel both local and international. In cities like São Luís, often referred to as the Brazilian capital of reggae, these sounds have never disappeared. What is changing is their visibility and their translation into mainstream music.
Folk, soul, punk and rock will continue to grow, as I wrote last year, including indie rock. January started with a trend on social media of users posting 2016 photos and this nostalgia and crave for what was felt as better times. This emotional pull will translate into music, but not just as pure revivalism because audiences and artists are also craving transformation.
In rock, this can be seen in artists such as Geese. His approach to rock is not as a legacy genre to be preserved, but as a flexible language. Their music feels chaotic, theatrical and self aware, pulling from post punk, classic rock, experimental noise and even pop structures, while sounding entirely contemporary. In 2026, rock might continue mutating through bands like Geese.
You can listen to all of it and much more in my January playlist.
